full title · Nicomachean Ethics
author · Aristotle
type of work · Philosophical treatise
language · Ancient (Classical or Attic) Greek
time and place written · Between 334 and 323 b.c. in Athens; composed as lecture notes for Aristotle’s courses at the Lyceum
date of first publication · Compiled by editors an indeterminate, short time after Aristotle’s death
narrator · The Ethics are notes from Aristotle’s lectures, so the speaker is undoubtedly Aristotle himself
major topics · Virtue and happiness; moral education; the doctrine of the mean; the unity of the virtues; the importance of friendship; the life of contemplation
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