The "Leviathan," one of the most significant theoretical works on the origins and foundations of the idea of the state and civil society, is now available for the first time in a German edition that presents the text of the original English edition from 1651 in its entirety and faithfully according to generally accepted philological criteria. The edition includes the extensive marginal notes from the first edition and is critically annotated. It comes with an introduction, chronology, bibliography, index, and extensive notes.