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The Last of the Wine

by Mary Renault

First published 1956

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4.5(867)

Alexias, the son of an Athenian aristocrat, comes of age during the final years of the Peloponnesian War. His love for the older athlete Lysis draws him into the circle of Socrates, where philosophical argument coexists with military service, family expectation and the instability of democratic Athens.

Defeat brings Spartan occupation and the rule of the Thirty Tyrants, whose violence reaches Alexias's household. He and Lysis join Thrasybulus's democratic exiles, and their struggle to restore the city culminates at Munychia, where political liberation and private grief become inseparable.

Historical Periods

Sicilian Expedition415–413 BCE Decelean War413–404 BCE Athenian Democracy508–322 BCE Battle of Munychia403 BCE

Genres

Romance War Fiction

Historical people

Socrates471 BCE–400 BCE Platoc. 420s BCE–c. 340s BCE Thrasybulusc. 440s–388 BCE

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