Debra Hamel
Author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
About the Author
Debra Hamel is an independent scholar and the author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece.
Works by Debra Hamel
Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece (2003) 97 copies, 1 review
Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History (2012) 31 copies, 1 review
The Battle of Arginusae: Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War (Witness… (2015) 21 copies
Associated Works
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2008 (2008) — Author "In Review: War and Peace in the Ancient World" — 10 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2001 (2001) — Author "Socrates at War" — 8 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2005 (2005) — Author "Fate of the Conquered" — 8 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2006 (2006) — Author "In Review: A History of the Classical Greek World: 478-323 B.C." — 8 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2007 (2007) — Author "In Review: Thucydides: An Introduction for the Common Reader" — 8 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Autumn 2009 (2009) — Author "Citizen Tyrants" — 7 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 2002 (2002) — Author "Ancient Greeks in Drag" — 5 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Hamel, Debra
- Birthdate
- 1964-10-31
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Places of residence
- North Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Education
- Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1989)
Yale University (Ph.D. 1996) - Occupations
- Classical scholar
- Awards and honors
- B.A. in Classics with Departmental and General Honors (Johns Hopkins University)
- Short biography
- Debra Hamel studied classics as an undergraduate at The Johns Hopkins University and again as a graduate student at Yale, where she specialized in ancient history. Since receiving her Ph.D. in 1996 she has published a number of scholarly articles and reviews as well as publications for a general audience, including several articles that have appeared in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History.
Debra is the mother of two preternaturally attractive girls. She writes and blogs from her subterranean lair in North Haven, Connecticut.
Members
Reviews
How can you *not* enthusiastically endorse a history book that cites S. Morgenstern’s classic “The Princess Bride” as its inspiration? Here’s the author, Debra Hamel, explaining her intent in this book’s introduction:
“What’s needed with Herodotus, it occurred to me, is a ‘good parts’ version of [Herodotus’] ”The History”, a book for the everyday reader who’s unlikely to slog through all the ‘begats’ to get to the juicy bits. Hence this volume, a loose retelling of Herodotus’ account, with obscure references explained and the boring bits left out.”
I believe that William Goldman would wholly approve of Hamel’s final product. Here, in brief, are four reasons why you should really, really, really consider reading this book:
Context. Herodotus is considered to be the “Father of History.” What’s hilarious is discovering what passed for “history” back in 500 BC … a glorious mish-mash of actual factual accounts, hearsay, superstition, “spin”, and scurrilous gossip. While never wavering from her mission statement – to provide a thorough albeit heavily edited version of Herodotus’ original text – Hamel leverages her insights into ongoing Herodotus-related scholarship to provide intriguing insights into the truths (and untruths) underlying even the most outlandish tales.
The History. Herodotus’ histories focus on events related to the Peloponnesian Wars (that’s Greece vs. Persia for the most part, for those who aren’t up on their classical warfare). Sure, you can see “The 300” in theaters, but reading about the Battle of Thermopolae by a guy who had it from veterans who were *actually there* is waaaaaay cooler. Hamel does a great job of wading through all of Herodotus’ less-than-riveting prose devoted to numbers of troops, supply routes, engineering projects, etc. in order to present brisk, entertaining, highly-accessible accounts of each significant battle.
The Chapter Titles. The book is broken into short, highly readable chapters with titles that can’t fail to intrigue: “Sex and the City of Babylon,” “Horny Goats and Medicinal Urine,” “Madness and Mummies,” “Earless Imposters and Randy Mounts: The Early Reign of Darius the Great,” “Cannibals, Flying Snakes, and Gold Digging Ants,” “Severed Breasts and Wormy Deaths: The Persian Expedition to Libya.” Honestly, how could you NOT want to read on? Hamel’s sense of humor and ever-vigilant eye for irony brings out all the innate entertainment value in Herodotus’ accounts.
Bragging Rights. Sure, after finishing this you still won’t be able to say that you’ve actually read Herodotus, but what’s to stop you from making erudite comments in company and letting people *assume* you’ve read his whole, massive work in the original? (You to person you want to impress: “You know, if General Petraeus had only read his Herodotus, he might have been a little more cognizant of how easy it is to lose the favor of adoring masses.”)
Sure, reading “Reading Herodotus” isn’t all roses and lollipops and stirring battle speeches and triremes zipping over the azure blue waters of the Mediterranean in search of glory. The vast scope of Herodotus’ original text means that even Hamel can’t entirely spare us the cacophony of dozens of similar-sounding anecdotes, hundreds of place names that require no less than three maps to keep sorted, and what feels like thousands of character names, few of which clock in at less than 10 characters (Alcybiades, Intaphernes, etc.). Yes, you’ll have to work a little to keep from getting lost. But Hamel’s done so much of the heavy lifting, I doubt many readers will mind.… (more)
“What’s needed with Herodotus, it occurred to me, is a ‘good parts’ version of [Herodotus’] ”The History”, a book for the everyday reader who’s unlikely to slog through all the ‘begats’ to get to the juicy bits. Hence this volume, a loose retelling of Herodotus’ account, with obscure references explained and the boring bits left out.”
I believe that William Goldman would wholly approve of Hamel’s final product. Here, in brief, are four reasons why you should really, really, really consider reading this book:
Context. Herodotus is considered to be the “Father of History.” What’s hilarious is discovering what passed for “history” back in 500 BC … a glorious mish-mash of actual factual accounts, hearsay, superstition, “spin”, and scurrilous gossip. While never wavering from her mission statement – to provide a thorough albeit heavily edited version of Herodotus’ original text – Hamel leverages her insights into ongoing Herodotus-related scholarship to provide intriguing insights into the truths (and untruths) underlying even the most outlandish tales.
The History. Herodotus’ histories focus on events related to the Peloponnesian Wars (that’s Greece vs. Persia for the most part, for those who aren’t up on their classical warfare). Sure, you can see “The 300” in theaters, but reading about the Battle of Thermopolae by a guy who had it from veterans who were *actually there* is waaaaaay cooler. Hamel does a great job of wading through all of Herodotus’ less-than-riveting prose devoted to numbers of troops, supply routes, engineering projects, etc. in order to present brisk, entertaining, highly-accessible accounts of each significant battle.
The Chapter Titles. The book is broken into short, highly readable chapters with titles that can’t fail to intrigue: “Sex and the City of Babylon,” “Horny Goats and Medicinal Urine,” “Madness and Mummies,” “Earless Imposters and Randy Mounts: The Early Reign of Darius the Great,” “Cannibals, Flying Snakes, and Gold Digging Ants,” “Severed Breasts and Wormy Deaths: The Persian Expedition to Libya.” Honestly, how could you NOT want to read on? Hamel’s sense of humor and ever-vigilant eye for irony brings out all the innate entertainment value in Herodotus’ accounts.
Bragging Rights. Sure, after finishing this you still won’t be able to say that you’ve actually read Herodotus, but what’s to stop you from making erudite comments in company and letting people *assume* you’ve read his whole, massive work in the original? (You to person you want to impress: “You know, if General Petraeus had only read his Herodotus, he might have been a little more cognizant of how easy it is to lose the favor of adoring masses.”)
Sure, reading “Reading Herodotus” isn’t all roses and lollipops and stirring battle speeches and triremes zipping over the azure blue waters of the Mediterranean in search of glory. The vast scope of Herodotus’ original text means that even Hamel can’t entirely spare us the cacophony of dozens of similar-sounding anecdotes, hundreds of place names that require no less than three maps to keep sorted, and what feels like thousands of character names, few of which clock in at less than 10 characters (Alcybiades, Intaphernes, etc.). Yes, you’ll have to work a little to keep from getting lost. But Hamel’s done so much of the heavy lifting, I doubt many readers will mind.… (more)
1 
Dorritt | Jan 9, 2013 |
Dorritt | Jan 9, 2013 | 
1 annesadleir | Mar 30, 2012 |
annesadleir | Mar 30, 2012 | 
Trying Neaira is just what one would NOT expect an historical nonfiction book to be: witty and easy to read, with little bizarre bits that one just MUST read out loud! Furthermore, her writing style is light and makes a normal dry subject (the ancient Athenian judicial system) interesting and comprehensible.
Neaira was a prostitute in the 4th century, who grew up in Corinth and eventually found herself in a stable relationship as the long-time mistress of an influential Athenian, Stephanos. Unfortunately, Stephanos had an equally influential enemy (or at least rival) Apollodoros. They battled back and forth in the courts, and eventually Apollodoros hit on a different way to attack Stephanos--through Neaira.
Athenian laws were quite strict about foreigners and allowed no intermarriage. Apollodoros set out to prove that Neaira was living with Stephanos as his wife, instead of as his mistress, and that their children were being given the rights of Athenian citizens--which, as Neaira's children, they never could be.
Using Apollodoros speech to the jury, Hamel recreates Neaira's life, while using other sources to fill out the story with interesting details about prostitution, jury duty, social customs and Athenian law.*
Hamel approaches Neaira's life (via the speech) as a detective would, piecing together bits, shifting out obvious falsehoods, and in the end presenting a surprising full picture of one woman's life.
This is an excellent book for anyone who is, or who is NOT, interested in ancient Athenian law. I, myself, had not the least curiosity in said subject and yet found myself fascinated, all the while being constantly entertained by her sly wit and bizarre trivia. I learned enough from this book to become quite interested in Athenian history and I feel it will have the same effect on any other casual historian.
*to qoute from the Preface:
Apollodoros'speech, inevitably hostile to Neaira, must be the principal source for her biography, though we will need very often to question and reject the information he provides. Where what he tells us is not inherently unlikely, however, or contradicted by other sources, and when lying about the issue under discussion would not have furthered the prosecution's case, we can feel reasonably confident about accepting Apollodoros' testimony. Fleshing out Neaira's story, too, will require frequent dips into other source material.… (more)
Neaira was a prostitute in the 4th century, who grew up in Corinth and eventually found herself in a stable relationship as the long-time mistress of an influential Athenian, Stephanos. Unfortunately, Stephanos had an equally influential enemy (or at least rival) Apollodoros. They battled back and forth in the courts, and eventually Apollodoros hit on a different way to attack Stephanos--through Neaira.
Athenian laws were quite strict about foreigners and allowed no intermarriage. Apollodoros set out to prove that Neaira was living with Stephanos as his wife, instead of as his mistress, and that their children were being given the rights of Athenian citizens--which, as Neaira's children, they never could be.
Using Apollodoros speech to the jury, Hamel recreates Neaira's life, while using other sources to fill out the story with interesting details about prostitution, jury duty, social customs and Athenian law.*
Hamel approaches Neaira's life (via the speech) as a detective would, piecing together bits, shifting out obvious falsehoods, and in the end presenting a surprising full picture of one woman's life.
This is an excellent book for anyone who is, or who is NOT, interested in ancient Athenian law. I, myself, had not the least curiosity in said subject and yet found myself fascinated, all the while being constantly entertained by her sly wit and bizarre trivia. I learned enough from this book to become quite interested in Athenian history and I feel it will have the same effect on any other casual historian.
*to qoute from the Preface:
Apollodoros'speech, inevitably hostile to Neaira, must be the principal source for her biography, though we will need very often to question and reject the information he provides. Where what he tells us is not inherently unlikely, however, or contradicted by other sources, and when lying about the issue under discussion would not have furthered the prosecution's case, we can feel reasonably confident about accepting Apollodoros' testimony. Fleshing out Neaira's story, too, will require frequent dips into other source material.… (more)
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- Works
- 12
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 184
- Popularity
- #117,736
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
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Debra Hamel looks at what the prosecution speech tells us and the questions it raises about the position of women and foreigners in Athens, prostitution, legal procedures, and a whole lot more.