A novel of the life of Themistocles, told in the first person, as Themistocles looks back on his whole life. Full of politics and the details of life in the nascent Athenian democracy. Many an ostrakon with the name of Themistocles has been dug up in the modern era. According to the novel, every year or so between the first and second Persian Wars somebody would decide to try to ostracize him, and his supporters would then have to campaign to ostracize someone else instead. He was the runner up four times, but never the first choice selected then. Lucky, as he points out, for Athens.

Looking back, he sees how the Greek cities have cruelly persecuted the ones who have served them most ably. The story of Miltiades is harsher than his own: the hero of Marathon, succumbing to gangrene, is fined an horrendous sum, then dies, and his son is forced into penury. All this happens just one year after the battle.

The details of life in Athens: the bathing, the technical details of vote collection, the exhausting march back to Athens after the battle of Marathon, the evacuation of Athens before the battle of Salamis, etc., are well realized. ( )

Captivating account of the Persian invasion of Greece. Read it when I was young. Loved it then. I was swept away by the imaginative characterisation, the skilful presentation of the struggle by the Greeks for freedom, and Themistocles—statesman, politician, wheeler-dealer—brought to life by the author. I would like to get my hands on an ebook version, but no sign. ( )