PhilPaine.com

Using the frag­men­tary evi­dence of a tri­al which took place in Athens c.340 B.C., Debra Hamel cre­ates a vivid pic­ture of the place of women in Clas­si­cal Greek soci­ety. This book is entire­ly free of post-mod­ern plat­i­tudes and jar­gon, and con­cen­trates on help­ing the read­er visu­al­ize and empathize with the past. Along the way, many col­lat­er­al issues, such as just how ancient lit­i­ga­tion worked in real life, and what sex­u­al laws and cus­toms meant for real peo­ple, are illu­mi­nat­ed. I would strong­ly rec­om­mend this book to any­one who wants to dig deep­er than the stan­dard bat­tles-and-big-shots approach to Greek his­to­ry. This was a delight­ful Christ­mas gift from my friend Ruta Muhlberger.