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Lords of the Sea: The Triumph and Tragedy of Ancient Athens. By John R. Hale Gibson Square, 395pp, Pounds 17.99 ISBN 9781906142636. Published 3 April 2010
John Hale's portrait of ancient Athens and its navy is an informative and fast-paced account that lives up to the phrase "epic story" that appears in the subtitle of its US edition. His style and approach is engaging: chapters with titles such as "Of heroes and hemlock"; bite-sized episodes centred on one individual or campaign; dramatic, powerful and evocative writing that brings the actors of the narrative to life.
At times, he drifts away from his initial idea of Athens viewed from the oar-bench in favour of giving more attention to large-scale sea battles. From the perspective of the crewmen, however, such conflicts were a rarity. Naval life consisted instead of a wearisome round of routine patrols and training exercises, irregular pay and winters away from home. The battle descriptions themselves are excellent, combining the clarity of a historian who...