Glorious exploits

Ferdia Lennon

It's 412 BC, and Athens' invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are held captive in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, dejected, and hanging on by the slimmest of threads. Lampo and Gelon are local potters, young men with no work and barely two obols to rub together. When they take to visiting the nearby quarry, they discover prisoners who will, in desperation, recite lines from the plays of Euripides for scraps of bread and a scattering of olives. And so an idea is born: the men will put on Medea in the quarry. A proper performance to be sung of down the ages. Because after all, you can hate the Athenians for invading your territory, but still love their poetry. But as the audacity of their enterprise dawns on them, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends.

Author(s): Lennon, Ferdia
Binding: Paperback
Date of Publication: 23/01/2025
Pagination: 277 pages
Series: N/A
Imprint: Penguin Books
Published By: Penguin Books
Book Classification: Modern & contemporary fiction|Ancient Greece|"Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss"|Narrative theme: Interior life|Historical fiction
Dimensions: 198x129x17
Weight: 204
ISBN13\EAN\SKU: 9780241998007