Athens at War

by Rex Warner

English, Greek (translation)

Genres: History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Rex Warner was an English classicist, writer and translator. He is now probably best remembered for The Aerodrome (1941), an allegorical novel whose young hero is faced with the disintegration of his certainties about his loved ones and with a choice between the earthy, animalistic life of his home village and the pure, efficient, emotionally detached life of an airman.

Reviews

[^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very, very, well told. A really good read. I must have been about nine or ten when I first read this book, enjoying it as a thoroughly good story. It’s only as I grew older, and learnt about other wars, that I became conscious of the timelessness of the lessons ‘taught’ by war, which we invariably ignore in the pursuit of economic and political gain dressed up as democracy and noble cause. It is individuals, not nations, who better themselves through war; there are correspondingly many losers.

Now when I read this book I think of the present and more recent past. The European Union is fracturing at the seams; the result of political aggrandisement through monetary union is tearing Greece (Spain, Italy, and Ireland) apart. What happened to the memory of Greece? With clarity and insight Warner writes (pg.79) “Leaders of the parties both had programmes which looked admirable – on one side political equality for all citizens, on the other sound and honest administration – but in fact what each party was interested in was not the public good, but power for themselves.”

I rest my case. Read this book. There is nothing new under the sun.

[David Edmonds · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an abridgement of Thucydides' Peloponnesian War. Unfortunately is reads rather flat. Perhaps it was aimed towards young readers but I doubt that it would get their attention today.