The Last of the Wine
Encyclopedia
The Last of the Wine is Mary Renault
's first novel
set in Ancient Greece
, the setting that would become her most important arena. The novel was published in 1956 and is the second of her works to feature male homosexuality
as a major theme. The book is a convincing portrait of Athens
at the close of the Golden Age
and the end of the Peloponnesian War
with Sparta
.
. The father imparts to the son the traits he should seek in a lover - qualities like honor, loyalty and courage. However, the father also warns the son not to become involved with women - he is much too young. (See Athenian pederasty
.) The book implies that Myron had been Alcibiades
' lover when the latter was a teenager, and felt that the way that Alcibiades turned out was at partly Myron's fault at least, as it was his responsibility as a lover to teach his eromenos virtue.
As an Ephebe
(adolescent male), Alexias falls in love with Lysis
, a man in his 20s - a champion pankratiast
and a student of Socrates. The novel follows their the relationship through the Peloponnesian War
, the surrender of Athens, the establishment of the Thirty Tyrants
rule over Athens, the democratic rebellion of Thrasybulus
and shortly after. The story ends with first hints of the eventual trial of Socrates
for teaching blasphemy and sowing social disorder.
From the beginning of the novel, Socrates
figures prominently; both Alexis and Lysis become his students in their youth. Also characterized in the novel are Plato
and several figures from his Dialogues who were Socrates' students, including Xenophon
. Another historical figure who figures in the story, albeit mostly off-stage, is Alcibiades
, the Athenian general who flees Athens on a charge of sacrilege and functions as a military adviser to Sparta until he is recalled by a resurgent democracy in Athens. Alexis and Lysis serve under Alcibiades' command until his carelessness leads the fleet to disaster and he once again goes into exile.
In the course of the novel, Lysis falls in love with and marries a woman who sees Alexias favorably and encourages the continuation of her husband's relationship with him. Not long after this, Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War
. Alexias' father is murdered under the Spartan-installed tyranny and he and Lysis go into exile in Thebes - and join Thrasybulus
when he leads the next democratic revolt. Lysis is killed in the battle between the Long Walls
running from the port of Piraeus
to Athens (the Battle of Munychia
). Shortly after the victory, Alexias takes Lysis' widow under his protection, marries her and continues his family line. The book ends with the postscript that this story (incomplete and long-forgotten) has been found by Alexias' grandson (also named Alexias), a commander of Athenian cavalry in the service of Alexander the Great.
Mary Renault
Mary Renault born Eileen Mary Challans, was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece...
's first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
set in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, the setting that would become her most important arena. The novel was published in 1956 and is the second of her works to feature male homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
as a major theme. The book is a convincing portrait of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
at the close of the Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
and the end of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
with Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
.
Plot summary
The novel is narrated by Alexias, a noble Athenian youth, who becomes a noted beauty in the city and a champion runner. The novel suggests that young male Athenians were treated almost like modern debutantes and wooed by older men seeking to be their lovers; in fact, in a memorable passage, Alexias' father, Myron, himself a former beauty and champion athlete, writes to his son before leaving Athens for the Sicilian ExpeditionSicilian Expedition
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure—political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a...
. The father imparts to the son the traits he should seek in a lover - qualities like honor, loyalty and courage. However, the father also warns the son not to become involved with women - he is much too young. (See Athenian pederasty
Athenian pederasty
Athenian pederasty entailed a formal bond between an adult man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family, consisting of loving and often sexual relations...
.) The book implies that Myron had been Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
' lover when the latter was a teenager, and felt that the way that Alcibiades turned out was at partly Myron's fault at least, as it was his responsibility as a lover to teach his eromenos virtue.
As an Ephebe
Ephebos
Ephebos , also anglicised as ephebe or archaically ephebus , is a Greek word for an adolescent age group or a social status reserved for that age in Antiquity....
(adolescent male), Alexias falls in love with Lysis
Lysis (dialogue)
Lysis is a dialogue of Plato which discusses the nature of friendship. It is generally classified as an early dialogue.The main characters are Socrates, the boys Lysis and Menexenus who are friends, as well as Hippothales, who is in unrequited love with Lysis and therefore, after the initial...
, a man in his 20s - a champion pankratiast
Pankration
Pankration was a martial art introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and founded as a blend of boxing and wrestling but without any rules. The term comes from the Greek , literally meaning "all powers" from "all" + "strength, power". Spartans were taught to use this ancient...
and a student of Socrates. The novel follows their the relationship through the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
, the surrender of Athens, the establishment of the Thirty Tyrants
Thirty Tyrants
The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Contemporary Athenians referred to them simply as "the oligarchy" or "the Thirty" ; the expression "Thirty Tyrants" is due to later historians...
rule over Athens, the democratic rebellion of Thrasybulus
Thrasybulus
Thrasybulus was an Athenian general and democratic leader. In 411 BC, in the wake of an oligarchic coup at Athens, the pro-democracy sailors at Samos elected him as a general, making him a primary leader of the successful democratic resistance to that coup...
and shortly after. The story ends with first hints of the eventual trial of Socrates
Trial of Socrates
The Trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the classical Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried on the basis of two notoriously ambiguous charges: corrupting the youth and impiety...
for teaching blasphemy and sowing social disorder.
From the beginning of the novel, Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
figures prominently; both Alexis and Lysis become his students in their youth. Also characterized in the novel are Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and several figures from his Dialogues who were Socrates' students, including Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
. Another historical figure who figures in the story, albeit mostly off-stage, is Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
, the Athenian general who flees Athens on a charge of sacrilege and functions as a military adviser to Sparta until he is recalled by a resurgent democracy in Athens. Alexis and Lysis serve under Alcibiades' command until his carelessness leads the fleet to disaster and he once again goes into exile.
In the course of the novel, Lysis falls in love with and marries a woman who sees Alexias favorably and encourages the continuation of her husband's relationship with him. Not long after this, Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
. Alexias' father is murdered under the Spartan-installed tyranny and he and Lysis go into exile in Thebes - and join Thrasybulus
Thrasybulus
Thrasybulus was an Athenian general and democratic leader. In 411 BC, in the wake of an oligarchic coup at Athens, the pro-democracy sailors at Samos elected him as a general, making him a primary leader of the successful democratic resistance to that coup...
when he leads the next democratic revolt. Lysis is killed in the battle between the Long Walls
Long Walls
The Long Walls , in Ancient Greece, were walls built from a city to its port, providing a secure connection to the sea even during times of siege. Although long walls were built at several locations in Greece—Corinth and Megara being two of the best known examples—the phrase "long...
running from the port of Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
to Athens (the Battle of Munychia
Battle of Munychia
The Battle of Munichia was fought between Athenians exiled by the oligarchic government of the Thirty Tyrants and the forces of that government, supported by a Spartan garrison...
). Shortly after the victory, Alexias takes Lysis' widow under his protection, marries her and continues his family line. The book ends with the postscript that this story (incomplete and long-forgotten) has been found by Alexias' grandson (also named Alexias), a commander of Athenian cavalry in the service of Alexander the Great.