The Copybook: Readings in history and literature

43

The Last Days of Socrates by Clay Lane

Socrates was placed on death row while Athens celebrated a religious festival.

44

Byron and Hercules by Clay Lane

Lord Byron could not have hoped for a better omen in his support for the oppressed people of Greece.

45

The Third Siege of Missolonghi by Clay Lane

The cruelty of the Ottoman Turks so shocked Europe that the tide of opinion turned against them.

46

The Sacred Snakes of Kefalonia by Clay Lane

Once a year, regular as clockwork, the little snakes slither into the convent for a Feast of the Virgin Mary.

47

The Battle of Salamis based on Plutarch

As the Persian Empire’s grip tightened by land and sea, it fell to one man to unite Greece in a last desperate bid to break it.

48

A Man called ‘Beta’ by Clay Lane

For a perennial ‘runner-up’, Eratosthenes had a peculiar knack of being first.

Greek History