Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens

"Davidson's concern is with ancient appetites: food, drink and sex in classical Athens . . . [He] presents a superior class of hedonist." —Peter Parsons, London Review of Books

The lifestyle of the classical Greeks often seems disappointingly modest when compared to those of other legendary civilizations. Where are the marble floors, the pillared halls, the gilden rooms? Even the Athenians, the richest and most powerful of the Greeks, were said by one contemporary to dress no better than...