Book Review: Bard Professor James Romm’s The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting to Save Greek Freedom Is “No Ordinary Scholarship”

"Philosophy and soldiery marched hand in hand among the Greeks," Romm observes, and some of his most compelling writing takes a deep look into attitudes about, and the practice of, homosexuality by the likes of Socrates and Plato, again without resort to easy generalization. Similarly, his examination of the dynamics of age disparity within the couples is consistently revelatory, rather than dismissively judgmental. James Romm is the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics and director of the Classical Studies Program at Bard College.

Post Date: 08-24-2021