"The consuming passions of classical Athens", is the explanatory sub-title as James Davidson lifts the veil of discretion with which historians have traditionally surrounded that most revered of civilisations, and pokes about under it in search of robust details on the topics of eating, drinking and sex. His findings will gladden the heart of even the most disheartened student of classics, for Athenians, however ancient, were devoted to their pleasures. Debates about democracy were often, it seems, overshadowed by debates about the relative merits of various shellfish; Plato may well have had a dialogue or two with a draught of damned fine Chian wine; and the Athenian sex trade, in its heyday, had a barefaced cheek which makes today's special offers seem insipid by comparison (what prostitute, of either gender, can nowadays tempt customers with a position called "lion on the cheese-grater"?). Davidson wears his erudition relatively lightly, and Courtesans and Fishcakes is a fascinating book, though you may find it tells you more than you ever really wanted to know about the eating of eels.
