The Hemlock Cup
My copy of Bettany Hughes’ new work arrived bearing the sticker, ‘As read on BBC Radio 4.’ I mention this because, although an undoubtedly erudite work and written in a lucid and vivacious style, The Hemlock Cup reads more like a transcription of a series of short programmes than a unified text. This gives each chapter a refreshing immediacy, the sense that the author is talking directly to you, but it also makes the book seem somewhat jerky and disjointed, better for dipping into at random than reading through from beginning to end. Perhaps this does not matter, but it left this reader a little disappointed. As a devotee of Ann Wroe’s Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man, I had expected something more ingenious and intuitive. That said, Hughes’ work is accessible and sumptuously illustrated. I didn’t feel I knew Socrates much better after reading it, but my understanding of his Athens, from the viewpoint of both his contemporaries and modern archaeologists, is certainly greater. I’d say it was a good coffee table book, but the title might give your guests the wrong impression!
