Fathers and Sons in Athens: Ideology and Society in the Era of the Peloponnesian War

As history's first democracy, classical Athens invited political discourse. The Athenians, however, could not completely separate the political from the private sphere; indeed father-son conflict, from patricide to murdering one's son, was a major public as well as a private theme. In a fascinating historical reappraisal, the author explores the consequences, for Athens and us, of the powerful influence of familial ideology on politics.