The Last of the Wine

The Last of the Wine (1956) is Mary Renault's novel set in Athens during the Peloponnesian War with Sparta. It is narrated by Alexias, a young Athenian who, with his friend and lover Lysis, becomes a follower of Socrates. Through their lives the book shows the city's politics, the war, the athletic contests and the philosophy of the time, along with real figures such as Plato, Alcibiades and Xenophon, as Athens moves toward defeat.

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Ryan Holiday: “I also loved this book, The Last of the Wine, which is a historical fiction about Socrates.”