The Sacred Band, James Romm
The Sacred Band, James Romm
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The Sacred Band
Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting to Save Greek Freedom

Author: James Romm

Narrator: Vivienne Leheny

Unabridged: 9 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/08/2021


Synopsis

From classicist James Romm comes a “striking…fascinating” (Booklist) deep dive into the last decades of ancient Greek freedom leading up to Alexander the Great’s destruction of Thebes—and the saga of the greatest military corps of the time, the Theban Sacred Band, a unit composed of 150 pairs of male lovers.

The story of the Sacred Band, an elite 300-man corps recruited from pairs of lovers, highlights a chaotic era of ancient Greek history, four decades marked by battles, ideological disputes, and the rise of vicious strongmen. At stake was freedom, democracy, and the fate of Thebes, at this time the leading power of the Greek world.

The tale begins in 379 BC, with a group of Theban patriots sneaking into occupied Thebes. Disguised in women’s clothing, they cut down the agents of Sparta, the state that had cowed much of Greece with its military might. To counter the Spartans, this group of patriots would form the Sacred Band, a corps whose history plays out against a backdrop of Theban democracy, of desperate power struggles between leading city-states, and the new prominence of eros, sexual love, in Greek public life.

After four decades without a defeat, the Sacred Band was annihilated by the forces of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander in the Battle of Chaeronea—extinguishing Greek liberty for two thousand years. Buried on the battlefield where they fell, they were rediscovered in 1880—some skeletons still in pairs, with arms linked together.

From violent combat in city streets to massive clashes on open ground, from ruthless tyrants to bold women who held their era in thrall, The Sacred Band recounts “in fluent, accessible prose” (The Wall Street Journal) the twists and turns of a crucial historical moment: the end of the treasured freedom of ancient Greece.

About James Romm

James Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, New York. His reviews and essays appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Review of Books. He currently oversees the ambitious Ancient Lives series recently launched by Yale University Press.


Reviews

Goodreads review by William2 on June 01, 2023

It surprising how continuous author Romm is able to make his story, considering he worked from so many fragmented sources. Told with alacrity and wit, the tale positively hurtles along. I knew nothing before reading this book about the long-suffering Peloponnesian city-states’ bloody revolt against......more

Goodreads review by Erik on May 21, 2021

In The Sacred Band James Romm transports readers back to 379 B.C. to the rise of Thebes and the fight for Greek freedom. In 379 B.C. Spartan troops - and their autocratic allies in Thebes - had decimated Thebean democracy and turned its city into a puppet. Out of exile in Athens, a group of soldier......more

Goodreads review by T.R. on February 20, 2023

I think this is my favourite history book I've ever read (and that is saying a lot). The Sacred Band is both endlessly fascinating, and also unbearably heartbreaking. Everyone should read this book. This is history that should be taught in schools, but simply isn't. These men were heroes the likes of......more

Goodreads review by Juliew. on January 23, 2022

I thought this was a very fitting tribute to the Sacred Band which was an army of 300 Theban lovers united to take on all of Greece.They were at first conceived to combat Spartan supremacy and with their eventual win over them they soon discovered themselves pitted against their former allies of Ath......more

Goodreads review by Allen on September 15, 2024

Really great read. Romm continues to cement himself as one of my favorite historians. His style of storytelling gels with my own so well that it reads more like an epic tale than a simple history. His books are page-turners. Just as good as Ghosts on the Throne. I do think the post-Epaminondas sectio......more


Quotes

"Leheny's measured pace allows listeners to follow along with developments in regional politics and shifting allegiances."