In her latest novel of ancient Greece, Mary Renault turns to the world of the poet—the bard who since the time of Homer had sung his verses from memory for the occasions of the court. This is the life of Simonides, who lived in sixth-century Greece during the time of the tyrants, the Persian wars, and a great flowering fo the arts. With her usual brilliance, Mary Renault builds on the little source materials available and transforms it into a marvelously rich and full re-creation of the world of ancient art.

It is on Keos that the boy Simonides follows a sign from Apollo and finds his master and teacher, Kleobis the bard. He accompanies him to Samos, where, amidst the rich and colorful life of that sumptuous island, he carries out his apprenticeship. After the death of Kleobis, he goes to Athens to the court of the Pisistratids under the patronage of Hipparchos, who gathers to him a glittering group of artists of all kinds. Tyrants in only the ancient sense of the word, the Pisistratids had come to power as the people's friends, and they seem so to the Athenians almost to the end, when Hipparchos's folly preciptitates murder by Harmodios and Aristogeiton and the court's eventual fall from power. Simonides once again survives upheaval and finally retires to Sicily, where he looks back over his long and eventful life.

Mary Renault has again worked her magic to re-create a landscape of ancient history filled with the living substance of passions, politics, and poetry.