Introduction: how to be Greek -- National hero -- State of war -- The Persian mule -- The shaking-off -- A friend of the poor -- Charioteers of the soul -- Inventing democracy -- Eastern raiders -- Fox as hedgehog -- Invasion -- "The acts of idiots" -- "O divine Salamis" -- League of Nations -- The falling out -- The kindly ones -- "Crowned with violets" -- The prisoners on the island -- The man who knew nothing -- Downfall -- The end of democracy? -- Sparta's turn -- Chaeronea: "fatal to liberty" -- Afterword: "a God-forsaken hole".