Well-known classicist Sir Kenneth Dover once described Hans Licht's absurd book on Greek sexuality as a "very bad book." One can't *quite* call Bova's book "very bad"--that honor has to go to David Gemmell's two forays into ancient Macedonia, LION OF MACEDON and THE DARK PRINCE--but this is far from a *good* book. For a man known to complain about bad science in novels, this reviewer finds it terribly ironic to see such bad and/or outdated history in this one. Bova might do well to take his own advice and stick to what he knows: science, not history.