Using models from social anthropology as its basis, this book takes a new look at the political role of personal relationships in classical Greece. It examines what friendship and exchange meant in classical Greece, how this differed from gift giving and exchange in non-Greek societies, and what the impact of friends and friendship was on domestic and interstate politics and how the differences in understanding affected Greek relations with their non-Greek neighbors.

"Along with classical scholars, the book will be especially valuable for biblicists interested in the Persian Period and early Hellinism. It clarifies the Hellenistic moorings of what it meant to be a `friend of Caesal' or to call Abraham `the friend of God'."