[1] The book is a portrait of Athens at the close of the Golden Age and the end of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, and includes Socrates as a character.

The novel suggests that young male Athenians were treated almost like modern debutantes and wooed by older men seeking to be their lovers; in fact, in a memorable passage, Alexias' father, Myron, himself a former beauty and champion athlete, writes to his son before leaving Athens for the Sicilian Expedition.

As an ephebe (adolescent male), Alexias falls in love with Lysis, a man in his 20s – a champion wrestler and a student of Socrates.

The Last of the Wine engages the mores and culture of Classical Greece, including symposia (drinking parties), the treatment of women, the importance of athletic, military and philosophical training among young men, marriage customs, and daily life in war and peace.

Myke Cole wrote for Tor.com that "This gorgeous and elegiac exploration of the Peloponnesian War is remarkable for its honest and intimate treatment of homosexuality in Ancient Greece.