<p><em>Ancient Evenings</em> is a study of consciousness presented as a series of fictional philosophical dialogues set at the height of the Roman Empire. These dialogues ¿ on good and evil, truth and falsehood, life and death ¿ are historical re-enactments of what persons representing the major Hellenistic schools of philosophy might actually have said to one another in informal but serious discussion and debate. The result is a powerful unique view of the secular Hellenistic schools of antiquity, and of their continued importance to modern secular thinking about how to live in a world without divine intervention. <em>Ancient Evenings</em> is in the spirit of great dialogues from Plato to Cicero, and Berkeley to Hume. It brings back to life the neglected literary form of the philosophical dialogue as a potent and unique instrument of philosophical inquiry.</p>