Research has revealed that petty acts of revenge yield considerable gratification. The best commentary on revenge is that of Thucydides in his account of revolutions in Corcyra (Corfu) in 427 BC, in which pro-Athenians were fighting pro-Spartans.

Revenge, the historian tells us, was more important even than self-preservation, while pacts between enemies were made merely to overcome temporary difficulties. He observes: ‘It is entirely acceptable in dealing with adversaries to claim satisfaction of the anger in one’s heart in vengeance upon the aggressor, while that retaliation upon enemies which will be possible for us is probably the greatest satisfaction of all.’ But at the same time, he understood the price that needed to be paid: ‘In exacting revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give hope to all who are in distress, instead of remembering that there may come a time when they, too, will need their protection.’

But lesser acts of revenge, in the shape of vendettas taken to the courts, were equally popular. If a Greek could not get satisfaction against an opponent in private life, he would take the dispute into the public arena and try to get satisfaction there from a jury of up to 501 randomly selected Athenian male citizens. In one action, for example, the prosecutor began by admitting that his motive for bringing the case was revenge. Showing the jury that you were avenging a past wrong or helping a family member was considered a legitimate, honourable, and persuasive justification for launching a prosecution.

In other words, one could bring an action to persuade the jury that the defendant was not the sort of person who was worthy of all the privileges of being a citizen of Athens. The city’s honour and image were at stake by the threat posed by such a defendant to the pride that every citizen had a right to feel in what it meant to be an Athenian.

Revenge clearly has its pleasures. Ask the women who took on the despicable Russell Brand.