Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Giorgos Vavouranakis, Konstantinos Kopanias, Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos (ed.), Popular Religion and Ritual in Prehistoric and Ancient Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018. Pp. x, 170; 30 p. of plates. ISBN 9781789690453. €32,00.

Reviewed by Catharine Judson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (catharin@live.unc.edu)

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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of this review.]

This edited volume is the publication of a conference dedicated to the topic of the archaeology of popular religion and ritual in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the introduction (pp. vii-xiii), Vavouranakis frames the need for this conference and its subsequent publication by pointing to a continued lack of developed theoretical frameworks in Mediterranean archaeology for understanding the material expressions of religious rituals practiced by large groups of people from the lower tiers of society, especially when faced with the diversity of archaeological finds that are often uncritically lumped into the category of "popular" religion. He introduces the most commonly cited definition of popular religious practices, i.e. those that fall outside the bounds of "official" religious practices and beliefs tied to centralized power structures, such as Bronze Age palaces or Greek poleis. This perceived dichotomy between official and popular religious practices, as well as the related association of popular religion with non-elites and non-urban areas, explicitly informs most of the papers in this volume, either as an accepted framework for situating archaeological case studies or as one in need of revision in light of new material evidence for ritual practices. The first several papers in the volume deal with Bronze Age Crete and the Cyclades. Vavouranakis (pp. 1-10) investigates a rise in popular ritual paralleling the first phase of palatial development on Crete. He introduces the sociological idea of the "multitude" as a potentially useful concept for characterizing the non-elite and nonhomogeneous populations of the island: in this framework, decentralized, inclusive networks develop collective social and ritual behaviors whose significance does not suppress individual diversity. Vavouranakis suggests that the increasing connectivity and integration afforded by the idea of the multitude, of which the spread of popular ritual was a symptom, may have been as important a driver for the social reorganization of Crete in the Middle Minoan period as the emergence of palatial centers. Caloi (pp. 11-18) analyzes the changing relationship between the emergence of Phaistos and the mortuary landscape of the western Mesara. She argues that the shifts in the patterns of burials and performances of ritual activities at the cemeteries of Kamilari and Ayia Triada, as well as patterns of the adoption and standardization of Phaistian pottery styles at certain sites in the western Mesara, such as Kamares Cave, demonstrate that these cemeteries became popular ritual sites for local communities in the face of the increasing physical and social monumentality of the palace at Phaistos before their eventual integration into a broader regional community in the Middle Minoan II period. Haysom (pp. 19-28) tackles the persistent question of elite and, by extension, palatial involvement in the use of peak sanctuaries, usually viewed as sites of popular ritual. He examines the distribution of "elite" classes of material found at peak sanctuaries and demonstrates that, with the exception of gold, all of these classes of material were also found in non-elite settlement contexts. Haysom therefore argues that elites symbolically engaged with, and coopted the ritual significance of, the peak sanctuaries through individual dedications that iconographically evoked traditional male competitive ritual activities rather than political control. Privitera (pp. 29-37) investigates the phenomenon of ritually inverting vases in settlements and cemeteries across Bronze Age Crete. He argues that, while the continuity of the act of depositing inverted vases may not indicate a continuity of religious beliefs, the practice appears to contain a continued emphasis on commemorative rituals, possibly for dead ancestors, throughout the Bronze Age. Platon (pp. 39-45) presents a large cooking vessel from Zakros decorated with small cupules that he names a chytros after vessels used to prepare sacred food on the third day of the later Anthesteria festival. Based on this comparison, he identifies it as a vessel used for the ritual preparation of first fruits offerings into a sacred mash in the context of a local folk festival for symbolic purification and fertility. Moving to the Cyclades, Sørensen, Friedrich, and Søholm (pp. 47-54) argue that iconography found throughout the frescoes from Akrotiri can be used to deduce religious ideas and beliefs that were tied closely to communal social identities and values. They regard many of the iconographic elements as metamorphic in nature and conclude that patterns of transformation and cyclical renewal were a fundamental element of Theran religious and social thinking. The following three papers deal with aspects of popular religion in the Mycenaean sphere. Whittaker (p. 55-61) questions the usefulness of defining popular religion as that which is non-official or non-elite and suggests instead employing the categories of private and public, arguing that, because religious practices and beliefs cut across social classes, we should instead look towards their performative contexts. Using the pattern of deposition of female figurines as a case study, she equates popular ritual with activities performed at the social level of the household in domestic and funerary contexts. Also focusing on Mycenaean figurines, Polychronakou-Sgouritsa (pp. 63-71) re-evaluates theories about the purpose of female figurines from Attica, Aegina, and Ayia Irini. She argues in particular that figurines and groups of figurines of rare types can be read as specific manifestations of localized religious beliefs. Salavoura (pp. 73-83) compares the evidence for the Late Bronze Age phases of the cults at the sanctuaries of Mount Lykaion and Mount Oros, concentrating on their shared role as regional landmarks serving rural populations outside of the orbits of the Mycenaean palaces, despite material differences in cult practices and related activities. She points out that such cults on high peaks have not been systematically studied on the Greek mainland but played integral roles in unifying local communities.

Five papers can be broadly grouped together under the category of popular religion in the Early Iron Age through Archaic periods, and they include the volume's only papers that look outside the bounds of the Aegean. Eliopoulos (pp. 85-95) discusses the role of Minoan Goddess with Upraised Arm (MGUA) figures in the development of religious activities and cult spaces in Late Minoan IIIC settlements on Crete, focusing in particular on a unique enthroned MGUA from Kephala Vasilikis. He argues that these figures depicted deities and that their role in the early stages of the development of free-standing cult buildings in Early Iron Age settlements on Crete marked a movement by local elites to coopt elements of the older official Minoan religion after the dissolution of the palaces and the institution of Minoan/Mycenaean kingship at the end of the Bronze Age. Leriou (pp. 97-104) compares traits of rural and urban open-air sanctuaries on Cyprus during the Cypro-Archaic period in order to examine whether differences between sites usually associated with "popular" and "official" ritual, respectively, can shed light on local cultural identities. She determines that both urban and rural contexts across the island shared most material and architectural traits, and argues that the homogeneity of these sites indicates that the uniformity of cultural identity based on a shared past was stronger than any regional political divisions during this period. Moving further east, Papanastasopoulou (pp. 105-111) examines the corpus of Judean Pillar Figurines (JPFs), a class of ritual objects restricted to the kingdom of Judah in the 8^th and 7^th centuries BCE, in order to address the question of identifying popular religious practices in the field of biblical archaeology. She interprets these figurines as representations of Asherah, the consort of Yahweh who was worshipped as a deity in popular practice but not by the kingdom's monotheistic state religion, which were used in domestic or otherwise private worship. Apostola (pp. 113-124) examines imported and locally-made figurines and figures of the Egyptian demon-god Bes from sanctuaries on Rhodes and Samos, whose original role as a hybrid figure associated with fertility and childbirth was easily transferable to the worship of Greek kourotrophic goddesses, probably by the Egyptian wives of Greek merchants and mercenaries. She also associates these Bes figurines with the emergence of the "fat-bellied demon" type in the early 6^th century BCE, in which the iconography and apotropaic role of Bes were incorporated into local popular religious ideologies in the Aegean. Valavanis (pp. 165-168) argues that the foot race was originally inaugurated at Olympia as an integral part of early stages of cult practice there by local farming and herding communities, rather than as a separate athletic event. He draws parallels with athletic components of local religious festivals in modern Greece that are ritually connected with the bestowal of agricultural fertility through competition and physical prowess.

Two papers focus on the practice of cursing in the Classical and early Hellenistic periods. Lamont and Boundouraki (pp. 125-135) contrast the personal practice of cursing someone with public participation in communal and civic cults in Classical Athens, drawing a private/public distinction in defining "popular" ritual. They present the religious landscape of the deme of Xypete as a case study, including a recently-excavated cache of curse tablets, examining how ritual practices and their material contexts created a diverse picture of the expression of local and civic identities through private and public religious activities. Chairetakis (pp. 137-142) in turn presents a group of curse inscriptions incised on a late fourth century BCE bowl from Salamis, which he argues came from a residential context and most likely targeted an adjacent household.

A final two papers deal with the problem of reconstructing ritual practice through the lens of groups of figurines from cult sites in caves in the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods. Spathi (pp. 143-155) examines masked figurines from the cave sanctuary to the Nymphs at Lechova (Corinthia). Based on a typological study and comparisons with masked figurines and masks from other cult sites, she argues that this cult likely involved initiation or maturation rites that incorporated cult dances or ritual performances. Koursoumis (pp. 157-164) presents a group of terracotta figurines from an unknown cave sanctuary on the Messenian slopes of Mount Taygetos. Based on their iconography, he identifies the cult as one to a female deity, possibly Orthia, thereby tying it to a larger network of rural cults to this goddess in the often contested and blurred boundaries between Sparta and Messenia.

The topic of the conference and of this volume is a welcome one in the field of Greek religion. Its greatest strength is the centering of under-published bodies of material from ritual contexts, such as figurines, and the emphasis on the importance of their contextualization within ritual practices for our understanding of popular religion and ritual in the Eastern Mediterranean. Especially useful are the number of papers that addressed the methodological problems of using small finds to identify and interpret otherwise opaque religious practices and beliefs in rural and domestic contexts. Similarly welcome was the diversity of material encapsulated in various case studies.

The most uneven quality of the volume is the degree to which individual authors considered the definition of popular religion: the most useful papers for a broad audience are the ones that engage with the more theoretical aspects of this topic and are explicit about their working definitions of popular ritual and religion, whether maintaining the popular/official dichotomy or proposing a private/public opposition as a more useful interpretive framework. These discussions are as valuable a contribution as the presentations of under-represented bodies of material evidence included in this volume. A number of papers have less explicit working definitions, however: many implicitly work within the official/popular theoretical paradigm laid out in the volume's introduction (e.g., Spathi), while others use much broader definitions (e.g., Sørensen et al., who equate "popular" simply with "widely shared" [p.47]). A related theoretical thread running through many of the papers in this volume is that popular religion constitutes a set of conservative practices and beliefs, which survives shifts in an official religion that is ideologically bound to immediate cultural and political circumstances. Several papers use later religious and ritual practices as interpretive parallels and, while some papers are explicit in presenting these parallels as conceptual ones only (e.g., Valavanis), others are less clear in drawing these boundaries or implicitly argue for the continuity of practice or belief (e.g., Platon). This persistent difficulty in articulating the definition(s) and parameters of popular ritual and religion, far from detracting from the value of individual papers or the volume as a whole, demonstrates the need for continuing work on this subject, whose complexity is a consequence of its relationship with a whole constellation of other theoretical and practical topics (e.g urbanism/rurality, definitions of elite status) that underpin how we visualize life in the ancient Mediterranean.

Authors and titles

Giorgos Vavouranakis, "Popular religion and ritual: introductory notes"
Giorgos Vavouranakis, "Ritual, multitude and social structure in Minoan Crete"
Ilaria Caloi, "What relationship with the First palace of Phaistos? The funerary complexes of Kamilari and Ayia Triada in the Protopalatial period"
Matthew Haysom, "Mass and elite in Minoan peak sanctuaries"
Santo Privitera, "Inverting vases in Bronze Age Crete: Where? When? Why?"
Lefteris Platon, "A Minoan 'chytros'? Unexpected archaeological evidence for the possible pre-historic origin of an ancient Greek ceremonial practice"
Annette Højen Sørensen, Walter L. Friedrich and Kirsten Molly Søholm, "Metamorphoses and hybridity in the wall-paintings at Akrotiri, Thera"
Helène Whittaker, "Approaches to popular religion in Late Bronze Age Greece"
Nagia Polychronakou Sgouritsa, "The Mycenaean figurines revisited"
Eleni Salavoura, "Mount Lykaion (Arkadia) and Mount Oros (Aegina): two cases of Late Bronze Age sacred 'high places'"
Theodore C. Eliopoulos, "The 'Minoan Goddess with Upraised Arms' today"
Anastasia Leriou, "Re-positioning 'rural' sanctuaries within the Cypro-Archaic societies: some considerations"
Valia Papanastasopoulou, "Popular religion in ancient Judah during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The case of the female pillar figurines"
Electra Apostola, "Representations of the demon-god Bes in Rhodes and Samos during the 7th and 6th centuries BC and their influence on popular religious beliefs: Bes and the 'fat-bellied demons'"
Jessica L. Lamont and Georgia Boundouraki, "Of curses and cults: private and public ritual in Classical Xypete"
Yannis Chairetakis, "Cursing rituals as part of household cult: a fourth century BC inscribed bowl from Salamis"
Maria Spathi, "Representations of masked figures: a comparative study and an interpretive approach to their cult-use and meaning"
Socrates Koursoumis, "Detecting the cult of a border sanctuary on the Messenian slopes of Mount Taygetos"
Panos Valavanis, "Popular religion and the beginnings of the Olympic Games"
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Gunnel Ekroth, Ingela Nilsson (ed.), Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition: Visits to the Underworld from Antiquity to Byzantium. Cultural interactions in the Mediterranean, 2. Leiden: Brill, 2018. Pp. xvii, 397. ISBN 9789004375963. €137,00.

Reviewed by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Bryn Mawr College (redmonds@brynmawr.edu)

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[The Table of Contents is listed below.]

Round Trip to Hades provides a sampling of the rich and varied katabasis tradition, ranging widely across time and space. The volume derives from a conference held in 2014 at the University of Uppsala, although not all the papers at the conference are in the volume, which also incorporates papers not in the conference.¹ Many of these journeys to the underworld follow familiar paths that include the canonical Homer and Vergil or the non-canonical texts of the so-called 'Orphic' gold lamellae, which have become a regular feature of modern scholarly discussions of the underworld. However, the volume also traces a path, less familiar at least to Classicists, that runs from Lucian to Byzantine Christian texts. The essays are arranged in roughly chronological order, but I here discuss them more thematically.

The chapters by Graf and Cullhed/Schottenius Cullhed bookend the volume with broad surveys of the material, focusing mostly on the usual suspects of epic katabases from Gilgamesh to Dante. In "Travels to the Beyond: A Guide," Graf examines the genre of the nekyia, noting that it usually contains a first-person narrative and aims to change in some way the life of the audience in this world. He sees this genre as one highly self-conscious of its own tradition, regardless of whether the nekyia is written in poetry or prose. In addition to the epic tradition, he looks at the Christian tradition from Paul to Dante, as well as the Orphic tradition, which he aptly characterizes as "a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of combinations of hexameters and myths that at specific moments condensed into a poem" (23). While Graf explores the generic features, the "Epilogue: Below the Tree of Life," by Eric Cullhed and Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed, focuses more on the guiding metaphors and emotional affects of the descents to the realm of the dead. Starting with the evocative tale of the 'Man in the Well,' who, beset on every side with dangers and facing eventual death, nevertheless enjoys the honey dripping into his mouth, they survey the way stories from Homer's nekyia to the 15^th century Apokopos by the Cretan Berghadis provide powerful metaphors for the experience of death. Rather than providing satisfaction at knowing what is to come in death, these stories evoke the fear and uncertainty of death, but the authors argue that such experiences serve the audience more like a vaccination, a little taste of the suffering to prevent a more crippling experience of fear and uncertainty.

Two essays address the Homeric nekyia from the perspective of material remains. In "Hades, Homer and the Hittites: The Cultic-Cultural Context of Odysseus' 'Round Trip' to the Underworld," Gunnel Ekroth explores the ways that the necromantic ritual in Homer differs from the sacrificial practices in the material record, resembling more early Hittite rites, but probably transmitted as a literary topos rather than an actual ritual practice. Wiebke Friese likewise points to the discrepancies between the Homeric text and actual oracular sanctuaries, where various mediating divinities such as Trophonios, but not the dead, were consulted. On the contrary, in her archaeologically focused approach, she suggests that Homer's famous account "influenced the invention and spatial formation of particular cults, rituals, and sites" (217).

The chapters by Ivana and Andrej Petrovic and by Annie Verbanck-Piérard explore some particular features of well-known katabaseis. The Petrovics provide a careful close reading of the descriptions of the underworld in Hesiod, arguing convincingly that the two descriptions of Tartaros differ in that one is focalized by the Titans, descending for punishment, and the other by Iris, descending at Zeus' behest to bring aid from those imprisoned below. As they note, this essay is part of their larger project on bound gods, so the focus of the essay moves from the descriptions of the underworld to the different bindings and imprisonments in Tartaros. Verbanck-Piérard offers a survey of the evidence for Herakles' descent, insisting that the iconographic evidence be considered not just as illustrations of texts, but rather as "an independent configuration of mythic material" (163). She notes that most of the iconographic evidence is concerned with Kerberos—a striking figure to depict —and that there are really no depictions of Herakles fighting Hades or residing dead in the underworld himself. The bit with the dog remains the most popular throughout the ages, although there are a few representations of Herakles freeing Theseus or engaging in the Eleusinian Mysteries as a preliminary to his descent.

Several essays look at the ever-intriguing gold lamellae, whose enigmatic references to the soul's journey to the underworld never cease to fascinate. In "Introducing Oneself in Hades: Two 'Orphic' Formulas Reconsidered," Scott Scullion argues that the claim to be "the child of earth and starry heaven" should not be taken to imply divine lineage but merely as a claim to come from the world above the underworld. He also proposes that the feminine form of καθαρά belongs, not to a female deceased or grammatically feminine soul, but rather to Persephone herself, the pure Queen of the Underworld. While many of his arguments against previous readings are well taken (especially the idea of the feminine soul), his claims are not entirely convincing, especially because of his failure to account for the archaeological evidence of female skeletons in the graves with many of the tablets. Herrero distinguishes two modes of gaining understanding that appear in katabatic evidence, the gradual process of learning (mathein) and the sudden leap of experience (pathein). The vertical leaping imagery in several of the lamellae can thus be read as an extraordinary experience that contrasts with the more measured horizontal process of learning in an extended journey through the underworld. This rich study offers a number of useful perspectives, from the spatio-temporal to the cognitive developmental, that help to illuminate the range of evidence Herrero analyzes. In "From Alkestis to Archidike: Thessalian Attitudes to Death and the Afterlife," Sofia Kravaritou and Maria Stamatopoulou treat a variety of evidence—epigraphic, archaeological, and textual—from Thessaly, including the gold lamellae from Pherai, Pharsalos, and Pelinna. They point to the contrast between the literary evidence (mostly Athenian), which portrays Thessaly as the wild home of centaurs and witches, and the epigraphic evidence, which shows a fairly standard range of cults and practices (with a somewhat surprising dearth of magical evidence such as curse tablets). Perhaps most useful is their handling of the other grave goods from the Pelinna tomb, especially their photos that show, not only a bowl with an egg motif but also the figurine of a comic actor on an altar; this treatment should help lay to rest the error perpetuated in the scholarship from the limited publication of the tomb that the figurine was that of a maenad. All of these essays for the most part appropriately treat 'Orphic' as a rather vague label, rather than as implying a certain set of 'Orphic' doctrines about the afterlife.

The most unusual katabatic path in the volume is that which leads from Lucian to the Byzantine Christian material. Heinz-Günther Nesselrath provides a summary of Lucian's greatest katabatic hits in "Down There and Back Again: Variations on the Katabasis Theme in Lucian." The essays by Nilsson and Marciniak both show "how central Lucian was to the production of prose in Byzantium," (325) with Nilsson examining the Progymnasmata of Nikephoros Basilakes, as well as the Lucianic dialogue entitled Timarion. Marciniak also looks at the Timarion, along with other Byzantine satirical katabases such as the Against Hagiochristophorites and the Mazaris. Both essays show how these katabases are used to comment, in a Lucianic mode, upon Byzantine society. Several other essays explore the Byzantine ideas of the underworld, from Thomas Arentzen's "The Virgin in Hades," which argues for seeing the Virgin Mary as an agent herself in Byzantine texts rather than merely a Christological figuration, to Henry Maguire, who explains how Byzantine ideas about the power of icons to evoke the reality of demonic beasts as well as divine saints answer the question, "Why did Hades Become Beautiful in Byzantine Art?" In "From Hades to Hell: Christian Visions of the Underworld (2nd–5th centuries CE)," Zissis D. Ainalis provides a brief summary of important texts, such as the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Vision of Paul, and the Life of St. Macarius the Roman.

A few other essays take their own path. Sarah Iles Johnston points to the difference between the horrific returns from the dead in modern literature and the neutral or even positive returns in antiquity. After surveying the different modes in the tales of Sisyphos, Orpheus, Protesilaos, and Iolaos (back from the dead); Asklepios, Alkestis, and Pelops (resurrection) ; Semele, Hippolytus, and Memnon (shift to immortality); and Castor/Polydeukes and Aithalides (half-life), she speculates that Christian doctrines of the resurrection of the body create a fear of a body coming back, not with its own soul but an evil spirit. Adrian Mihai, admitting that the Academic and Stoic philosophers he surveys tend not to be interested in the round trips of the volume's theme, provides an overview of the ideas of afterlife in thinkers such as Xenokrates and Herakleides of Pontos in "Hades in Hellenistic Philosophy (The Early Academy and Stoicism)" . Mihai uncovers some intriguing material about celestial destinations for the dead, despite his insistence on the Christianocentric equivalence of Tartaros with Hell and of Hades with Purgatory. Pierre Bonnechere takes a very different perspective in "The Sounds of Katabasis: Bellowing, Roaring, and Hissing at the Crossing of Impervious Boundaries," focusing on the auditory effects described especially at the liminal points of the journey; his study of the soundscape makes one wish that the passing mentions of the smells (or stench) of the underworld in the essays of Johnston, Graf, and Ainalis might have been developed further to provide a sensory study to complement the affective and emotional focus of the Epilogue.

The volume as a whole thus brings up ways in which shifts in philosophical and theological ideas affect the picture of the afterlife, as well as the role that emotion and genre play in the katabasis tradition.² One drawback to the wide temporal and cultural scope is that many of the essays primarily provide summary surveys of the material rather than focused analyses of particular points, while others provide detailed analyses of a particular text with little connection to the wider tradition. Nevertheless, the collection can serve as an introduction, particularly to Classicists unfamiliar with the rich Byzantine traditions, as a brief tour of hell, a journey there and back again in the tradition of the katabasis narratives themselves, while for specialists some of the close studies yield intriguing insights into these complex materials.

Table of Contents

Round Trip to Hades: An Introductory Tour - Gunnel Ekroth and Ingela Nilsson, pp. 1–10.
Travels to the Beyond: A Guide - Fritz Graf, pp. 11–36.
Hades, Homer and the Hittites: The Cultic-Cultural Context of Odysseus' 'Round Trip' to the Underworld - Gunnel Ekroth, pp. 37–56.
Divine Bondage and Katabaseis in Hesiod's Theogony - Ivana Petrovic and Andrej Petrovic, pp. 57–81.
Introducing Oneself in Hades: Two 'Orphic' Formulas Reconsidered - Scott Scullion, pp. 82–102.
Pathein and Mathein in the Descents to Hades - Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, pp. 103–123.
From Alkestis to Archidike: Thessalian Attitudes to Death and the Afterlife - Sofia Kravaritou and Maria Stamatopoulou, pp. 124–162.
Round Trip to Hades: Herakles' Advice and Directions - Annie Verbanck-Piérard, pp. 163–193.
Hades in Hellenistic Philosophy (The Early Academy and Stoicism) - Adrian Mihai, pp. 194–214.
Following the Dead to the Underworld: An Archaeological Approach to Graeco-Roman Death Oracles - Wiebke Friese, pp. 215–239.
The Sounds of Katabasis: Bellowing, Roaring, and Hissing at the Crossing of Impervious Boundaries - Pierre Bonnechere, pp. 240–259.
Down There and Back Again: Variations on the Katabasis Theme in Lucian - Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, pp. 260–272.
From Hades to Hell: Christian Visions of the Underworld (2nd–5th centuries ce) - Zissis D. Ainalis, pp. 273–286.
The Virgin in Hades - Thomas Arentzen, pp. 287–303.
Why did Hades Become Beautiful in Byzantine Art? - Henry Maguire, pp. 304–321.
Hades Meets Lazarus: The Literary Katabasis in Twelfth-Century Byzantium - Ingela Nilsson, pp. 322–341.
"Heaven for Climate, Hell for Company": Byzantine Satirical Katabaseis - Przemysław Marciniak, pp. 342–355.
Many (Un)Happy Returns: Ancient Greek Concepts of a Return from Death and Their Later Counterparts - Sarah Iles Johnston, pp. 356–369.
Epilogue: Below the Tree of Life - Eric Cullhed and Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed, pp. 370–384.

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Notes:

1.   Disclaimer: I saw earlier versions of the papers by Johnston and the Petrovics, but I was not involved in the conference in any way.
2.   The volume is fairly well produced, and the minor typos and other errors are never so egregious as to confuse the sense. It contains a subject index, but an index locorum would have been a welcome addition.

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Bruce Louden, Greek Myth and the Bible. Routledge monographs in classical studies. London; New York: Routledge, 2018. Pp. viii, 241. ISBN 9781138328587. $140.00.

Reviewed by James J. Clauss, University of Washington (jjc@uw.edu)

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Bruce Louden makes his position on the relationship between Greek Myth and the Bible loud and clear, and it will doubtless take many by surprise: "Israel's oral traditions and scribal culture were not only acquainted with but also influenced and shaped by ancient Greek culture" (p. 2). I will state up front that I am not ready to go as far as Louden wants to take us, but readers will see first-hand that behind the Biblical passages discussed lurk traditional tales from polytheistic cultures. And the connections he points out are many and truly astonishing.

In support of his hypothesis, Louden calls attention to the presence of the name of the Achaeans in both Hittite and Hebrew, pointing to other linguistic, cultural and historical points of contact as well, that establish for him a prima facie case for literary contact. That the Hebrews were aware of the Greeks, equated with the Philistines, can also be deduced from the family line of Japheth, one of whom is Javan (= Ionian), two of whose children, Kition and Rodanim, can be associated with Cyprus and Rhodes respectively. As for the time of composition, Louden follows those who argue that the Pentateuch took shape under the editing of Ezra, ca. 450 BCE, a time of greater awareness of, and acquaintance with, Greek culture, when the scribes, no longer accepting the reality of other people's gods, edited out earlier divine characters by describing them as glorified mortals (euhemerism).

Because of the importance and broad popularity of the Iliad, Louden furthermore argues that Hebrew scribes, showing their awareness of Greek culture, patterned Saul after Agamemnon, David after Achilles, and Samuel after Calchas. Some of the argument's particulars include the following: David and Goliath = Achilles and Hector; David's desertion to the Philistines under King Achish (= Achaean) = Achilles' withdrawal from the Greek side; David and Achilles both play lyres and fight with their king; Agamemnon and Saul are both plagued by an evil spirit. As for the New Testament, it was compiled and edited during a period when Hellenic education was dominant in the Near East, one that featured Homer, Hesiod and Euripides in particular; but, as the reader will see, Louden also includes Vergil and Ovid as possible models.

Following the introduction summarized above, the book divides itself into two parts: the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. I do not have the space to discuss all of the individual chapters, so I will list the topics of each part summarily, discuss two chapters, and then offer my reading of the entire project along the way. Part I (The Hebrew Bible): Iapetos and Japheth; Euripides' Ion and the Genesis patriarchs; the Argonautic myth and Jacob's encounter with Laban; Euripides' Hecuba and Jael. Part II (The New Testament): Phaethon and the death of John the Baptist; Postponed recognition scenes in Luke 24 (Jesus) paralleling scenes in Odyssey 3 (Athena) and Iliad 24 (Hermes); Euripides' Alcestis and John's Lazarus; Theomachia in Hesiod's Theogony and Revelation (4, 12, 19-20); Ovid's Palace of the Sun (Meta. 2.1-30) and Revelation 4; Retrospective prophecy and vision in Aeneid 6, Ovid and Revelation.

In the first chapter ("Iapetos and Japheth: Hesiod's Theogony, Iliad 15.187-93, and Genesis 9-10"), beginning from the theory that the earliest portions of the Old Testament consisted of 1 Samuel through 2 Kings, with Genesis-Numbers added as a preface and composed after Hesiod's Theogony, Louden offers a remarkable reading of the story of Noah's curse of Ham and his descendants, the Canaanites in particular. Ham, who prior to this episode was the middle son, suddenly and inexplicably became the youngest of Noah's three sons near the conclusion of the narrative. After his father fell asleep naked in his tent, thanks to his invention and partaking of wine, Ham revealed Noah's nakedness to his brothers, Shem and Japheth, the deed which prompted the curse. As Louden notes, being seen naked does not per se seem like an action that would justify such anger and so he follows commentators, as early as the Midrash, who see behind Ham's action either castration or sexual penetration, which leads Louden to Cronus. Moreover, Noah's invention of wine is a phenomenon more often ascribed to a god, which can cause disastrous results (as described, for instance, by Callimachus in the Icus episode told in the Aetia [178-185b Harder]). Louden adds to his discussion parallels between Yahweh and Noah: both of them engage in agriculture [planting of a garden and a vineyard], both curse and expel descendants [Cain and Ham], and products of both planted areas lead to nakedness seen. Louden concludes that Noah, who lived a supernatural life span, was in earlier versions an immortal whose status was reduced to a superannuated human "according to the demands of monotheism" and thus "euhemerized" (p. 43). This is brilliant and persuasive.

Louden further hypothesizes that Noah's 500 years of life prior to the birth of his sons and 100 years of serving as their father before the flood parallel Ouranus' repression of his children by preventing their birth, and that this caused the resentment that led to Ham's provocative action. Furthermore, since this action might have involved castration in origin and since from Ham's line comes Heth, the eponym for the Hittites, it is proposed that a connection might be made between Ham and Kum-bari, who plays the same role in Hittite myth. Louden even sees in the wordplay on Japheth's name—"May God extend Japheth's boundaries" (yapt being the Hebrew word for "extend")—a nod to Hesiod's etymological play on the name of the Titans (Τιτῆνας επίκλησιν καλέεσκε … φάσκε δὲ τιταινοντας, Th. 207-09), which comes right after Cronus' castration of Ouranus, just as the Japheth aetiology comes after Ham's "castration" of Noah. One last point: Louden finds the tripartite division of the biblical postdiluvian world into three familial branches paralleled in the division of the universe into three components managed by Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, as recorded at Iliad 15.187-93. Louden concludes that the Noah story reveals "a combination of two common types of myth set in primeval times: one in which intergenerational conflict among gods resulted in a son taking power by castrating his father, the former king of the gods; and another in which three brother gods draw lots to determine their own portions of rule and to establish hierarchical relations between themselves" (p. 53).

The argument is stunning. I find it perfectly plausible that Noah was a demoted god, much like Helen, and the various points of contact between the Greek and Hebrew stories are remarkable. On the other hand, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine that a Hebrew-speaking, largely pastoral, community would be hearing or reading Hesiod in the 5^th century BCE. While details of the argument lead me to see in the Noah story a mythic backdrop of accounts dealing with cosmic regime change and Oedipal assault, and while I find particularly impressive the argument that story tellers in a monotheistic culture would need to euhemerize borrowed narratives from polytheistic cultures, in this case it seems more likely to me that the sources would be Near Eastern rather than Greek, especially as we can find the sources of the Greek myths in the Near East, in particular the Hittite story to which Louden calls our attention.

The notion that the Hebrew narratives in Genesis are euhemerized renditions of earlier polytheistic myths seems hard to deny, following Louden's guidance. Before moving to the New Testament, let me state that his treatment of connections between Euripides' Ion and the patriarchs, the Argonautic myth and Jacob's encounter with Laban, and the parallels between Euripides' Hecuba and the story of Jael in Judges 4-5 in the next three chapters prompt a similar amazement and hesitancy. Louden has uncovered narrative associations that are both fascinating and important.

The second section of the book, dedicated to the New Testament, continues in the same manner as the first: striking parallels between New Testament texts and Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, Vergil and Ovid (not in this order). We are now dealing with authors whose dating is more secure: the gospel writers and the author of the Book of Revelation definitely wrote after the death of Jesus and thus after Vergil and Ovid, to state the obvious. Inclusion of Vergil and Ovid as possible sources should at the very least have prompted an expanded title for the book: Greek and Roman Myth and the Bible. Word limitation allows discussion of only one chapter.

In chapter 5 ("The oath that cannot be taken back: Ovid's Metamorphoses 1.751-2.400, Mark 6, and Matthew 14 (cf. Iliad 1; Gen. 27")," Louden compares the story of the death of John the Baptist in Mark and Matthew with that of Phaethon in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Why would Mark look to this text, Louden asks? "In Ovid's tale of Phaethon, he would have ready to hand a gripping vehicle for depicting a tragic, unnecessary death—exactly what would serve his larger narrative purpose for John the Baptist. Ovid's rash Sun, purple-robed, gleaming with emeralds, similarly provides him with an iconic rubric for his own depiction of Herod" (p. 135). The following are the most impressive elements that both episodes share (pp. 135-140): the child of a regal father brings about a confrontational meeting with him; the child is closer to its mother, who encourages the child to make a demand of its father; the father is surrounded by a throng of important individuals in front of whom he proclaims an open-ended oath that he regrets; a death ensues; the corpse of the deceased is given burial by nonfamily members. Louden notes that "Phaethon and Herod's 'daughter' both act as spoiled, mother's favorites, who in their impetuous natures, see nothing wrong in making outrageous demands that violate mortal relations" (p. 141). "Daughter" is in quotations marks because there is disagreement among ancient sources about her exact relationship with Herod; the number of points of agreement make this point less critical.

Early on in the chapter, Louden notes that the story of John's death is introduced retrospectively: when Herod hears of Jesus' miracles, he wonders if John has returned from the dead (p. 134). It is at this point that the Baptist's death narrative appears. It is also the only story that does not feature Jesus in Mark. This leads Louden to conclude that this was an originally independent story introduced into the gospel narrative. I find this interpretation persuasive, perhaps even evidence of a John "gospel" that was later overshadowed by the Jesus Gospels. That said, Mark's use of a Latin loan word, σπεκουλάτορα (6:27), does not convince me that the gospel writer read Latin (the use of "barista" by English speakers does not guarantee knowledge of Italian) or, more importantly, that he would have read Ovid. That said, Louden has given the celebrated account of John's death a completely new twist by demonstrating convincingly that whoever composed the original version was engaging a traditional tale in most of its details. The following chapters offer equally fascinating examples of how New Testament passages reflect mythic patterns that are well worth the time to explore.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Greek Myth and the Bible and am impressed by its detailed and highly original arguments. It never occurred to me that stories in the Old and especially New Testaments bore so many similarities to Greek and Roman myths. While skeptics like me might be unwilling to see direct influence of Greek and Roman texts on the scriptural writers, Old and New, Louden has demonstrated, and remarkably so, that stories in both traditions have been shaped by earlier strata of traditional tales and in ways that allow for a monotheistic faith.

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Maddalena Vallozza (ed.), Isocrate: per una nuova edizione critica. La Colombaria. Studi, 251. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 2017. Pp. xxx, 250. ISBN 9788822264558. €32,00.

Reviewed by Francesca Berlinzani, Università degli Studi di Milano (francesca.berlinzani@unimi.it)

Version at BMCR home site

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

Questo volume raccoglie gli interventi di un incontro di studi tenutosi a Viterbo nel 2011, orientato alla pubblicazione di una nuova edizione critica delle Vitae e delle Orazioni di Isocrate per la collana "Oxford Classical Texts" da parte di un gruppo di studiosi da tempo dedito allo studio della tradizione testuale isocratea.¹

Il volume si concentra su aspetti significativi della tradizione testuale, raggruppati tematicamente secondo una prospettiva ampia e diacronica che, procedendo dalla critica dei testimoni papiracei più antichi prosegue con l'analisi della tradizione manoscritta medievale e umanistica, verificandone il valore a partire da un paratesto (gli argumenta) che si presta particolarmente a correzioni e normalizzazioni, come ribadisce Nicolai nelle Conclusioni. Nella terza sezione l'indagine si estende alla ricezione della tradizione manoscritta nei testi a stampa, ricostruendo alcuni momenti pregnanti della storia editoriale precedente alla "rivoluzionaria" pubblicazione di Bekker nel 1823, basata sul testimone principale della prima famiglia di manoscritti, l'Urbinate gr. 111 (= Γ).

Il contributo di Daniela Colomo mira a saggiare la validità della tradizione papiracea attraverso l'analisi di alcuni passi problematici dell'A Nicocle (20; 21; 48; 1, in questo ordine). La studiosa mette a confronto le variae lectiones tralate da codici e papiri, accostando ad esse altri loci isocratei. Tra i papiri che conservano questa orazione parenetica spicca in particolare PKellis III Gr. 95. L'analisi si concentra su questioni di grammatica, stile, sintassi, usus scribendi, figure di suono e su contestualizzazioni storiche, senza tralasciare alcuna strada interpretativa. In tutti i casi studiati, l'analisi mostra come poziori le lezioni dei manoscritti ora della prima, ora della seconda famiglia, rispetto a quelle trasmesse dai papiri.

Stefania De Leo riprende le autocitazioni dell'orazione Sulla pace presenti nell'Antidosi (De pac. 32; 45; 46; 48; 52; 135; 142; 143; 43; 20; 56; 132; 50; 52; 57, in questo ordine), che rappresentano un banco di prova particolarmente significativo perché restituite in modi differenti nella tradizione manoscritta medievale. In particolare, mentre Γ le riproduce in forma abbreviata, i due testimoni primari della seconda famiglia (Laur. gr. 87.14 = Θ e Vat.-gr. 65 = Λ; per l'Antidosi indicati rispettivamente come θ e λ) riportano il testo per intero. Questi due manoscritti mostrano di coincidere, talvolta insieme, talvolta l'uno separatamente rispetto all'altro, con le varianti presenti in un papiro del I/II secolo d.C. (PLondLit 131) e/o con le citazioni di Dionigi di Alicarnasso nell'Isocrate e nel Demostene. La studiosa sottolinea il fatto che sul papiro sono presenti delle correzioni poste in atto dal diorthotes, il quale aveva consultato l'antigrafo, collazionandolo con un'altra edizione dell'orazione in suo possesso, e aveva rettificato i fraintendimenti dello scriba ponendo le correzioni negli spazi vuoti. Anche il lavoro ecdotico della De Leo comprende valutazioni di natura grammaticale, sintattica, linguistica, stilistica, storica, ricostruendo, laddove necessario, il processo di elaborazione grafica e/o mentale che ha comportato la corruttela. Ne desume che i papiri rappresentano una fase precedente alla divisione tra Γ e gli altri codici medievali.

Mariella Menchelli ha studiato il rapporto tra la tradizione papiracea e quella manoscritta nell'A Demonico, testo probabilmente spurio ma entrato precocemente nel corpusculum dei parenetici isocratei, presentati sempre nella stessa sequenza sia nel PKellis III Gr. 95, in forma quasi integrale, sia in un commentario neoplatonico anonimo (da costei studiato) e poi ancora in Fozio e nella tradizione medievale. In particolare, l'analisi comparata tra strutture e tematiche dell'orazione, unitamente alla presenza consistente e multiforme del testo nei papiri, rivela il largo impiego dello scritto nella pratica scolastica (sia nella carriera amministrativa che nella prima fase dell'insegnamento dottrinale dell'Accademia). In particolare, possono certamente ricollegarsi a contesti scolastici PBerol 8935 ν e PKellis III Gr. 95. L'analisi testuale condotta dalla studiosa conduce a una migliore comprensione dei fini e dei contesti in cui erano utilizzati i testimoni a noi giunti, mostrando che anche le due famiglie di manoscritti risalgono a tradizioni tardoantiche e rivelando in un caso connessioni con l'area di Alessandria e la chora egizia. L'insieme dei dati, unito all'analisi formale soprattutto dei due papiri più significativi dimostra che questi, seppur riferibili a contesto scolastico, erano espressione di una cultura molto alta, probabilmente ad uso di professori, e che le loro lezioni sono, nella maggior parte dei casi, preferibili rispetto alla tradizione medievale.

Marco Fassino si è concentrato sull'argumentum del Plataico a partire dall'analisi degli otto manoscritti che contengono questi paratesti, tutti appartenenti alla seconda famiglia dei codici medievali. Essi rivelano un prototipo comune diviso in due tomi, il secondo dei quali, contenente le ultime otto orazioni, deperdito. Dopo avere ricostruito le vicende occorse alla tradizione testuale, non esente da gravi perdite di tipo meccanico, lo studioso procede a ricostruire lo stemma dei manoscritti procedendo dall'ordo orationum e dall'analisi testuale dell'argumentum del Plataico. Se ne deduce l'esistenza di un codice intermedio che si poneva nel ramo di tradizione degli umanistici e che aveva "contaminato" per via orizzontale gli apografi di Λ (= Vaticanus gr. 65, datato al 1063). Segue l'edizione critica dell'argumentum del Plataico, nel quale si rileva la presenza di errori biografici e cronologici condivisi con la voce della Suda, nonché la presenza di glosse entrate per errore nel testo, forse già in epoca molto antica, prima che l'argumentum fosse inserito nel corpus isocrateo.

Maddalena Vallozza riprende la discussione sugli argumenta concentrandosi su quello dell'Evagora, grazie al quale dimostra che l'assunto di Hoffmann, basato su un frammento di Damascio, della contrapposizione di due metodi di lettura del corpus isocrateo, uno retorico e uno filosofico, si stempera in particolare alla luce di questo testo. Qui, infatti, quella presunta opposizione tra una esegesi di tipo tecnico-retorico e una di natura più etico-filosofica lascia in verità spazio a forme più varie ed elastiche di contatto tra le due prospettive di lettura, in cui una articolata e flessibile esegesi retorica dell'orazione si intreccia con la prospettiva paideutica, mostrando al contempo contatti con i metodi esegetici della scuola di Gaza.

Stefano Martinelli Tempesta ricostruisce, concentrandosi in particolare sul Panegirico, la tradizione testuale isocratea tra il Quattrocento e il Cinquecento, epoca nella quale l'utilizzo di un apografo (= Par. gr. 2931) del "rappresentante di un singolo ramo della seconda famiglia della tradizione isocratea" (= Vat. Gr. 65) non ha lasciato tracce nelle edizioni successive alla metà del XIX secolo, improntate sulla piena comprensione del valore di Γ ad opera di Bekker. Lo studioso si sofferma dunque sul processo che ha portato, nei due secoli in questione, alla creazione delle due facies testuali rinvenibili nelle edizioni a stampa, procedendo alla creazione di uno stemma delle stesse, mediante l'uso e il riadattamento delle regole della critica testuale. Si ripercorre quindi la storia delle edizioni a stampa, da quella milanese del 1493 ad opera di Demetrio Calcondila attraverso le due Aldine fino alle edizioni di Wolf (in particolare l'editio maior del 1570). Le Castigationes di Wolf dimostrano grande autorevolezza interpretativa, ma a partire dalla riscoperta di Γ, il suo pur straordinario lavoro divenne superfluo, così come quello di Henri Estienne, che diede alle stampe il suo testo nel 1593. L'analisi rivela, da un lato, l'unità dello stemma editionum, che si fonda di fatto su "una duplice vulgata", in cui la tradizione manoscritta è coinvolta direttamente solo in alcuni momenti. Il denso contributo riporta infine in un'appendice le variae lectiones privilegiate dagli editori quattro-cinquecenteschi per alcuni passi problematici del Panegirico, poste a confronto con le lezioni dei manoscritti e con le congetture di Wolf nelle diverse edizioni.

Manuel Zingg ha concentrato la sua analisi sulla ricezione dell'Archidamo nella Germania del Cinquecento. L'A Demonico e l'A Nicocle costituirono pilastri dell'educazione umanistica in Italia, diffusasi verso nord al tempo di Rodolfo Agricola. Complesso è in particolare il rapporto di Erasmo con Isocrate, che trascende l'usuale prospettiva paideutica. Si ripercorrono quindi le vicende editoriali dell'opera di Isocrate in Germania, sottolineando l'importanza del commento di Wolf all'Archidamo, del 1570. Zingg ha saggiato anche l'influsso delle Orazioni e soprattutto dell'Archidamo sulla letteratura coeva contro i Turchi. L'analisi individua così due orientamenti nella ricezione di Isocrate nella Germania del Cinquecento: una pedagogica, confinata alle parenetiche, e una "innovativa", aperta alle altre orazioni, mirante a cogliere analogie con il presente e legata allo sviluppo del commento scientifico. Un'appendice al testo indaga anche i rapporti tra l'Isocrate di Wolf e quello emendatior di Sofianòs, basato su un apografo di Γ (E = Ambr. O 144 sup), un tema affrontato anche da Martinelli Tempesta.

Pasquale Massimo Pinto ricostruisce le circostanze che condussero alla riscoperta dell'Antidosi nel XIX secolo procedendo dalle due famiglie di codici, quattro dei quali riportano integralmente il testo. Nella seconda famiglia è presente una grossa lacuna prodottasi in seguito a un danno materiale a monte di Λ che ha comportato la perdita di oltre tre quarti dell'opera, sì che nel Cinquecento la riemersione di E (che in quanto apografo di Γ non presentava tale lacuna) aveva suscitato grandi entusiasmi, reiteratisi ai primi dell'Ottocento, quando fu riscoperto. Si ricostruisce la serie di edizioni che nell'arco di pochi anni videro la luce: da quella del Mustoxydis del 1812, su cui è improntata una traduzione in latino (pubblicata come anonima, ma opera di Angelo Mai) di poco successiva, all'edizione zurighese di Orelli del 1814, intesa a migliorare il testo pubblicato dal Mustoxydis e a dimostrare l'autenticità della sezione inedita dell'Antidosi. Lo studioso analizza poi i carteggi che videro protagonisti Mustoxydis, Monti, Perticari e Amati in relazione alla scoperta da parte di quest'ultimo dei testimoni della prima famiglia nella Biblioteca Vaticana. Nonostante il lavoro di collazione dell'Amati, un'edizione non venne mai alla luce. Fu poi la "rifondazione" del testo attuata da Bekker a offuscare definitivamente il lavoro dei predecessori.

I contributi di questo volume, il cui ampio spettro di indagine costituisce un fondamento solido per l'auspicata nuova edizione delle Orazioni nella collana oxoniense, risaltano per rigore, dottrina, sensibilità e acume scientifici. Le conclusioni sono sempre frutto di argomentazioni complesse, ma disciplinate e coerenti. L'analisi ha investito tutti gli ambiti della critica testuale, in prospettiva non solo filologica ma anche storica e culturale, conseguendo risultati utili per tutti gli studiosi di Isocrate, ma fornendo anche un preclaro esempio di metodo. La resa editoriale del volume è ineccepibile; in fondo al libro vi sono gli indici dei luoghi citatati e dei manoscritti. Il lavoro è tanto più meritorio in quanto le edizioni critiche ad oggi pubblicate non si sono rivelate adeguate né sufficienti ad affrontare i problemi testuali.²

Authors and titles

Avvertenza
A. Carlini – D. Manetti, "Presentazione"
Abbreviazioni bibliografiche
Conspectus siglorum
PARTE PRIMA
D. Colomo, "Alcuni passi problematici dell'A Nicocle e il contributo dei papiri"
S. De Leo, "Questioni testuali nell'orazione Sulla pace"
M. Menchelli, "Livelli di lettura e circolazione libraria dei discorsi parenetici. L'A Demonico e il Nicocle all'interno del corpus di Isocrate e in alcuni testimoni antichi e medievali"
PARTE SECONDA
Marco Fassino, "Tradizione manoscritta costituzione del testo degli argumenta isocratei: l'esempio del Plataico"
Maddalena Vallozza, "La tradizione retorica nella ὑπόθεσις dell'Evagora"
PARTE TERZA
Stefano Martinelli Tempesta, "Vicende del testo isocrateo tra Quattro e Cinquecento"
Emmanuel Zingg, "Osservazioni sulla ricezione dell'Archidamo nella Germania del Cinquecento"
P.M. Pinto, "La riscoperta dell'Antidosi nel XIX secolo"
Considerazioni conclusive, di R. Nicolai
Indice dei luoghi citati
Indice dei manoscritti

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Notes:

1.   Oltre a organizzare un seminario pisano (A. Carlini-D. Manetti (edd.) Studi sulla tradizione del testo di Isocrate, Firenze, Olschki 2003), il gruppo ha cooperato alla stesura della sezione isocratea del Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici greci e latini (CPF; parte I.2 "Cultura e filosofia") pubblicato nel 2008, nel quale Stefano Martinelli Tempesta, coordinatore del progetto per l'edizione critica oxoniense, introduce criticamente (pp. XVIII-XXIV) i papiri contenenti le orazioni.
2.   Isocrate. Discours, texte établi et traduit par G. Mathieu – É. Brémond, I-IV, Paris, Les Belles Lettres 1928- 1962; Isocrates. Opera omnia, ed. B.G. Mandilaras, I-III, Monachii-Lipsiae, Saur 2003.

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Books Received July 2019.

Version at BMCR home site

This list contains all books and notifications of new books received in the previous month by BMCR. Potential reviewers should not respond to this email, but should use the request form linked here (Books Available for Review). Some books listed in this email may already have been assigned to reviewers.)

Acerbo, Stefano. Le tradizioni mitiche nella biblioteca dello ps Apollodoro: percorsi nella mitografia di eta imperiale. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 2019. 157 p. €36,00 (pb). ISBN 9789025613402.

Albrecht, Michael von. Antike und Neuzeit: Texte und Themen Band 2, Antike und europäische Literatur. Heidelberger Studienhefte zur Altertumswissenschaft. Hiedelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2019. 216 p. €24,00. ISBN 9783825369316.

Albrecht, Michael von. Antike und Neuzeit: Texte und Themen Band 3, Weltdichtung in Raum und Zeit von Vergil bis Borges. Heidelberger Studienhefte zur Altertumswissenschaft. Hiedelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2019. 292 p. €24,00. ISBN 9783825369323.

Andreu Pintado, Javier and Aitor Blanco-Pérez (ed.). Signs of weakness and crisis in the Western cities of the Roman Empire (c. II-III AD). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2019. 232 p. €46,00. ISBN 9783515124065.

Barrett, Caitlín E. Domesicating empire: Egyptian landscapes in Pompeian gardens. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. xxi, 445 p. $99.00. ISBN 9780190641351.

Bessone, Federica and Sabrina Stroppa (ed.). Lettori latini e italiani di Ovidio: atti del convegno, Università di Torino, 9-10 novembre 2017. Quaderni della Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale, 18. Pisa, Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2019. 124 p. €38,00 (pb). ISBN 9788833151687.

Biagetti, Claudio (ed.). Corpus dei papiri storici greci e latini Parte A, Storici greci, 2, Testi storici anepigrafi. Frammenti storici attribuiti a Teopompo, 9.1. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2019. 143 p. €110,00 (pb). ISBN 9788833150840.

Bianchi, Emanuela, Sara Brill and Brooke Holmes (ed.). Antiquities beyond humanism. Classics in theory. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. viii, 310 p. $100.00. ISBN 9780198805670.

Blas De Robles, Jean-Marie , Claude Sintes and Philip Kenrick. Classical antiquities of Algeria: a selective guide. London: The Society for Libyan Studies, 2019. xii, 314 p. £20.00 (pb). ISBN 9781900971546.

Buora, Maurizio and Stefano Magnani (ed.). I sistemi di smaltimento delle acque del mondo antico. Antichità Altoadriatiche, LXXXVII. Trieste: Editreg, 2018. 774 p. €80,00 (pb). ISBN 9788833490045.

Burgess, Jonathan, Jonathan Ready and Christos Tsagalis (ed.). Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic. Volume 3. Yearbook of ancient Greek epic, 3. Leiden: Brill, 2019. 204 p. €109,00. ISBN 9789004398511.

Calma, Dragos (ed.). Reading Proclus and the 'Book of Causes' Vol. 1. Western scholarly networks and debates. Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, 22. Leiden: Brill, 2019. 485 p. €168,00. ISBN 9789004345102.

Chaniotis, Angelos (ed.). Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Volume LXIV (2014). Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, 64. Leiden: Brill, 2018. 986 p. €195,00. ISBN 9789004373693.

Christesen, Paul, Wolfgang Decker, Christian Mann, Peter Mauritsch, Zinon Papakonstantinou, Robert Rollinger, Spickermann Wolfgang and Ingomar Weiler (ed.). Nikephoros - Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum 27. Jahrgang 2014. Hildesheim; Zürich; New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2019. 407 p. €84,00. ISBN 9783615004342.

Cropp, Martin. Minor Greek tragedians. Volume 1, The fifth century: fragments from the tragedies with selected testimonia. Aris & Phillips classical texts. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019. 296 p. £80.00. ISBN 9781786942029.

Cusset, Christophe and Alessandra Lukinovich (trans., comm.). Redécouvrir l'apparition de Ménandre. Etudes grecques. Paris: L'Harmattan Editions Distribution, 2019. 270 p. €29,00 (pb). ISBN 9782343172460.

Davies, Malcolm. The Cypria. Hellenic studies, 83. Cambridge; London: Harvard University Press, 2019. x, 212 p. £15.00 (pb). ISBN 9780674237919.

de Blois, Lukas and R. J. van der Spek. Einführung in die Alte Welt. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2019. 419 p. €39,00. ISBN 9783515101905.

Deeg, Philipp. Der Kaiser und die Katastrophe: Untersuchungen zum politischen Umgang mit Umweltkatastrophen im Prinzipat (31 v. Chr. bis 192 n. Chr.). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2019. 317 p. €55,00. ISBN 9783515123747.

Devine, Andrew M. and Laurence D. Stephens. Pragmatics for Latin: from syntax to information structure. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. x, 237 p. $74.00. ISBN 9780190939472.

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