Current Epigraphy
ISSN: 1754-0909

Appeared in BMCR 2008.01.61 a few days ago, Jonathan Strang’s relatively brief review of the second edition of this important student primer:

P.J. Rhodes, The Greek City States: A Source Book. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xiii, 339. ISBN 978-0-521-85049-0. $85.00 (hb). ISBN 978-0-521-61556-3. $29.99 (pb).

(Worldcat record)

Strang highlights the value of this tome for the novice undergraduate and praises Rhodes’ “lucid commentary”. He summarises the structure of the volume, and notes the addition of three new chapters on “Women and Children”, “Economic Life” and religion, as well as several important new texts. This is an important new edition of the 1986 sourcebook, and Strang notes that it has been thoroughly updated throughout. While noting weaknesses of the work (many of which arise from the unfortunate but inevitable need in a student text to generalize and gloss over some important variations in antiquity), the reviewer concludes:

Despite my reservations about the Hellenistic content, The Greek City States remains an excellent resource for the Greek history instructor. Indeed, it is superior in content, form and design to the comparable sourcebooks by Crawford and Whitehead, and the volumes by Fornara and Harding in the Translated Documents of Greece & Rome series. It is a welcome addition to any class concerning Greek social history of the Archaic and Classical periods.

• BMCR 2008.01.05 = Adam Lajtar, Deir el-Bahari in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: A Study of an Egyptian Temple Based on Greek Sources. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, Suppl. IV.   Warsaw:  Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University and Fundacja im. Rafala Taubenschlaga, 2006.  Pp. xviii, 462; ills. 28.  ISBN 10: 83-918250-3-5.  ISBN 13: 978-83-918250-3-7.  $119.00. Reviewed by Gil Renberg.

• BMCR 2008.01.29 = Zahra Newby, Ruth Leader-Newby, Art and Inscriptions in the Ancient World. Cambridge: 2007. Pp. xvii, 303. $120.00. ISBN 978-0-521-86851-8. Reviewed by Natalie Boymel Kampen.

The following titles of possible interest to epigraphers are available for review from BMCR this month (see BMCR 2008.01.01):

Bauer, Franz Alto, and Christian Witschel, Statuen in der Spaetantike. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert, 2007. Pp. 500; ills. 200. EUR 98.00. ISBN 978-3-89500-576-3.

Koch, Guntram (ed.), Akten des Symposiums des Sarkophag-Corpus 2001. Marburg, 2. bis 7 Juli 2001. Sarkophag-Studien Band 3. Mainz am Rhein: von Zabern, 2007. Pp. xii, 354; ills. 32, pls. 120. Tafeln. EUR 98.50. ISBN 978-3-8053-3501-0.

Rayboud, Marilynne E., and Patrick Sims-Williams (edd. and trans.), A Corpus of Latin Inscriptions of the Roman Empire Containing Celtic Personal Names. Aberystwyth, Wales: CMCS Publications, Department of Welsh, Old College, 2007. Pp. ix, 284; maps 2. GBP 18.00. ISBN 978-0-9527478-7-1.

Rayboud, Marilynne E., and Patrick Sims-Williams (edd.), The Geography of Celtic Personal Names in the Latin Inscriptions of the Roman Empire. Aberystwyth, Wales: CMCS Publications, Department of Welsh, Old College, 2007. Pp. v, 210; maps 3. GBP 18.00. ISBN 978-0-9527478-6-4.

Titles of possible interest to epigraphers exerpted from BMCR 2007.11.01 (received in October or still available from previous months):

*Breeze, David J., Roman Frontiers in Britain. Classical World Series. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2007. Pp. 103. $20.00 (pb). ISBN 978-185399-6986.

*Bresson, Alain, L’économie de la Grèce des cités (fin VIe-Ier siècle a.C.). I. Les structures et la production. Collection U. Histoire. Paris: Armand Colin, 2007. Pp. 264. (pb). ISBN 978-2-2002-6504-5.

*Canali De Rossi, Filippo, Filius Publicus. Huios tês Poleês e titoli affini in iscrzioni greche di età imperiale. Studi sul vocabolario dell’evergesia, 1. Roma: Herder Editrice e Libreria, 2007. Pp. xi, 272. EUR 40.00 (pb). ISBN 978-88-89670-24-8.

*Chioffi, Laura, La collezione epigrafica di Camillo Pellegrino a Casapulla. Roma: Edizioni Quasar, 2007. Pp. 45; figs. 31. EUR 16.50 (pb). ISBN 978-88-7140-338-X.

*Sidebotham, Steven E., and Willeke Wendrich (edd.), Berenike 1999/2000. Report on the Excavations at Berenike, including Excavations in Wadi Kalalat and Siket, and the Survey of the Mons Smaragdus Region. Cotsen Monographs, 56. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, 2007. Pp. xix, 404; tbls. 30, figs. 171, pls. 206, maps 2. $40.00 (pb). ISBN 978-1-931745-28-4.

*Mitchell, Stephen, and Constantina Katsari (edd.), Patterns in the Economy of Roman Asia Minor. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2005. Pp. xii, 335. $79.50. ISBN 978-1-905125-02-9.

*Mattingly, David J. (ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan. Volume 2, Site Gazetteer, Pottery and Other Survey Finds. Society for Libyan Studies Monograph 7. London: The Society for Libyan Studies and Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahariya Department of Antiquities, 2007. Pp. xxix, 522; figs. and tables. GBP 50.00. ISBN 978-1-900971-05-4.

*Schumacher, Leonhard (ed.), Corpus der rômischen Rechtsquellen zur antiken Sklaverei (CRRS). Teil VI. Stellung des Sklaven im Sakralrecht. Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei, Beiheft 3. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2006. Pp. xxiii, 126. EUR 36.00. ISBN 978-3-515-08977-7.

*Eiteljorg, Harrison, II, and W. Fredrick Limp, Archaeological Computing. Bryn Mawr: Center for the Study of Architecture, 2007. Pp. 244.

*Herda, Alexander, Der Apollo-Delphinios-Kult in Milet und die Neujahrsprozession nach Didyma. Ein neuer Kommentar der sog. Molpoi-Satzung. Milesische Forschungen, 4. Mainz am Rhein: von Zabern, 2006. Pp. xiv, 543; ills. 22. EUR 65.00. ISBN 978-3-8053-3560-7.

Reviewed in BMCR 2007.10.40:

John Scheid, Res gestae divi Augusti. Hauts faits du divin Auguste. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2007. Pp. ccxxiv, 126; figs. 4. ISBN 978-2-251-01446-3. €49.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Josiah Osgood, Georgetown

In this detailed and critical review Osgood praises the thorough and perfectly up-to-date edition of the Res Gestae, a work that encapsulates the field and serves as a milestone for scholarship. Although he is not sparing of those occasional places where he feels Scheid’s analysis or references to secondary sources could be better (or could have diffrent emphasis), he summarises:

But however scholars choose to interpret Augustus’ Achievements, the task will now begin with Scheid’s outstanding edition. In reconstituting the text itself, above all, it represents a great advance.

Just catching up with this: last week in BMCR 2007.10.15 a review of

Fritz Graf, Sarah Iles Johnston, Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets. London/New York: Routledge, 2007. Pp. x, 246. ISBN 978-0-415-41551-4. £18.99 (pb).

Reviewed by Franco Ferrari, Università dell’Aquila – I

The reviewer gives a very thorough summary of this volume, which combines epigraphic editions of the known (and three new) texts by Graf, along with Johnston’s translations and commentary on the Dionysiac and Orphic myths. Ferrari for some reason seems offended by what he terms the “diplomatic” transcription of the lamellae (by which he means that it “retain[s] the exact spelling of words as they appear on the tablets in order to document the degree of literacy possessed by these local writers” and “could not admit any textual alteration”). But he otherwise praises this wide-ranging book intended for a broad readership, although he recognises that “Much remains to be done in order to understand both the mystery leaves and some elusive figures like Dionysus, Orpheus, Mnemosyne.”

Further, on the epigraphic front:

Lastly, an appendix of “additional Bacchic texts” (pp. 185-190) contains the Olbia bone tablets (no. 94a-c Dubois), the inscriptions from Olbia no. 92 e 95 Dubois, and the translation of col. i of P.Gurôb 1 and the edict of Ptolemy IV Philopator preserved in P.Berlin 11774. One could usefully have added Posidippus’ epigrams 43, 44, 60, and 118 A.-B., a very interesting witness to Dionysiac cults in Macedonia, and the contemporary epitaph (anon. 148 FGE) for Philicus of Corcyra, who was both a poet and a priest of Dionysus.

Titles of potential interest to epigraphers exerpted from BMCR 2007.09.62, Books Received September 2007:

Titles marked by an asterisk are available for review. Qualified volunteers should indicate their interest by a message to classrev@brynmawr.edu, with their last name and requested author in the subject line. They should state their qualifications (both in the sense of degrees held and in the sense of experience in the field concerned) and explain any previous relationship with the author.

*Finkel, I.L. (ed.), Ancient Board Games in Perspective. Papers from the 1990 Britsh Museum colloquium, with additional contributions. London, The British Museum Press, 2007. Pp. vi, 281. $100.00. ISBN 978-0-714-11153-7.

*Sommerstein, Alan H., and Judith Fletcher (edd.), Horkos. The Oath in Greek Society. Exeter: Bristol Phoenix Press, 2007. Pp. xii, 304. $95.00. ISBN 978-1-904675-67-9.

*Daris, Sergio, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano. Supplemento 4 (2002-2005). Biblioteca degli Studi di Egittologia e di Papirologia, 5. Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2007. Pp. 146. EUR 165.00 (pb). ISBN 978-88-6227-004-5.

*Ray, John, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt. Wonders of the World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Pp. 199. $19.95. ISBN 978-0-674-02493-9.

*Rhodes, P.J., The Greek City States. A Source Book. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xiii, 339; maps 2. $29.99 (pb). ISBN 978-0-521-61556-3.

Reviewed in BMCR 2007.09.49:

Christian Flügel, Spätantike Arztinschriften als Spiegel des Einflusses des Christentums auf die Medizin. Beihefte zum Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft Band 20. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006. Pp. 410. ISBN 978-3-89744-258-0. €59.00.

Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus, Hilpoltstein (t.j.kraus@web.de)

This is a relatively short review of a 2005 dissertation focussing on late antique doctors’ epitaphs and attempting to trace the influence of Christianity on this period of medicine’s history. Kraus is apparently not terribly impressed by the historical (nor by the attempted inter-disciplinary) research in this volume, although he does concede that the conclusions–including the claim that there is enough evidence of Christianity’s influence on medicine to warrant further studies–are sensible and welcome.

Among his complaints:

More serious, and consequently more of a problem, is that [Flügel] mostly refrains from contextualizing the inscriptions with relevant sources from the same period of time (papyri, literary sources, and other epigraphic artifacts). Therefore, the pictures he paints for the backgrounds of most of the inscriptions remain pale, and the socio-cultural settings he describes are vague.

It is not uncommon of course for historians to abuse epigraphy, and Kraus points out in this review that the author’s grasp of late antique religious and medical history is far from unsophisticated.

In BMCR 2007.09.11 is a review of:

Christian Marek (ed.), Die Inschriften von Kaunos. Vestigia, 55.   München:  C.H. Beck, 2006.  Pp. 416; ills. 240, maps 3.  ISBN 978-3-406-55074-4.  €100.70.

Reviewed by Filippo Canali De Rossi, Rome

The review of this major publication concludes with the following summary and the final interesting comment:

Per concludere: si tratta certamente di un volume importante, sia per la eccellente pubblicazione di una grande quantità di rilevante materiale inedito, che per la presentazione di un quadro documentario completo, finalizzato ad una ricostruzione globale della storia della città, la quale si trova a fungere da cerniera fra mondi diversi (la Caria e la Licia, i Greci e i Persiani, gli Antigonidi e i Tolemei, i Rodii ed Eumene, fino all’arrivo dei Romani).

L’opera di Louis Robert, a cui l’autore si ispira, è certamente un modello più facile da ammirare che da imitare, ma egli in ogni caso è riuscito a produrre un ottimo lavoro, combinando una efficienza tipicamente teutonica con una più che valida erudizione.

In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.08.46:

Joaquín Gómez-Pantoja, Hispania Epigraphica 1989-2000 (1 al 10). Madrid: Servicio de Publicaciones, 2006. Pp. CD-Rom. ISBN 84-95215-53-5. €50.00 (individuals). €66.00 (institutions).

Reviewed by David Noy, University of Wales Lampeter (d.noy@lamp.ac.uk)

In his review of this incredibly useful resource (ten issues in PDF on a single CD Rom rather than the hefty volumes which–as Noy points out–are only held by four libraries in the UK), Noy both discusses the advantages and limitations of this electronic format, and considers the quality of some of the contents. He concludes with this comment:

Anyone who has emerged with an aching back and covered with dust after a session with CIL will appreciate having inscriptions in a form accessible from a desktop anywhere, although we are still a long way from the epigraphic utopia of having all information about an inscription available at the click of a mouse, or even from easily knowing where to click for the information. It is not likely that anyone other than a reviewer will want to go through ten volumes of HEp page by page, but the convenience of being able to do so at home rather than in a library is clear. Electronic publication offers other advantages too: ease of searching; updatable bibliographies and concordances. The epigraphy of the Iberian provinces seems to be particularly well-served electronically, and although the CD-ROM version of HEp has some shortcomings, it will be extremely useful in conjunction with other resources.

This week in BMCR 2007.08.43:

Joan Breton Connelly, Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Pp. xv, 415; figs. 109, color pls. 27. ISBN 978-0-691-12746-0. $39.50.

Reviewed by Catherine M. Keesling, Georgetown University (keeslinc@georgetown.edu)

This very thorough review is broadly positive, but makes some very important critical observations, especially with regard to evidence outside of Connelly’s primary field of archaeology and iconography (see below). On the methodological approach generally, Keesling notes approvingly that:

Chapter 1 outlines possible approaches, both theoretical and pragmatic, to the role of women in Greek religion. In the end (16-17), the methodology of Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood is adopted, in practice a kind of thick description of every possible source of evidence, without unduly privileging some forms of evidence over others.

But later in the review, and of particular interest to the epigraphist reader, she concludes:

In my opinion, Connelly’s scholarly accomplishment in this book would emerge with greater clarity if she were willing to concede this point, and to accept the primacy of the epigraphical evidence in the book she has written: after all, how many of the 150 priestesses mentioned here would we know by name without inscriptions?

Reviewed today in BMCR 2007.08.06, a volume which includes detailed discussion of inscribed amulets and curse tablets:

Silke Trzcionka, Magic and the Supernatural in Fourth-Century Syria. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. Pp. 227. ISBN 0-415-39242-X. £17.99.

Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus, Hilpoltstein (t.j.kraus@web.de)

The very positive (but not uncritical) review summarises the contents (for a summary of which see this post at the Papyrology blog), and shows how the geographically, chronologically, and topically constrained subject matter makes for a more thorough and rigorous study of ancient magic than is normally possible in the general tomes that abound in this field. The reviewer concludes with the words:

Without doubt T.’s meticulous work is very welcome and a significant contribution to the field of research on (late) antique magic. T. approaches magic in two geographical regions and in a historical period, both of which are usually not in the main focus of scholarly work. This is done in an unbiased and sound way. Very impressive is her skillful narrative account and her fluent style of writing. With her fine and concise observations at hand the readers, no matter if they are specialists in the field, beginning students of (late) antiquity, or just readers interested in the subject matters, are enabled to develop some further insights in some very specific topics that could only be touched in the book. T. must be thanked for having written that fascinating book.

In this months Books Received list in BMCR 2007.08.01, the following titles appear that may be of interest to epigraphers:

Titles marked by an asterisk are available for review. Qualified volunteers should indicate their interest by a message to classrev@brynmawr.edu, with their last name and requested author in the subject line. They should state their qualifications (both in the sense of degrees held and in the sense of experience in the field concerned) and explain any previous relationship with the author.

*Benoist, Stéphane (ed.), Mémoire et histoire: les procédures de condamnation dans l’antiquité romaine. Publications du Centre Régional Universitaire Lorrain d’Histoire, Site de Metz, 31. Metz: Centre Régional Universitaire Lorrain d’Histoire, 2007. Pp. xvii, 360. EUR 35.00 (pb). ISBN 2-85730-035-2.

*Heinen, Heinz (ed.), Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei. CD-ROM Lieferung 1. Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei, 5. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2006. EUR 175.00. ISBN 978-3-515-08919-7.

*Ramsby, Teresa R., Textual Permanence. Roman Elegists and the Epigraphic Tradition. London: Duckworth, 2007. Pp. ix, 197. $81.00. ISBN 978-0-7156-3632-9.

*Ray, John, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt. Wonders of the World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Pp. 199. $19.95. ISBN 978-0-674-02493-9.

*Rhodes, P.J., The Greek City States. A Source Book. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xiii, 339; maps 2. $29.99 (pb). ISBN 978-0-521-61556-3.

Robert, Louis, Choix d’écrits. Édité par Denis Rousset avec la collaboration de Philippe Gauthier et Ivana Savalli-Lestrade. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2007. Pp. 799; figs. 77. EUR 85.00. ISBN 978-2-251-38083-4.

*Schumacher, Leonhard (ed.), Corpus der römischen Rechtsquellen zur antiken Sklaverei (CRRS). Teil VI. Stellung des Sklaven im Sakralrecht. Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei, Beiheft 3. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2006. Pp. xxiii, 126. EUR 36.00. ISBN 978-3-515-08977-7.

*Eiteljorg, Harrison, II, and W. Fredrick Limp, Archaeological Computing. Bryn Mawr: Center for the Study of Architecture, 2007. Pp. 244.

*Fourrier, Sabine, and Antoine Hermary, Amathonte VI: Le sanctuaire d’Aphrodite. des origines au début de l’époque impériale. Études Chypriotes XVII. Paris: De Boccard, 2006. Pp. 218; figs. 508, pls. 50, plan 1. EUR 100.00 (pb). ISBN 2-86958-220-X.

A review in BMCR 2007.07.63 of:

Sviatoslav Dmitriev, City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. xiii, 428. ISBN 0-19-517042-3. GBP 45.00.

Reviewed by Andrea Raggi, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche del Mondo Antico, Università di Pisa. 1803 words

The reviewer summarises a useful work and makes some serious and convincing criticisms, including evidence of over-generalisation, use of epigraphic databases for searching and listing comparanda without enough attention to detail and local variation, and sometimes atypical conclusions. An epigraphic index, inventory of city offices, and bibliography seem to be particularly useful.