Reviews
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Julian and Christianity: Revisiting the Constantinian Revolution
14–21 minutesDavid Neal Greenwood, Julian and Christianity: Revisiting the Constantinian Revolution (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2021). 9781501755484. Reviewed by Jeremy J. Swist, Brandeis University, jeremswist@brandeis.edu. The emperor Julian, dubbed “the Apostate” by his detractors for rejecting the faith of his upbringing and attempting to stop the spread of the Christian “pandemic” accelerated by his uncle Constantine
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Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook
9–13 minutesLiv Albert, Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook (New York: Adams Media, 2021). 9781474461610; 9781507215494. Reviewed by Debby Sneed, California State University, Long Beach, debby.sneed@csulb.edu. I have anticipated Liv Albert’s handbook on Greek mythology since I became aware of her successful podcast, “Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!”. The podcast format encourages storytelling rather
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The Stoic Theory of Beauty
14–21 minutesAistė Čelkytė, The Stoic Theory of Beauty (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020). 9781474461610; 9781474461634. Reviewed by Michael McOsker, Institut für Altertumskunde, Universität zu Köln, mmcosker@umich.edu. What is good about peacock tail feathers? And what do they have in common with the sage, who is the only truly beautiful person? This book by Aistė Čelkytė, a
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Oil, Wine, and the Cultural Economy of Ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era
12–18 minutesCatherine E. Pratt, Oil, Wine, and the Cultural Economy of Ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021). 9781108835640. Reviewed by Evan Vance, University of California, Berkeley, evan.j.vance@berkeley.edu. How did oil and wine become constitutive features of Greek culture, both within the Greek peninsula and in the broader
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The Story of Garum
11–16 minutesSally Grainger. The Story of Garum: Fermented Fish Sauce and Salted Fish in the Ancient World. Routledge: London, 2021. 9781138284074; 9781315269825. Reviewed by Christopher Stedman Parmenter, University of Pennsylvania, csparment@gmail.com. Commodities bring the world together.1 This is the principle that undergirds commodity biography, the transnational study of how the production, transport, and consumption of material
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Women and War in Roman Epic
10–15 minutesElina Pyy, Women and War in Roman Epic, The Language of Classical Literature 33 (Leiden: Brill, 2020). 9789004434905. Reviewed by Andrew McClellan, San Diego State University, amcclellan@sdsu.edu. It’s refreshing to see more and more scholars tackle big issues systematically across a range of authors/texts, as Pyy does here in her excellent Women and War in
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Jerome of Stridon and the Ethics of Literary Production in Late Antiquity
12–17 minutesThomas E. Hunt, Jerome of Stridon and the Ethics of Literary Production in Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2020). 9789004417465. Reviewed by Sarah Teets, University of Virginia, sct4ze@virginia.edu Thomas Hunt’s Jerome of Stridon and the Ethics of Literary Production in Late Antiquity explores the relationship of the literary practices of reading and writing to the material
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Irrigation in Roman Western Europe
8–12 minutesAnna Willi, Irrigation in Roman Western Europe, Deutsche Wasserhistorische Gesellschaft 17. Clausthal-Zellerfeld: Schriften der Deutschen Wasserhistorischen Gesellschaft, 2021. 9783869487533. Reviewed by Daniel Plekhov, Brown University, daniel_plekhov@brown.edu Willi’s Irrigation in Roman Western Europe is a comprehensive study of the archaeological, textual, and epigraphic evidence for irrigation within Western Europe during periods of Roman rule. As an
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Luwian Hieroglyphic Texts in Late Bronze Age Scribal Tradition
5–8 minutesFred C. Woudhuizen, Luwian Hieroglyphic Texts in Late Bronze Age Scribal Tradition, (Wiesbaden: Harrowitz Verlag, 2021). 9783447115315. Reviewed by Josh Cannon, University of Pittsburgh, jwc70@pitt.edu This volume is unique and of great value in that it presents the full known corpus of Late Bronze Age (LBA) hieroglyphic Luwian texts (minus those texts that contain less
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Dynastic Deeds
15–22 minutesAlessandro Poggio, Dynastic Deeds: Hunt Scenes in the Funerary Imagery of the Achaemenid Eastern Mediterranean, (Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2020). 9781407356389; 9781407354668. Reviewed by Stephanie Kimmey, Colorado College, skimmey@coloradocollege.edu Poggio’s book fits in its art historical context by exploring dynastic funerary monuments, while also using a wider range of supporting evidence, such as iconography of other
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