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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 1 Jun 2009 14:35
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BMCR 2009.06.03: Miguelez-Cavero on Catoni, La comunicazione non verbale nella Grecia antica. Gli schemata nella danza, nell'arte, nella vita. Universale Bollati Boringhieri 560

Maria Luisa Catoni, La comunicazione non verbale nella Grecia antica.
Gli schemata nella danza, nell'arte, nella vita. Universale Bollati
Boringhieri 560.  Torino:  Bollati Boringhieri, 2008.  Pp. 416.  ISBN
9788833918969.  EUR 20.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Laura Migue/lez-Cavero and Alicia Migue/lez-Cavero,
Postdoctoral Researcher of the Spanish Foundation for Science and
Technology (FECYT); University of Leo/n (Spain) (Lmigcav <at> hotmail.com;
alimiguelez <at> hotmail.com)
Word count:  1223 words
-------------------------------
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Maria Luisa Catoni, a researcher at the Scuola Normale Superiore di
Pisa (Italy), first published this book in 2005.[[1]] It has now been
reissued with a preface by Salvattore Settis (pp. vii-xi), a 2008
"Postilla" (pp. 11-15, mainly on mirror neurons), and final indexes of
names and quoted passages. The title does not, however, do full justice
to what Catoni offers, namely a thoroughly researched study on the uses
of the word <greek>sxh=ma</greek>, drawing mainly on sources from the
fifth and fourth centuries BC.[[2]]

The first chapter (pp. 19-71) deals with the scientific uses of this
term. In geometry, two traditions concurred: in the first, sponsored by
Aristotle, the Stoics, Euclid, Heron of Alexandria and Proclus, schema
is understood as a geometrical figure (i.e. what is contained within
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 1 Jun 2009 14:33
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BMCR 2009.06.02: Biella on Sannibale, La raccolta Giacinto Guglielmi, Parte II: Bronzi e materiali vari. Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Cataloghi, 4/2

Maurizio Sannibale (ed.), La raccolta Giacinto Guglielmi, Parte II:
Bronzi e materiali vari. Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco,
Cataloghi, 4/2.  Roma:  L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2008.  Pp. 374.  ISBN
978-88-8265-432-X.  EUR 235.00.

Reviewed by Maria Cristina Biella, Rome (mcristinabiella <at> tiscali.it)
Word count:  1256 words
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In the chapter of his book dedicated to Civitavecchia George Dennis
asserted: "It does not appear that an Etruscan town occupied this site.
Yet relics of that antiquity are preserved here, some in the Town-hall,
mostly from Corneto, and some in the house of Signor Guglielmi, an
extensive proprietor of land in the Roman Maremma".[[1]]

The Guglielmi collection was an outcome of extensive archaeological
research carried out in Vulci in the first decades of the 19th
century.[[2]] In 1900 hereditary issues led to its division between two
brothers, Giulio and Giacinto. One portion of it went to Benedetto
Guglielmi, Giulio's son; donated by him to Pope Pius IX in 1935, it was
studied a few years later by J.D. Beazley and F. Magi.[[3]] The
remaining items were transferred from Civitavecchia to Rome and kept in
the family's house in Via del Gesu\.[[4]]

In 1987 Benedetto Guglielmi's heirs sold their archaeological
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 1 Jun 2009 14:39
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BMCR 2009.06.04: van der Horst on Volk, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos VI/1 & VI/2. Historia animae utilis de Barlaam et Ioasaph. Patristische Texte und Studien Bd. 61 & 60

Robert Volk, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos VI/1: Historia
animae utilis de Barlaam et Ioasaph (spuria). Patristische Texte und
Studien Bd. 61.  Berlin:  Walter de Gruyter, 2009.  Pp. xlii, 596.
ISBN 978-3-11-019462-3.  EUR 128.00; $179.00.

Robert Volk, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos VI/2: Historia
animae utilis de Barlaam et Ioasaph (spuria). Text und zehn Appendices.
Patristische Texte und Studien Bd. 60.  Berlin:  Walter de Gruyter,
2006.  Pp. xiv, 512.  ISBN 978-3-11-018134-0.  EUR 118.00; $165.00.

Reviewed by Pieter W. van der Horst, Utrecht (pwvdh <at> xs4all.nl)
-------------------------------
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-------------------------------

This work consists of two volumes, an introduction to the writing
commonly called Barlaam et Ioasaph, and a critical edition of the Greek
text. The text edition (vol. 2) was published in 2006, the introduction
(vol. 1) only two years later, in late 2008. It was decided to review
the text edition together with the introduction; hence the delay of the
review of volume 2.

In the centuries around the beginning of the common era, both oral and
written stories about the life and teaching of the Buddha circulated in
South-Eastern Asia. After their spread from India into Tibet, they were
taken further westwards by Buddhist missionaries who travelled into
Central Asia, where Manichaeans (well-known for their eclectic
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 3 Jun 2009 01:48
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BMCR 2009.06.05: ALSO SEEN: Jennings on Fansa, Tierisch moralisch. Die Welt der Fabel in Orient und Okzident. Begleitschrift zur Sonderausstellung des Landesmuseums Natur und Mensch Oldenburg vom 22. Februar bis zum 01. Juni 2009. (Schriftenreihe des Landesmuseums Natur und Mensch, Heft 63)

ALSO SEEN: Mamoun Fansa (ed.), Tierisch moralisch. Die Welt der Fabel
in Orient und Okzident. Begleitschrift zur Sonderausstellung des
Landesmuseums Natur und Mensch Oldenburg vom 22. Februar bis zum 01.
Juni 2009. (Schriftenreihe des Landesmuseums Natur und Mensch, Heft
63).  Wiesbaden:  Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2009.  Pp. 315.  ISBN
9783895006630.  EUR 24.90.

Reviewed by Victoria Jennings, Visiting Research Fellow (Classics),
University of Adelaide (victoriajennings <at> hotmail.com)
-------------------------------
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-------------------------------

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

This gorgeous book accompanies an exhibition in Oldenburg on animal
fables and other didactic narratives. Tierisch moralisch is more than a
catalogue. The book begins with sixteen very brief but copiously
illustrated chapters examining animal fable from antiquity to the
twenty-first century in European and Near Eastern culture (17-131); two
sections follow, contextualizing the 'Geisteswelt' of the exhibition's
areas of special interest in terms of their writing cultures, music,
and built environment. These areas are the Near East from the tenth to
fifteenth centuries (132-165) and Europe from the fourteenth to
sixteenth centuries (168-225). Finally, there is an illustrated
catalogue of the exhibition (226-300) and a bibliography (301-316).
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 3 Jun 2009 01:51
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BMCR 2009.06.06: Hernandez de la Fuente on Havlicek, Plato's Symposium: Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium Platonicum Pragense

Ales Havli/cek, Martin Cajthaml (ed.), Plato's Symposium: Proceedings
of the Fifth Symposium Platonicum Pragense.  Prague:  Oikoumene, 2007.
Pp. 349.  ISBN 9788072982936.  EUR 18.00.

Contributors:  G. Reale, K. Sier, P. Hobza, D. O'Brien, S.
Stern-Gillet, M. Cajthaml, J.J. Cleary, F. Karfi/k, E.A. Moutsopoulos,
F. Lisi, B. Zehnpfennig, D. Barbaric, I. Chvati/k, A. Havli/cek, T.A.
Szleza/k, J. Jirsa, P. McCormick, T.M. Robinson, G. Girgenti.

Reviewed by David Herna/ndez de la Fuente, Universitaet Potsdam
(fuente <at> uni-potsdam.de)
Word count:  2312 words
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-------------------------------

As a new contribution to the abundant literature on Plato's Symposium,
international scholarship must welcome the Proceedings of the Fifth
Symposium Platonicum Pragense (for the Third Symposium, see BMCR
2006.06.27), edited under the supervision of A. Havli/cek and M.
Cajthaml and dedicated to one of Plato's most popular and fascinating
dialogues. Held in Prague (October 12th-15th, 2005), this international
colloquium presented a wide variety of papers focused on different
philosophical and philological aspects of the Symposium. The ensuing
volume is a useful piece of scholarly literature, although, as usually
happens with this type of books, some individual contributions are more
outstanding than others.
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 3 Jun 2009 14:52
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BMCR 2009.06.07: Bekker-Nielsen on Talbert, Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods. Technology and Change in History, v. 10

Richard J. A. Talbert, Richard W. Unger (ed.), Cartography in Antiquity
and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods. Technology and
Change in History, v. 10.  Leiden/Boston:  Brill, 2008.  Pp. xix, 299;
[16] p. of plates.  ISBN 9789004166639.  $154.00.

Reviewed by Toennes Bekker-Nielsen, University of Southern Denmark
Word count:  1890 words
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-------------------------------

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

The papers in this book derive from a Medieval studies workshop held at
the University of British Columbia in October 2005. Their origin is
reflected both in the predominantly Anglo-Saxon background of the
authors and the predominantly medieval nature of the topics, but there
is much to interest the classicist as well. The disposition of the book
is loosely chronological. The first three chapters -- the introduction
by the editors, Richard Talbert on Greek and Roman mapping, and Patrick
Dalche/ on the medieval reception of ancient cartography -- offer an
introductory overview of the subject and its research history. This is
followed by three studies of ancient or early Medieval maps (Jennifer
Trimble on the Severan plan of Rome, Tom Elliott and Emily Albu on the
Peutinger map), six on early and high Medieval cartography and
perceptions of the world, and two final chapters (Raymond Clemens and
Camille Serchuk) on maps in late Medieval and Renaissance Europe.
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 3 Jun 2009 14:54
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BMCR 2009.06.08: Blomqvist on Dunshirn, Griechisch fuer das Philosophiestudium. UTB 8403

Alfred Dunshirn, Griechisch fuer das Philosophiestudium. UTB 8403.
Wien:  facultas.wuv, 2008.  Pp. 172.  ISBN 9783825284039.  EUR 14.90 (pb).

Reviewed by Jerker Blomqvist, Lund University
(jerker.blomqvist <at> klass.lu.se)
Word count:  2146 words
-------------------------------
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-------------------------------

[Table of contents at the end of the review.]

Not too many decades ago, teachers of philosophy at European and
American universities could safely presume that their students had some
familiarity with Greek and Latin and that a number of them had studied
those languages for many years at school. That situation changed in the
latter half of the twentieth century. Today, an overwhelming majority
of those who enter the universities, including philosophy students,
have met with hardly any Latin at all and even less Greek in their
preparatory schools. The elementary courses in philosophy seem to
attract more students than before, and students with diversified
backgrounds and with various reasons for studying philosophy.
Increasing numbers of students are, of course, welcome to the
departments; the diversity of their previous education and plans for
the future are often stimulating elements of this present situation.
Even teachers of an older generation, who were accustomed to scribbling
the blackboard full with quotations in Greek and Latin, mostly adapted
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 4 Jun 2009 15:03
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BMCR 2009.06.09: Gastaldi on Beale, Euripides Talks

Alan Beale (ed.), Euripides Talks.  London:  Bristol Classical Press,
2008.  Pp. x, 139.  ISBN 9781853997129.  L12.99 (pb).

Reviewed by Viviana Gastaldi, Universidad Nacional del Sur
(gastaldi <at> uns.edu.ar)
Word count:  1377 words
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Actores de Dionysus (aod) formado en 1993 y dedicado a la
interpretacio/n del drama cla/sico, se ha convertido en el principal
exponente de la tragedia griega en el teatro contempora/neo y en la
educacio/n. Desde sus primeras producciones--dos DVDs, un audiobook
sobre Medea y una extensa serie de pre-performances publicadas en su
revista Dionysus, de donde se extrae la seleccio/n presente en este
libro--el grupo se destaca por difundir la tragedia griega a nuevas y
ma/s amplias audiencias. En este caso, el pequenn~o volumen editado por
Alan Beale (director por diez an~os de "aod" y editor de un primer
video "Handbook to Face of Tragedy") contiene conversaciones sobre
cinco tragedias euripi/deas: Bacantes, Medea, Hipo/lito, Electra y
Troyanas. En la introduccio/n el editor sen~ala las caracteri/sticas
singulares del teatro de Dioniso en Atenas y las modernas adaptaciones
de algunas piezas por "aod", como Bacantes en el 2000 y Medea en el
2001. Sen~ala asimismo que "Actors of Dionysus took their name from the
Greek guilds of itinerant actors which formed in the third century BC.
They have metamorphosed into aod as they have developed their
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 4 Jun 2009 15:04
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BMCR 2009.06.10: Peti on Nelson, Thomas Hobbes: Translations of Homer. (2 vols.)

Eric Nelson (ed.), Thomas Hobbes: Translations of Homer. (2 vols.).
Oxford/New York:  Clarendon, 2008.  Pp. cii, 733.  ISBN 9780199262144.
$250.00.

Reviewed by Miklo/s Pe/ti, Ka/roli Ga/spa/r University, Budapest
Word count:  2102 words
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-------------------------------

Preview (http://books.google.com/books?id=ZN-Z8b3H_SQC)

Hobbes' translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey are published as
Volumes 24 and 25 in the grand project of the Clarendon Edition of the
Works of Thomas Hobbes. Completed in the last years of Hobbes' life
when, as he himself says in his prefatory essay, he had "nothing else
to do" (xcix), the translations have remained on the periphery of
Hobbes scholarship, and they have not proved too inspiring for literary
scholars either. As the meagre reception of the work and the absence of
modern editions show, readers seem to have happily assented to Pope's
often-quoted verdict: "His [Hobbes'] poetry [in the translations], as
well as Ogilby's, is too mean for criticism."[[1]] Eric Nelson's new
edition of the text presents a challenge to this received consensus: in
the extended General Introduction and throughout the notes to the text
he argues systematically and persuasively that the translations
represent Hobbes' attempt to reinterpret the Homeric epics in
accordance with his political philosophy, i.e. that "Hobbes's Iliads
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review | 4 Jun 2009 15:05
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BMCR 2009.06.11: Farney on Wiseman, Unwritten Rome

T. P. Wiseman, Unwritten Rome.  Exeter:  University of Exeter Press,
2008.  Pp. ix, 366.  ISBN 9780859898232.  $37.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Gary D. Farney, Rutgers University
(gfarney <at> andromeda.rutgers.edu)
Word count:  2635 words
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This work is in some ways the culmination of Wiseman's thoughts over
the past twenty years or so about early Roman history. As is well
known, he is something of a leader of the "skeptical" school of thought
about early Rome. Indeed, in this book, Wiseman articulates arguments
that most of our surviving material is so compromised by anachronistic
material, having been recorded centuries after the fact, that only
pieces of early Roman society and history can be gleaned from it. This
is a position for which I admit I have a great deal of sympathy. The
book is a collection of 18 essays. Most have appeared in other places
since 1995, but four and a half   are entirely new (see chapter list
below). Wiseman has done some editing to those published previously,
mostly reflecting new positions put forward in response to his
articles, and these additions appear in the footnotes. The book is well
illustrated (54 illustrations and drawings) and well edited.[[1]] And,
though the work relies heavily on evidence from our textual tradition,
by necessity Wiseman also draws  on a variety of material evidence.
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