Sheila L. Ager

Interstate Arbitrations in the Greek World, 337-90 B.C.

A great deal of information has come to light over the past several decades about the role of arbitration between the Greek states. Arbitration and mediation were, in fact, central institutions in Hellenistic public life. In this comprehensive study, Sheila Ager brings together the scattered body of literary and epigraphical sources on arbitration, together with up-to-date bibliographic references, and commentary. The sources collected here range widely; Ager presents an exhaustive record of documents ranging from the settlement of a minor territorial squabble between two tiny city-states to the resolution of major conflicts separating the great powers of the day. In addition, Agers introduction sets the documents in historical context and outlines distinctions among categories of arbitration. The work also includes indices to literary passages, inscriptions, persons, places, subjects, and Greek and Latin terms in the documents. This collection of many previously inaccessible texts will become a primary resource for any scholar or student working in the field of Hellenistic history.

The Power of Excess: Royal Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty

The Greco-Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies, which ruled Egypt from 322 until 30 BCE, established early on a practice of incestuous marriage in the royal house. This cus tom, which may have had a number of pragmatic functional pur poses, was on a more profound level symbolic of royal power. But royal incest, as practised by the Ptolemies, was only one of a larger set of behaviours, all of which were symbolic of power, and all of which were characterized by lavishness, immoderation, excess and the breaching of limits in general.

Hellenistic Crete and ΚΟΙΝΟΔΙΚΙΟΝ

IF we are to believe all that Polybios tells us, then the world of Hellenistic Crete was a wretched place: The Cretans are irresistible, both by land and by sea, when it comes to ambushes and piracy and the tricks of war, night attacks and all engagements undertaken with fraud; but when it comes to the face-to-face assault of phalanxes fighting on equal terms, they are base and craven-hearted….Money is honoured among them to such an extreme degree that the acquisition of it is thought to be not only necessary, but also most honourable. Generally speaking, the practice of disgraceful greed and acquisitiveness is so much the fashion there, that among the Cretans alone of all humankind no profit is considered shameful….Because of their congenital greed, they are engaged in constant upheavals, private and public, and murders and civil wars….Indeed, one would not find private customs more treacherous nor public enterprises more unjust (except in a few cases) than those of the Cretans….[In the year 181 BC] great troubles began in Crete, if indeed one can speak of a ‘beginning’ of troubles in Crete. For because of the unceasing nature of their civil wars and the excessive savagery of their treatment of one another, ‘beginning’ and ‘end’ are the same thing in Crete, and what seems to be a paradoxical saying of some individuals is there a consistently observable fact.

Marriage or Mirage? The Phantom Wedding of Cleopatra and Antony

The Queen and the Triumvir took their place upon a dais. The Queen wore a long gown of gold tissue that made her figure look even more slim and supple. A stomacher of magnificent gems encased her breasts. Upon her head was the double diadem of Upper and Lower Egypt, encircled by the sacred uraeus . . . . The Queen rose, took up a fan and tenderly fanned her Consort. Then, with the ancient golden spatula which through the centuries was used to anoint the Kings of Egypt, she anointed Mark Antony on the head and the hands and mouth—the head that thinks of great deeds, the hands that accomplish them and the mouth that utters wise words. After this, the Egyptian Ministers and the High Priest advanced, and prostrating themselves before their Queen and her King-Consort, they kissed the ground and their feet. The High Priest placed a crown upon the brows of the Sovereigns, and the scribes drew up the papyrus enscribed with the hieroglyphics that would fix for ever the names of the wedded pair and declare the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene legitimate as a result of the marriage.1

Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great (review)

of desire and poses a different set of problems to the interpreter regarding its apparent anomalies. Several appendices on specific issues round out the book. No one could doubt the valuable service that Revermann has rendered to the study of the ancient theatre. Every page shines with some previously unconsidered insights as, for example, variations in the role and significance of the doorkeeper (who controls entrances and exits) or the visual functions of the carriers, who bring on the numerous props on which the comic business often depends. Revermann’s painstaking efforts to decipher the stage machinery needed to hoist Socrates in the air or to resolve the question of Lysistrata’s possible historical identity are only a few of the issues that meet with judicious examination. At the same time, Revermann refreshingly acknowledges the limitations of his approach, which is to compile ‘the set of theatrical codes, conventions, contexts, and practices which can be reconstructed from the textual and archaeological remains of the period.’ While the principles are sound, much must remain speculative, he admits, given either the scarcity or ambiguity of the evidence. One could go further: does the application of the technical apparatus of performative criticism add a layer of interpretation to reach results that could be attained by other, more conventional, means? Or more explicitly, do Revermann’s readings in his case studies substantially alter our received ideas about these plays? The answer is no, to some degree, but as for a heightened awareness of the numerous details, large and small, that are necessary to make a play into a living event, the answer is a resounding yes. For the value of this study lies not only in learning to recognize the value-laden components of the theatrical spectacle as conditioned by historical and cultural contexts. It also resides in the intellectual trustworthiness of the author’s scholarship as in his contagious enthusiasm for his subject that marks his work as a sophisticated but accessible guide to the understanding and appreciation of the distinctive merits of ancient comedy. (FROMA I. ZEITLIN)