Thomas Kelly

THE MYTH OF THE SKYTALE

An examination of the word skytale by Greek and Latin authors from the 7th century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. leads to the conclusion that the notion that it was a cryptograph employed by the Spartans rests on no reliable ancient evidence. That idea came into existence only in the 3rd century B.C. There is not the slightest indication in the works of nine Greek authors who used the word prior to that time that the skytale was a cryptograph. In these early authors the skytale was either a plaintext message or a device for keeping records.

The effects of methadone on operant behavior maintained with and without conditioned reinforcement in the pigeon

Effects of methadone on key pecking supplemented with brief stimuli either correlated with or independent of unconditioned reinforcement was investigated. On average, key pecks by pigeons produced brief stimuli (BS) once per minute and food once per 4 min during both components of a multiple schedule (i.e., VI1:BS, VI4:Food). Brief stimuli were paired with food presentation during one component and not related to food during the second component. Acute methadone administration (0.56, 1.0, 1.7, and 3.0 mg/kg) decreased response rates during both components; however, the decrease was smaller by a constant amount during the paired brief stimulus component, regardless of drug dose. These results suggest conditioned reinforcement is not a primary mechanism through which methadone exerts behavioral effects and that reinforcer-correlated stimuli have potential for diminishing the reduced behavioral output observed following methadone administration.

Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars: Mikalson, Jon D.: Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 288 pp., Publication Date: September 2003

two chapters deal with early prehistoric matters. Organized on a mostly chronological basis into sixteen chapters with an epilogue and containing features such as references, a list of illustrations, acknowledgements, and an index, Wood manages to cover comprehensively this extraordinary area of the world. Wood artfully infuses her narrative with fascinating details by deftly utilizing a broad range of historical materials. There is much to savor in this attractively designed book. Wood consulted an amazing range of references that entailed a linguistic peregrination through a formidable assortment of languages. She provides delightfully translated tidbits that enhance her narrative. Considering the challenges involved in dealing with Central Asian languages, this text must rank as one of the most precious of recent vintage concerning the region. Chapter Seven, “The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Buddhism on the Silk Road,” which focuses on Dunhuang, offers significant information on how Buddhism has affected events in Central Asia. This chapter also displays Wood’s historical and linguistic versatility, as i t contains information regarding the sixth century HC to the twentieth century AD. She successfully presents abbreviated accounts of such eminent Chinese monk-travelers as Faxian and Xuanzang, and she offers new details on other less famous figures. Yet, the real substance of The Silk Road centers on the five chapters that deal with the major Western explorers. Francis Younghusband, Ariel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Sven Hedin. Nikolai Przhevalsky, Langdon Warner, and others endured incredible hardships in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries while traveling within this region to locate ancient ruins and secure treasures, both textual and artistic. Much of the basic information Wood presents in these chapters can be found in Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk. However, Wood’s rendition of this looting of central Asia’s historical artifacts is both fresh and entertaining. Unfortunately, Wood’s treatment of Marco Polo seems petty. She does not acknowledge very graciously the significant account of his thirteenth-century visit to China and its impact on Europe for centuries afterward. The most glaring deficiency in The Silk Road concerns the epilogue. This two-page appendage is simply inadequate and serves no useful purpose. Otherwise, this is an impressive book. The photographs and illustrations are of superior quality. Almost anyone interested in Asia will find Wood‘s treatment of the history of the Silk Road thoroughly enjoyable.

Ancient Greek Athletics: Miller, Stephen G.: New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 288 pp., Publication Date: March 2004

kind of cultural revolution that propelled the West ahead of China in the seventeenth century. Chow shows that although China possessed the technology of movable type, the predominant use of wood-block printing was a rational choice in terms of facility and cost of printing books in China. Indeed, as Chow demonstrates, the commercialization of book publishing at this time vastly expanded cultural production and came to challenge the imperial monopoly over literature and orthodox culture. This approach, in tum, leads to an understanding of the cultural and social role of the shishang, defined as literati-merchants-businessmen. The expanding paratextual space in the public realm created by commercial publishing provided otherwise unemployed civil service examination candidates opportunities for commercial enterprise in publishing as well as wider publication outlets. The dual career trajectories of shishang as both writedi terat i and commercial publishers, however, created an unresolved tension. Finally, Chow argues, the commodification of literary activity undermined the state’s ideological control over cultural orthodoxy through the examination curriculum by offering greatly expanded pluralistic interpretations of the classics. This monograph is part of a growing specialized literature on late imperial Chinese scholar-official-gentry culture. The most speculative aspect of the author’s argument is his discussion of the costs of production and book prices, where versions of the phrase “it is reasonable to suggest” recur unnervingly frequently. Still, as a contribution to the so far relatively unexplored economic and material history of this field, this monograph offers fresh insights.

Plutarch: Lamberton, Robert: New Haven: Yale University Press, 218 pp., Publication Date: December 2001

Other chapters include “Byzantium” (largely on Justinian), “The Parting of the Ways” (on the rise of Islam), “The Forging of Islamic Culture,” “Byzantine Iconoclasm,” and “Byzantium and the West.” The material is familiar. But Michael Angold manages to infuse facts, figures, and images with new interest-largely due to his agreeable writing style and careful selection of matter. His incursions into early Islam bring into focus the two clashing cultures, Byzantine and Muslim, their similarities (astonishing as this may sound) and the predictable contrast, primarily religious. Here 1 note the nice touch on page 61: “The Ilmayyads’ adoption, via the Ghassanids, of princely art and architecture was part of an experiment to create an ambience that suited their ambitions and achievements. It may have earned them a bad reputation, but a hedonistic lifestyle was to remain a feature of Muslim princely culture, in marked contrast with the austerity of Islam.” One may add that little has changed since in this respect. Two welcome additions render Byzantium particularly valuable: an epilogue on the complex but fascinating Norman Sicily delineates the island as a meeting point of Christianities (Latin and Greek) and Islam, and a test case of Angold’s main hypothesis of the irrcvcrsible rift in Mediterranean culture and landscape that characterizes the “early Middlc agc.” A prologue of sorts, “Notes for Travellers,” suggests sites for actual visits. Angold’s book is a useful addition to the growing body of histories of Byzantium, such as Norwich’s trilogy (Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 1989; The Apogee, 1992; The Decline and Full, 1996) and Treadgold’s voluminous and now concise survey (A History ofthe Byzantine State and Society, 1997; A Concise History r

The Long March: Xenophon and the Ten Thousand: Fox, Robin Lane, ed.: New Haven: Yale University Press, 351 pp., Publication Date: May 2004

Byzcintium, 2001). It is, however, more compact and perhaps more accessible. My only reservation is the book’s relativc “conservatism.” Because it is arranged largely chronologically, there are only a few comments on aspects that may interest contemporary readers beyond the basic expanded outline of events, personalities, and the physical landscape. I refer, for example, to histories of minorities and to polemics. A comparison between the Jewish communities under Byzantine Christianity and Islam would have rendered the description of the two cultures more meaningful and pcrhaps more actual. Likewise, the issue of polemics, between Muslims and Christians or bctween Jews and Christians under Islam, provides valuable insights into social interaction and intellectual history, both of which are absent from Angold’s book (see D. J . Lasker and S. Strournsa, The Polemir ojllrestor the Priest, Jerusalem 1996). Indeed, such polemics demonstrate the continuing interest of Jews living in Islamic countries in Christianity, a tribute to the vitality of the Christian culture that Angold traces. Thcre are no footnotes, and the bibliography is very basic and conspicuously lacking