THE CLASSICAL REVIEW THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
predominantly in French; scholars too will appreciate its
accessible tabular charts (pp. 60-9, 172-3), and the author's
provision of a 'stimulus for further discussion and exploration'
(p. 9). But in the end the book must straddle a tricky course
between the censures of both traditionalist and revisionist camps;
inevitably, I suspect, it will fall victim to the criticisms of
both.
Trinity College, Cambridge MICHAEL SQUIRE
WALBANK'S COLLECTED PAPERS
F. W WALBANK: Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World. Essays
and Reflections. Pp. xiii + 353. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2002. Cased, ?45/US$60. ISBN: 0-521-81208-9.
Frank Walbank is one of the great figures of twentieth-century
ancient history. In a career that spans a remarkable seventy years
or so he has been one of the leading interpreters of the
Hellenistic world, from his early books on Aratus of Sicyon (1933)
and Philip V of Macedon (1940), through his classic commentary on
Polybius (1957-79), to his work on the second edition of the
Cambridge Ancient History and beyond. This present volume collects
together some of his more recent articles, mostly published over
the past twenty-five years-an earlier selection appeared in 1985.
Collections of previously published papers can sometimes seem
rather unnecessary, but not in this case. Not only are the papers
here of a uniformly high standard, but for the most part they made
their first appearance in relatively inaccessible volumes;
certainly few of them were easily available to a scholar working in
Ireland. Polybius provides the unifying theme and the nineteen
articles are introduced by a new and valuable survey of Polybian
scholarship from c. 1975 to 2000. The chapters are unchanged from
their original publication, but W has added occasional notes in
square brackets, mostly cross-references and later
bibliography.
The first section brings together various historical and
geographical papers, beginning with W.'s 1948 article, 'The
Geography of Polybius', by far the oldest in the collection but one
which has attracted much attention in recent years due to the
upsurge of interest in ancient geographical writing. Egypt is to
the fore in the three papers that follow, the first a general study
of Polybius' picture of Egypt, its people, and its rulers, then a
very precise piece dating the surrender of Egyptian rebels at Sais
in the 180s (in a supplementary note W. revises the date proposed
in the original article), and finally an examination of the
processions of Ptolemy II and Antiochus IV. Prominent among the
extraordinary political changes that took place during Polybius'
life was not merely the rise of Rome but also the annihilation of
the Macedonian kingdom. The next three chapters focus on Macedon:
'Polybius and Macedon' explores Polybius' ambivalent attitude to
Macedon, an attitude shaped and limited by his Achaean background;
'Seapower and the Antigonids' considers the persistent naval
ambitions of the dynasty and the reactions they may have provoked
in others, not least Ptolemy II at the time of the Chremonidean
War; and 'H TON OAQN EAI7IZ and the Antigonids' argues that for
Polybius the Antigonids and the Argeads represented a single
dynasty with a penchant for world conquest. Finally the section
concludes with two chapters on the Achaeans, the first makes a
strong case for the long-term importance of the cult of Zeus
Homarios and Athena Homaria as a central feature of Achaean
identity, while the other, reprinted from his third Polybius
commentary,
The Classical Review vol. 54 no. I t The Classical Association
2004; all rights reserved
predominantly in French; scholars too will appreciate its
accessible tabular charts (pp. 60-9, 172-3), and the author's
provision of a 'stimulus for further discussion and exploration'
(p. 9). But in the end the book must straddle a tricky course
between the censures of both traditionalist and revisionist camps;
inevitably, I suspect, it will fall victim to the criticisms of
both.
Trinity College, Cambridge MICHAEL SQUIRE
WALBANK'S COLLECTED PAPERS
F. W WALBANK: Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World. Essays
and Reflections. Pp. xiii + 353. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2002. Cased, ?45/US$60. ISBN: 0-521-81208-9.
Frank Walbank is one of the great figures of twentieth-century
ancient history. In a career that spans a remarkable seventy years
or so he has been one of the leading interpreters of the
Hellenistic world, from his early books on Aratus of Sicyon (1933)
and Philip V of Macedon (1940), through his classic commentary on
Polybius (1957-79), to his work on the second edition of the
Cambridge Ancient History and beyond. This present volume collects
together some of his more recent articles, mostly published over
the past twenty-five years-an earlier selection appeared in 1985.
Collections of previously published papers can sometimes seem
rather unnecessary, but not in this case. Not only are the papers
here of a uniformly high standard, but for the most part they made
their first appearance in relatively inaccessible volumes;
certainly few of them were easily available to a scholar working in
Ireland. Polybius provides the unifying theme and the nineteen
articles are introduced by a new and valuable survey of Polybian
scholarship from c. 1975 to 2000. The chapters are unchanged from
their original publication, but W has added occasional notes in
square brackets, mostly cross-references and later
bibliography.
The first section brings together various historical and
geographical papers, beginning with W.'s 1948 article, 'The
Geography of Polybius', by far the oldest in the collection but one
which has attracted much attention in recent years due to the
upsurge of interest in ancient geographical writing. Egypt is to
the fore in the three papers that follow, the first a general study
of Polybius' picture of Egypt, its people, and its rulers, then a
very precise piece dating the surrender of Egyptian rebels at Sais
in the 180s (in a supplementary note W. revises the date proposed
in the original article), and finally an examination of the
processions of Ptolemy II and Antiochus IV. Prominent among the
extraordinary political changes that took place during Polybius'
life was not merely the rise of Rome but also the annihilation of
the Macedonian kingdom. The next three chapters focus on Macedon:
'Polybius and Macedon' explores Polybius' ambivalent attitude to
Macedon, an attitude shaped and limited by his Achaean background;
'Seapower and the Antigonids' considers the persistent naval
ambitions of the dynasty and the reactions they may have provoked
in others, not least Ptolemy II at the time of the Chremonidean
War; and 'H TON OAQN EAI7IZ and the Antigonids' argues that for
Polybius the Antigonids and the Argeads represented a single
dynasty with a penchant for world conquest. Finally the section
concludes with two chapters on the Achaeans, the first makes a
strong case for the long-term importance of the cult of Zeus
Homarios and Athena Homaria as a central feature of Achaean
identity, while the other, reprinted from his third Polybius
commentary,
The Classical Review vol. 54 no. I t The Classical Association
2004; all rights reserved
166 166
This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Mon, 23 Feb 2015
15:53:51 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
THE CLASSICAL REVIEW THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
reviews the complex arguments for the organization of the
assemblies of the Achaean
League. The five papers in the second section are
historiographical. W begins with a chapter
on Timaeus showing how the Sicilian historian sought to capture
the character of the Greek west as it faced the struggle between
the two barbarian powers of Rome and Carthage. The next chapter
focuses on Polybius and his treatment of the more distant past;
interestingly, Polybius' knowledge of earlier Greek history is
fairly superficial until he reaches the fourth century, with the
rise of Philip's Macedon and the foundation of his own hometown
Megalopolis. A recurring example throughout the collection is
Demetrius of Phalerum's prediction that Macedon would fall just as
Persia had before; this, suggests W, made a great impression on
Polybius, who had seen in his own lifetime the fulfilment of this
prophecy. Nonetheless, as W shows in 'The Idea of Decline in
Polybius', the historian was never able to come up with a
satisfactory theory of decline. Both this and the next chapter,
'Polybius' Perception of the One and the Many', necessarily involve
discussion of the constitutional chapters of Book 6, but in each
case setting them within a broader context. The section concludes
with a chapter on the relative r6les of practical utility, moral
guidance, and pleasure in the works of Hellenistic historians;
Polybius was unusual in prioritizing practical utility, but this
did not mean that he neglected the latter two.
The next section, on Polybius and Rome, continues some of the
themes raised in earlier essays. It opens with 'Supernatural
Paraphernalia in Polybius' Histories', an examination of tyche in
the Histories and in Demetrius of Phalerum's prediction. The Roman
constitution is again addressed in A Greek Looks at Rome: Polybius
VI Revisited', which explores the mix of Greek theory and personal
observation that contribute to Book 6. Polybius' eventual
accommodation with Rome has led him to face accusations of
'treason' in more recent times, the subject of two papers here. W.
is
sympathetic to the dilemma faced by men such as Polybius and
Josephus; Gaetano de Sanctis, on the other hand, was decidedly
hostile to Polybius, a hostility that W traces to de Sanctis's own
resistance to the Fascist government in Italy. The chapter on de
Sanctis occurs in the final section on the transmission of
Polybius. One other paper is included with this, a fascinating
examination of the appearance of Sheeres's translation of Polybius
with its accompanying essay by Dryden in the aftermath of the
Glorious Revolution of 1688.
This is an impressive and stimulating collection by a historian
who is an example to all, not merely for the quality of his
research but for his generosity to his
colleagues-again and again he notes scholars whose work has led
him to re-think his own. Cambridge University Press has done all
interested in Rome and the Hellenistic world a service by bringing
these essays together in a single volume.
National University of Ireland, Galway ANDREW ERSKINE
THE IDEA OF ROME
F. GIORDANO (ed.): L'idea di Roma nella cultura antica.
(Pubblicazioni dell'Universita degli Studi di Salerno: Sezione
Atti
Convegni Miscellanee 58.) Pp. 422. Naples: Edizioni
Scientifiche
Italiane, 2001. Paper, C26.86. ISBN: 88-8114-977-X.
From Melinno to Mussolini, writers and politicians have seen fit
to endow the city of
The Classical Review vol. 54 no. 1 C The Classical Association
2004; all rights reserved
reviews the complex arguments for the organization of the
assemblies of the Achaean
League. The five papers in the second section are
historiographical. W begins with a chapter
on Timaeus showing how the Sicilian historian sought to capture
the character of the Greek west as it faced the struggle between
the two barbarian powers of Rome and Carthage. The next chapter
focuses on Polybius and his treatment of the more distant past;
interestingly, Polybius' knowledge of earlier Greek history is
fairly superficial until he reaches the fourth century, with the
rise of Philip's Macedon and the foundation of his own hometown
Megalopolis. A recurring example throughout the collection is
Demetrius of Phalerum's prediction that Macedon would fall just as
Persia had before; this, suggests W, made a great impression on
Polybius, who had seen in his own lifetime the fulfilment of this
prophecy. Nonetheless, as W shows in 'The Idea of Decline in
Polybius', the historian was never able to come up with a
satisfactory theory of decline. Both this and the next chapter,
'Polybius' Perception of the One and the Many', necessarily involve
discussion of the constitutional chapters of Book 6, but in each
case setting them within a broader context. The section concludes
with a chapter on the relative r6les of practical utility, moral
guidance, and pleasure in the works of Hellenistic historians;
Polybius was unusual in prioritizing practical utility, but this
did not mean that he neglected the latter two.
The next section, on Polybius and Rome, continues some of the
themes raised in earlier essays. It opens with 'Supernatural
Paraphernalia in Polybius' Histories', an examination of tyche in
the Histories and in Demetrius of Phalerum's prediction. The Roman
constitution is again addressed in A Greek Looks at Rome: Polybius
VI Revisited', which explores the mix of Greek theory and personal
observation that contribute to Book 6. Polybius' eventual
accommodation with Rome has led him to face accusations of
'treason' in more recent times, the subject of two papers here. W.
is
sympathetic to the dilemma faced by men such as Polybius and
Josephus; Gaetano de Sanctis, on the other hand, was decidedly
hostile to Polybius, a hostility that W traces to de Sanctis's own
resistance to the Fascist government in Italy. The chapter on de
Sanctis occurs in the final section on the transmission of
Polybius. One other paper is included with this, a fascinating
examination of the appearance of Sheeres's translation of Polybius
with its accompanying essay by Dryden in the aftermath of the
Glorious Revolution of 1688.
This is an impressive and stimulating collection by a historian
who is an example to all, not merely for the quality of his
research but for his generosity to his
colleagues-again and again he notes scholars whose work has led
him to re-think his own. Cambridge University Press has done all
interested in Rome and the Hellenistic world a service by bringing
these essays together in a single volume.
National University of Ireland, Galway ANDREW ERSKINE
THE IDEA OF ROME
F. GIORDANO (ed.): L'idea di Roma nella cultura antica.
(Pubblicazioni dell'Universita degli Studi di Salerno: Sezione
Atti
Convegni Miscellanee 58.) Pp. 422. Naples: Edizioni
Scientifiche
Italiane, 2001. Paper, C26.86. ISBN: 88-8114-977-X.
From Melinno to Mussolini, writers and politicians have seen fit
to endow the city of
The Classical Review vol. 54 no. 1 C The Classical Association
2004; all rights reserved
167 167
This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Mon, 23 Feb 2015
15:53:51 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
Article Contentsp.166p.167
Issue Table of ContentsThe Classical Review, New Series, Vol.
54, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 1-269Front MatterEditorial
[pp.1-3]ReviewsSnow on Cithaeron [pp.5-12]Forty-Eight Years of
Classical Scholarship [pp.12-17]Homeric Narrative [pp.17-18]Epic
Audiences [pp.18-20]Representations of Homer [pp.20-22]The Ninth
Olympian Ode [pp.22-23]Lyric Receptions [pp.23-24]An Elusive
Agamemnon [pp.25-27]A New English "Oresteia" [pp.27-28]Tragic
Achilles [pp.28-30]Ancient vs. Modern in Sophocles
[pp.30-32]Sophoclean Narratology [pp.32-34]Medea [pp.34-36]A
Companion to "Medea" [pp.36-37]On Gods and Humans in Euripides
[pp.37-38]Messengers in Tragedy [pp.39-40]Acharnians
[pp.40-42]Citizens in Comedy [pp.42-44]Apollonian Anger
[pp.44-45]Dioscorides' epigrams [p.46]Eratosthenes [pp.47-48]Crates
of Mallos [pp.48-50]Philo on the Creation [pp.50-51]Plutarch's
Images [pp.52-53]Essays on Dio Chrysostom [pp.53-54]A New
Translation of Aesop [pp.55-56]Konon the Mythographer
[p.56]Aristocles of Messene [pp.57-59]Hierocles the Neoplatonist
[pp.59-61]"The Ritual Lament" Updated [pp.61-62]Divine
Interventions [pp.62-64]The Invention of Literature?
[pp.64-66]Early Greek Poetics [pp.66-67]The History of "Mimesis"
[pp.67-69]Qu'est-ce Que la Philosophie Antique? [pp.69-70]From
"Republic" to "Laws" [pp.71-72]Vitae Philosophia Dux [pp.73-76]The
Wisdom of the Ancients [pp.76-77]Erotic Ethics [pp.77-80]Moral
Conflicts [pp.80-81]A Conference on Ancient Science
[pp.82-84]Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras [pp.84-86]Praetextarum
Reliquiae [pp.86-88]Lucilius [pp.88-89]A Ciceronian Companion
[pp.89-91]The Case against Cicero [pp.91-93]An Introduction to
Sallust [pp.93-94]Pastoral Contests [pp.94-95]Doctae Puellae
[pp.96-98]Allusion in the "Heroides" [pp.98-99]Essays on Ovid's
"Fasti" [pp.99-101]A Companion to "Phaedra" [pp.101-102]Seneca's
Ninetieth Letter [pp.103-104]Snakebitten [pp.104-106]Satiric Voices
[pp.106-107]Persius Commented in Latin [pp.107-108]Henderson's
Pliny [pp.109-111]Tacitus and the Parallel Tradition: "Histories" I
[pp.111-112]Tacitus on the Jews [pp.113-115]Apuleius' Apology
[pp.115-116]Roman Views of Alexander [pp.116-118]Panegyrics
[pp.118-120]The "Historia Augusta", Nicomachus Flavianus, and Peter
the Patrician [pp.120-124]Latin Culture in the Fourth and Fifth
Centuries [pp.124-125]Jerome for the Non-Specialist
[pp.126-127]Jerome's Letters [pp.127-128]Augustine on "Galatians"
[pp.128-129]The Return of Merobaudes [pp.130-131]Anthologia Latina
485 [pp.131-132]Dicing with Virgil [pp.133-134]Languages in Contact
[pp.134-136]How to Address a Roman [pp.136-137]Roman Names in the
Peloponnese [pp.138-139]Greek Poleis Once Again [pp.139-140]Ancient
Ambassadors [pp.141-142]The Finances of the Athenian Empire
[pp.142-144]Athenian Deceptions [pp.144-146]The Delphic Amphictiony
[pp.146-148]A Festschrift for A. J. Graham [pp.148-149]Back to
Basics on Alexander [pp.149-151]The Hellenistic World
[pp.151-153]Hellenistic Continuities [pp.154-155]untitled
[pp.155-157]After Alexander [pp.157-159]Politics in Early
Hellenistic Athens [pp.159-160]Out among Women [pp.160-162]Greek
Diseases, Roman Corpses [pp.162-164]Athenian Hunting
[pp.164-166]Walbank's Collected Papers [pp.166-167]The Idea of Rome
[pp.167-169]Perceptions of the Roman Republic
[pp.169-171]Republican Legislation [pp.171-172]Sixty Years after
Syme [pp.173-174]Augustus (I) [pp.174-175]Augustus (II)
[pp.175-176]Livia [pp.177-178]Imperial Women [pp.179-180]Germanicus
and Piso [pp.180-182]The Jewish Revolt of A.D. 66-70
[pp.182-183]Commodus [pp.184-185]CAH XIV [pp.185-186]The Eastern
Frontier [pp.186-187]A Sourcebook for Roman-Persian Relations
[pp.188-189]Late Antique Rulers [pp.189-191]A Compact Constantine
[pp.191-192]The Emperor Valens [pp.192-195]Magistri Militum
[pp.195-196]Theodora [pp.196-198]Economics of the Roman Army
[pp.198-200]Roman Law and Society [pp.200-202]Roman Sport
[pp.202-203]Roman Incest [pp.203-205]Religious Associations
[pp.205-206]Martyrs [pp.207-208]Mendicant Monks [pp.208-210]The
Aegean, 1100-900 B.C. [pp.210-212]Cypriot Seals and Inscriptions
[pp.212-213]The Archaeology of the Aeolian Islands [pp.214-215]IG:
The Ionian Islands [pp.215-218]IG XII.6.1: Samos [pp.219-222]The
Inscriptions of Patras [pp.222-223]Documents of Herakleopolis
[pp.223-224]Law in the Papyri [pp.224-226]Blemmyes and Beja
[pp.226-228]Art and Life [pp.228-229]Sculpture in the First Century
B.C. [pp.229-230]Winchester Vases [pp.230-231]Collecting the
Collectors [pp.232-233]A Humanist's Mini-Odyssey [pp.233-234]Rome
in Popular Culture [pp.234-237]
Noticesuntitled [pp.238-239]untitled [p.239]untitled
[p.240]untitled [p.240]untitled [p.241]untitled [p.241]untitled
[p.242]untitled [pp.242-243]untitled [p.243]untitled
[pp.243-244]untitled [pp.244-245]untitled [p.246]untitled
[pp.246-247]untitled [pp.247-248]untitled [pp.248-249]untitled
[pp.249-250]untitled [p.250]untitled [p.251]untitled
[pp.251-252]untitled [p.252]untitled [p.253]
Books Received [pp.254-269]Back Matter
