Greece, Rome, Greco-Roman PeriodMILLENNIUM. JAHRBUCH ZU KULTUR UNDGESCHICHTE DES ERSTEN JAHRTAUSENDS N.CHR VOLUME 4. Edited by Wolfram Brandes. AlexanderDemandt, Hartmut Leppin, Helmut Krasser, and Peter vonMöllendorff. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007.Pp. xii + 289. $110.00.

This is an interdisciplinary yearbook and collection ofarticles that summarize the state of research, ongoingissues, and broad cultural themes for the First MillenniumCE. Volume 4 offers “a selection of insights into researchproblems ranging from the Early Roman Imperial period tothe late-ninth century. . . . In each of the quite diverse fieldsthey cover they question the established state of researchand draw attention to events and objects that have previ-ously not received due consideration.” Three essays (S. E.Alcock, J. Connolly, H. Krasser) deal with the construction ofRoman identities and how understandings of identity in clas-sical Greece influenced the Roman process. Two essays dealwith intertextuality and literary sources. U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser’s “Kolossale Miniaturen: Der Holzfäller Hercules inStatius’ ‘Wäldern’ (Silve 3,1)” focuses upon the character ofHercules, and C. Tornau studies how Augustine, in his trac-trates on 1 John, presents Plotinus’ understanding of Eros inthe soul’s ascent to God. Dennis Pausch analyzes the inter-connected biographies of Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus,and Avidius Cassius in Historia Augusta as consciously con-structed biographies based upon what the author presup-posed his contemporaries knew about history. M. Meierstudies the Staurotheis Revolt (512) and shows how secularpolitics interacted with ecclesiastical factors to produce it.Simon MacLean studies the interaction of royal patronageand the political influence of aristocratic families in Italyfrom 870-90, that is, from after the death of Louis II to theend of the Carolingians. Finally, T. Pratsch argues thathighly organized monastic groups were more numerous inthe Byzantine Empire than has been previously believed. Anecessary acquisition for research libraries.

Fred W. BurnettAnderson University

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN HOUSEHOLD. By KateCooper. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.Pp. xvi + 319. $99.00.

As Cooper puts it, “[T]his study considers the end of theRoman empire from the point of view of household andfamily life. . . . At issue here is how late Roman householdersdrew on an emerging Christian wherewithal of ideas andresources—I do not mean theology but practical ethical ideasand personal relationships with Christian virtuosi: nuns andbishops, priests and monks—to help them find a path throughan unprecedented period of social change.” Going againstthe grain of the view that Christianity helped to cause the fallof the Roman Empire, Cooper argues that a rethinking andreworking of the paterfamilias—a social institution that was

crumbling—in terms of Christian familial ideals actuallyallowed the empire to remain strong in every other aspect foras long as it did. Particularly in the Western part of theempire, the role of the paterfamilias was taken over by that ofthe Christian bishop as the father figure who arbitrated forjustice and inspired piety and patriotism. This is a scrupu-lous and intriguing study of the Roman family in particularand of its interplay with sociopolitical identity in general.

Fred W. BurnettAnderson University

A REFERENTIAL COMMENTARY AND LEXICONTO HOMER ILIAD VIII. Adrian Kelly. Oxford ClassicalMonographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.Pp. vii + 515. $140.00.

In this challenging study, Kelly attempts to reconstructthe manner in which Homer’s contemporary audience madesense of what they heard during an oral performance of theepics. Based on the work of J. M. Foley and his notion oftraditional referentiality, Kelly’s analysis focuses on BookEight of the Iliad, first dividing the text into what he callsreferential units, that is, units of meaning rather than simplyrepeated expressions, which may range from whole scenes(assemblies) to short phrases (“green fear”). The Lexiconanalyses each unit as it appears in other contexts in order toelucidate its resonance for an audience, presumably steepedin the epic tradition, that would immediately grasp the impli-cations of the phrase. While by no means an easy read evenfor experts, Kelly’s work makes an important contributionto the fundamental question: how and what does Homercommunicate?

Jenny Strauss ClayUniversity of Virginia

SINGING FOR THE GODS: PERFORMANCES OFMYTH AND RITUAL IN ARCHAIC AND CLASSI-CAL GREECE. By Barbara Kowalzig. Oxford ClassicalMonographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.Pp. xviii + 508. $170.00.

This dense and demanding study of the extant Greekcult hymns of the first half of the fifth century BCE deals witha fundamental and controversial issue in the study of reli-gion: the relation of myth and ritual. Kowalzig shows howthey are inextricably intertwined in the choral performancesof the Greek poleis where ritual actions and etiological mythtranscend past and present in the celebratory performanceof cultic song and dance. While both myth and ritual insiston their traditionality, Kowalzig argues for constantly chang-ing and dynamic interactions with their social communities.Most of the book focuses on detailed case studies, spanningthe Greek world, such as the centripetal and centrifugaldynamics of the Delian theoria in establishing a religiouscommunity and its shifting relations to Athenian imperial-ism; or the sometimes competing foundational myths of theGreek colonies that carved out a communal identity per-formed in cult but contested and subject to change. Anyone

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with an interest in Greek religion or choral poetry will haveto consult this study. Its richness lies in its cumulative detailand its bringing together of literary, historical, anthropologi-cal, and archeological evidence to contextualize the dynam-ics of cultic performance throughout the Greek world.

Jenny Strauss ClayUniversity of Virginia

THE ROMAN SELF IN LATE ANTIQUITY: PRUDEN-TIUS AND THE POETICS OF THE SOUL. By MarcMastrangelo. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 2008. Pp. xii + 259. $65.00.

Prudentius, a Roman Christian writer and poet (308-ca.405), was certainly influenced by Christian writers such asSt. Ambrose and Tertullian. Mastrangelo does not disagreewith this generally accepted view, but he argues that paganwriters influenced Prudentius just as strongly. Nowhere isthis more evident than in Psychomachia. In that work,Prudentius systematically reworks Aeneid 6 in order totransform Vergil’s grand narrative of the Greco-Roman liter-ary tradition into a “ ‘meta-narrative’ of Roman Christianidentity in all its cultural, ideological, and intellectualexpression” (ch. 1). With this thesis, Mastrangelo lays thefoundation of his larger argument. In subsequent chapters,he shows that Prudentius used contemporary poets, as wellas biblical, Platonist, Epicurean, and patristic writings toweave an ingenious intertextual structure. Basically, Pru-dentius’ reader is encouraged to identify with a new literaryhero who is encouraged to convert to Christianity, and thusto the way of virtue, in order to help build the new identity ofa “Christian Rome.” Prudentius wrote at a crucial time in thehistory of the West, and he has not been given enough creditfor his synthesis that allowed “radical” Christian traditionsto blend with imperial Roman (and pagan) ones to produce anew identity for the Greco-Roman-Christian self. Not onlywas Prudentius himself more important than has beengenerally believed, but his work shows that poetry perhapsplayed a more important role than did patristic prose indeveloping a Christian Roman identity during the fourthcentury. A provocative and important work that every histo-rian and literary critic of Late Antiquity will need to engage.

Fred W. BurnettAnderson University

A COMPANION TO ROMAN RELIGION. Edited byJörg Rüpke. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.Pp. vii + 542. $185.95.

As C. R. Phillips points out in his essay, “ApproachingRoman Religion: The Case for Wissenschaftsgeschichte,” acomprehensive history of Roman religion does not exist. Thisambitious volume seeks to fill this void, drawing from a broadrange of traditions of research, including Northern and South-ern America, Italy, Greece, Britain, France, Germany, andSwitzerland. In the opening essay, “Roman Religion—Religions of Rome,” Rüpke defines Roman religion as anabbreviation for “religious signs, practices, and traditions in

the city of Rome.” As a whole, the volume emphasizes thislocal perspective and is structured accordingly in six parts:“Changes,” “Media,” “Symbols and Practices,” “Actors andActions,” “Different Religious Identities,” and “Roman Reli-gion Outside and Seen from Outside.” Each essay concludeswith a brief discussion of further reading for those interestedin pursuing a particular aspect of Roman religion. This dense,erudite tome will undoubtedly prove to be a significant con-tribution to the study of Roman religion for years to come.

Matthew R. HaugeClaremont Graduate University

ROMAN RELIGION. By Valerie M. Warrior. CambridgeIntroduction to Roman Civilization. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2006. Pp. vii + 165. $19.99.

The Cambridge Introduction to Roman Civilization is aseries designed for students with no background in Romanantiquity, focusing on key topics and primary texts closelylinked to the Cambridge Latin Course. Warrior has written abrief treatment of traditional Roman religion with this inmind, arranging the survey around the following chapters:“The Gods and their Worship,” “Divination, Prayer, andSacrifice,” “Religion and the Family,” “Religion and theState,” “Religion and War,” “The Calendar, Festivals, andGames,” “Official Attitudes toward Foreign Cults,” “Magicand the Occult,” “Becoming a God,” and “The Jews and Chris-tianity.” At times, the discussion can be uneven and dis-jointed, but the generous use of primary texts, illustrations,and maps is commendable.

Matthew R. HaugeClaremont Graduate University

Christian OriginsTHE BIBLICAL CANON: ITS ORIGIN, TRANSMIS-SION, AND AUTHORITY. By Lee Martin McDonald.Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007; 3rd corrected printing,March 2008. Pp. xlii + 549. $29.95.

In this expanded (from 340 to 549 pages) third edition(formerly The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon),McDonald updates and develops his basic theses: e.g., whilefor some Jews the canon was “largely settled” at the end ofthe first century CE, it was not settled for most until thethird-fourth c.; Christianity did not inherit a closed canonfrom Judaism; Jesus did not leave his followers either theidea of a “closed canon” or a listing of books belonging to it;for most of Christendom, the process of forming a secondtestament was not completed until the fourth-fifth c. CE. Ingeneral, the new edition presents a stronger case for theseviews than the previous one. Regrettably, however—apartfrom nonsense statements inflicted upon the author by aneditor, some of which were silently corrected in the thirdprinting (cf. pp. 39-40, 80, 170)—it also perpetuates misin-formation: e.g., the confusion of a Latin canon list found inCodex Claromontanus with the manuscript itself; the mis-

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