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SEPTEMBER 2011

Gianvittorio approaches Heraclitus from the standpoint

of orality versus writing, arguing that the Ephesian embodies a compromise between the two modes: composing at a
time when both modes of communication coexist, Heraclitus
committed his work to writing and dedicated a copy to the
Artemision, but used modes of expression connected to
orality. Following and extending Kahns approach, Gianvittorio reads Heraclitus in a nonlinear fashion, emphasizing
how linguistic density and resonance operate in the fragments. Particular terms are resignied through their belonging to networks of meaning, a characteristic of the oral
mode of expression. Resemantization occurs also through
wordplays that establish links between concepts. But while
in oral cultures the word possesses a creative powerhere,
Gianvittorio productively compares with cosmologies composed by oral culturesfor Heraclitus, logos and the world
are connected through a relation of analogy, as both are
articulated unities; understanding the functioning of logos
can help in understanding the world. Gianvittorio rejects the
notion that, for Heraclitus, logos is a technical term (a table
on pp. 158-9 lists the various renderings of logos in Heraclitus since Schleiermacher); for Gianvittorio, the primary
meaning of logos, verbal discourse, is still felt in Heraclitus. Instead of a clearly dened technical language, Heraclitus (just like Xenophanes and Parmenides) uses a dense
(hence, ambiguous) and context-bound language, akin to
that found in oral or partly literary cultures. All in all, this is
a very useful book, and the reader will prot both from its
theoretical chapters as well as the analysis of individual
fragments.
Athanassios Vergados
Ruprecht-Karls-Universitt Heidelberg

maries appear at the end of each article. The English,

however, is often wooden and stilted, lacks gender inclusivity, and suffers from poor grammatical editing and proofreading. Additionally, the articles show a heavy interest in
drawing connections to NT texts and Christian application.
The volume engages a timely and signicant topic. The collections desire to show that the biblical texts invite one to
judge violence negatively and the exposure to perspectives
from outside the dominant traditions of North American and
European scholarship may make the volume benecial to
some readers. The restricted interpretive trajectory and the
lack of careful editing, production, and coherence will,
however, limit its usefulness for students and scholars.
Brad E. Kelle
Point Loma Nazarene University

JEREMIAH 48 AS CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE. Julie

Irene Woods. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 144.
Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011. Pp. xvi + 355.
$41.00.
Woodss focused discussion of Jeremiah 48 (her 2009
Durham Ph.D. thesis under W. Moberly) is an ideal introductory text for graduate Biblical/OT studies, not in the sense of
a survey, but rather as a model of the practices involved in a
careful, comparative, and historically and theologically contextualized reading of a passage. Jeremiah 48, a major section
of the Oracles against the Nations, is particularly useful for its
intriguing similarities and differences between MT and LXX
(Woods follows McKane and others regarding an early double
text of Jeremiah), as well as its status (particularly 48:10) as a
text of terror, to borrow P. Tribles phrase. In two especially
fascinating chapters, Woods turns the historical-critical lens
on the passages major recent interpreters (in the US, Fretheim, Miller, Brueggemann; in the UK, Jones, Clements) and
shows how their biographies and broader theological and
interpretive projects overdetermine their readings at points.
The last chapter elegantly ties the themes and passions of
Jeremiah 48 to NT passages and christological motifs. Finally,
Woods creatively illustrates (in two original movie scripts!)
how Jeremiah 48 may be brought to life today in the form of a
drama. Her analysis throughout is exacting, her tone measured, her theology attentive to the otherness of the text, and
her discussion inclusive of interpreters throughout history.
The work is both delightful and technical, recommended to
every OT scholar.
Mark Glen Bilby
Point Loma Nazarene University

LUCANS BELLUM CIVILE: BETWEEN EPIC TRADITION AND AESTHETIC INNOVATION. Edited by
Nicola Hmke and Christiane Reitz. Beitrge zur Altertumskunde, 282. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010.
Pp. xii + 240. $120.00.
This volume collects eleven articles (seven in English,
four in German) on Lucans unnished epic about the
Roman civil war of 49 BCE. All but three were written for
a 2007 conference at Rostock University. Apart from F. Ahl
and E. Fantham, most of the contributors are younger
scholars, and the emphasis is overwhelmingly literary.
(The odd man out is Ahl, speculating on possible political
subtexts in Quintilians references to Lucan.) The tradition of the subtitle is most prominent in three articles.
A.-M. Ambhl insightfully traces the Marian/Sullan ashback in book 2 to Vergilian and tragic descriptions of the
fall of Troy. L. Sannicandro connects the gure of Julia with
mythical prototypes (the Sabine women, Jocasta, Creusa,
Dido). M. Dinter examines precedents (especially in Ovid)
for the motif of the amputated but still living limb. But
the predominant focus is on the poems internal dynamics
and rhetorical strategies. Recurrent topics include the handling of speeches (Fantham, A. Rolim de Moura); the sym-

Greece, Rome,
Greco-Roman Period
IL DISCORSO DI ERACLITO. UN MODELLO
SEMANTICO E COSMOLOGICO NEL PASSAGGIO
DALLORALIT ALLA SCRITTURA. By Laura Gianvittorio. Spudasmata 134. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag,
2010. Pp. xviii + 287. 37.20.

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and Latin dictionaries from antiquity to the present (and

future) and promise that technology is the key to completeness. Among the limitations of ancient dictionaries, particularly Hesychiuss, are common articles and conjunctions (E.
Dickey), while etymological dictionaries generally elide key
folk and historical etymologies (J. Katz). Paper slips and
hand ling meant that a single-author lexicon (G. Whitaker)
could consume ones career. The notorious Gradus ad Parnassum (1652), an aide to then-compulsory Latin composition, was so reviled and ubiquitous that Dickens named
a character Thomas Gradgrind. Friends H. G. Liddell
(1811-98) and Scotts (C. Stray) Greek dictionary, a great
institution (J. A. L. Lee), appeared in 1843, and has been
continually revised and enlarged afterward. Post-World War
II technology trumped early wrangling over the Oxford Latin
Dictionary (J. Henderson). Deciencies of the LiddellScott
will be repaired with an online database of Greek lexicography, while the online Cambridge Greek Lexicon Project (P.
James) will include full-scale denitions, etymologies,
semantics, usage notes, and so on. Even dictionaries of Medieval Latin will benet from the Internet (R. Ashdowne). This
is the rst full-scale authoritative treatment of its subject
and will be the standard reference.
Ward Briggs
Columbia, South Carolina

bolic role of mythical digressions (D. Lowe, E. Bexley); and

the esthetics of death, violence, and mutilation (Ambhl,
Dinter, N. Hmke). C. Wick deals admirably with some
aspects of Lucans style, in particular his avoidance of concrete descriptions. Recent criticism has tended to minimize
the role of Stoicism in the poem, but C. Wiener makes a
case for a Stoic reading, while avoiding the oversimplications of some earlier interpreters. Overall, this is a strong
collection; I learned something from nearly all the articles,
and several are rst rate.
Gregory Hays
University of Virginia

EARLY GREEK POETS LIVES: THE SHAPING OF

THE TRADITION. By Maarit Kivilo. Mnemosyne Supplements 322. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Pp. xii + 270; tables. $147.00.
Kivilo sets out to review the biographical traditions concerning the lives of six early Greek poets (Hesiod, Stesichorus, Archilochus, Hipponax, Terpander, and Sappho) and to
challenge the general consensus that such biographical traditions are largely post-Classical and based, for the most
part, on often erroneous interpretations of the poets own
works, and hence unreliable ctions. The author argues that
many biographical anecdotes concerning the poets were
already in circulation at the beginning of the fth century
BCE, and that stories about the poets began to develop in
their lifetime or at least very soon after their death by
drawing on local traditions as well as the poetry itself. Poetic
genealogies involve both synchronism (Homer and Hesiod)
and afliation (Stesichorus as son of Hesiod). Prominent
themes include divine origins, poetic initiation, exile,
oracles, accounts of travels, death (and sometimes cult),
often with lurid tales of demise, such as Terpanders choking
on a g. Unfortunately, Kivilo does not delve into the question of why these particular deaths or other bizarre anecdotes should be ascribed to a particular poet. The vitae of the
Hellenistic period were incorporated and elaborated on this
material to create continuous biographies. Sharing some
themes with the lives of the heroes, poetic biographies also
have their own characteristic motifs. In pointing to the formulaic character of poetic vitae, and in frequently synthesizing early and late testimonies, Kivilo tends to undermine the
main point. Nevertheless, her insistence that we not throw
out the baby with the bathwater, that we recognize that some
biographic traditions may contain some genuine historical
information, is well taken.
Jenny Strauss Clay
University of Virginia

THE MAKING OF THE ILIAD: DISQUISITION AND

ANALYTICAL COMMENTARY. By M. L. West. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. ix + 441; maps. Cloth,
$160.00.
M. L. West here distills and synthesizes his life-long
engagement with the Iliad, swimming bravely against the
prevailing currents that posit a tradition of orally composed
and performed texts that were written down at some
point but retain their oral character. Although admitting
that our poems grew out of such a tradition, West insists
that the Iliad poet wrote or dictated his poem and then
progressivelyperhaps over decadesamplied it, incorporating other tales and traditions into his already xed text to
form our monumental Iliad. The discontinuities and anomalies in the Iliad are the result of such progressive expansion.
Although he insists on a single rather than multiple authors,
Wests position revives the theories of the nineteenthcentury German analysts, whom he frequently cites approvingly, and it is refreshing to see their many acute
observations revisited. The bulk of the volume (350 pages)
provides a running commentary to the whole Iliad, elaborating Wests views of authorial amplication with frequent
references to his studies of Near Eastern and Indo-European
poetic traditions. His insertion theory, which may have
involved literal cutting and pasting of lines or episodes,
raises a serious objection: If the poet can insert, why cant he
revise? Almost all answers to the Homeric Questions
possess a certain degree of improbability. West expects his
unfashionable views to be dismissed by most Homerists, but

CLASSICAL DICTIONARIES: PAST, PRESENT AND

FUTURE. Edited by Christopher Stray. London: Duckworth,
2010. Pp. viii + 229. 50.00.
Lexicography is an endless task, wrote Robert Scott
(1811-87), largely because methodology or technology has
always limited the level of comprehensiveness. These essays
treat the development of primarily English-language Greek

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they would do well to take his arguments seriously and to

respond with equal seriousness.
Jenny Strauss Clay
University of Virginia

NUMBER 3

SEPTEMBER 2011

complete bibliography of Elliotts publications and indices

of modern scholars and of major passages discussed conclude the volume. The selection well represents his distinctive methodological focus and the breadth of his interests
and abilities. His command of details and arcana is astonishing, although not at the expense of the larger picture.
The essays display both the essential and typical Elliott,
and so, it is very useful indeed to have this selection, along
with the complete bibliography listing, conveniently gathered and arranged.
Michael W. Holmes
Bethel University

Christian Origins
FEASTS AND FESTIVALS. Edited by Christopher
Tuckett. CEBT 53. Leuven: Peeters, 2009. Pp. vii + 183.
Paper, 38.00.
This book collects thirteen essays by as many authors,
delivered at a conference in Oxford in 2008, all in English,
save one which is in German. Five essays treat the eponymous themes in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Deuteronomy,
funerary rites for children, reading scripture at feasts, 2
Macc 1:18-36, and 3 Macc), while the remaining eight
essays focus on the NT and Christian origins (triumphal
entry, wine at the Lords supper, Luke 14:15, feasts in John,
feasts and festivals in Paul, the Jerusalem collection,
origins of Sunday as the Christian feast day, and primitive
Christianity as a feast). Each essay is narrowly focused and
thus good for those studying the texts and/or issues
treated, yet scholars will be disappointed there is not more
thorough engagement with the secondary literature. This
should not, however, detract from the thrust of the contributors arguments, which are clearer for the lack of
clutter. The volume would be more valuable had it included
an introduction drawing attention to common themes, conclusions, and points of intersection (for example, most of
the NT essays ground meals/festivals rst and foremost in
the world of Judaism). The book is best placed in libraries
where scholars can access individual essays that inform
their research.
Richard S. Ascough
Queens School of Religion

EARLY CHRISTIAN MANUSCRIPTS: EXAMPLES

OF APPLIED METHOD AND APPROACH. Edited by
Thomas J. Kraus and Tobias Nicklas. Texts and Editions for
New Testament Study 5. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Pp. xx + 243.
99.00; $141.00.
Most NT scholarship relies on an original text reconstructed from papyri that very often is fragmentary. The
methodological problems in doing so are highlighted by
Kraus in the opening essay of this volume, Reconstructing
Fragmentary ManuscriptsChances and Limitations. Many
of the other essays tackle this issue in one way or another by
looking at individual papyri texts: (ch. 2) Hunting for
Origen in Unidentied Papyri: The Case of P. Egerton 2 (=inv.
3), R. Yuen-Collingridge; (3) Papyrus Oxyrhynchus X
1224, P. Foster; (4) Is P.Oxy. XLII 3057 the Earliest Christian Letter? L. H. Blumell; (5=) 50 (P.Yale I 3) and the
Question of its Function, J. G. Cook; (6) The Reuse of Christian Texts: P.Macquarie inv. 360 + P.Mil. Vogl. inv. 1224
( 91) and P.Oxy. X 1229 ( 23), D. Barker; (7) Papyri, Parchments, Ostraca, and Tablets Written with Biblical Texts in
Greek and Used as Amulets: A Preliminary List, T. de
Bruyn; (8) The Egyptian Hermas: The Shepherd in Egypt
before Constantine, M. Choat and R. Yuen-Collingridge; (9)
The Babatha Archive, the Egyptian Papyri and their Implications for Study of the Greek New Testament, S. E. Porter.
This is a useful and important collection that deserves to be
widely consulted by those engaged directly with reconstructing the text, but would serve as a helpful reminder to other
NT scholars that they rely on the conclusions of text criticism for their own work.
Michael W. Holmes
Bethel University

NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL CRITICISM: THE

APPLICATION OF THOROUGHGOING PRINCIPLES: ESSAYS ON MANUSCRIPTS AND
TEXTUAL VARIATION. By J. K. Elliott. Supplements to
Novum Testamentum 137. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Pp. xvi + 661.
Cloth, 184.00, $259.00.
Elliott is a widely respected and extraordinarily prolic
scholar not only in the area of NT textual criticism but also
early Christian apocryphal literature. This volume, focusing on the former subject, presents, in thirty-two chapters,
a selection of fty-seven of his articles (drawn from a bibliography of more than 200 items, not including popular
publications, and more than 400 book reviews). Subject
headings cover: methodology (three chapters), manuscripts
(eight), textual variation (nine), exegesis and textual criticism (three), textual criticism and the Synoptic problem
(four), reviews of recent editions of the Greek NT (four),
and a closing chapter on manuscripts, codex, and canon. A

FUNDAMENTALS OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK.

By Stanley E. Porter, Jeffrey T. Reed, and Matthew Brook
ODonnell. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010. Pp. xxi +
466. $39.00.
FUNDAMENTALS OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK
WORKBOOK. By Stanley E. Porter and Jeffrey T. Reed.
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010. Pp. xii + 260. $20.00.
Together, this elementary Greek text and workbook
provide what is quite possibly the most comprehensive dis-

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