The Athenian Agora by Margaret ThompsonReview by: Alfred R. BellingerThe American Journal of Philology, Vol. 76, No. 4 (1955), pp. 444-445Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/292284 .

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY.

poetry in Homer. See the recent monograph of S. Gandz, " The Dawn of Literature, Prolegomena to a History of Oral Literature," Osiris, 1938, no. 7.

Nevertheless, Miss Lorimer's book is indispensable to every stu- dent of Greece and Greek history and to every scholarly library, and is a masterpiece of analysis. Let us hope that the first edition, written some years ago, will soon be exhausted, and that a second can be printed after revision in the light of the important American contributions to the study of Troy, and making use also of Nilsson's new edition of The Minoan-Mycenaean Age, and such monographs as Helene Kantor's The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Mil- lennium B.C. (reprinted from A.J.A., LI [1947], pp. 1-103). Perhaps by that time scholars will have found an inscription in Asia Minor mentioning Homer and giving his date, thus settling the Homeric Question, which has been debated at least since the third century B. C. Perhaps the solution will come from Caria, where inscriptions as early as 1000 B. C. have recently been found. It is a calamity that Axel Persson, who had discovered these clay tablets, and even a bilingual inscription, died just as he was going to exca- vate thoroughly at Labraunda (cf. Bossert, Altanatolien [1942], figs. 217-18, pp. 219-21; Arch. Orient., XVIII, p. 495, n. 11; Jahr- buch fiir Kleinasiatische Forschung, I [1951], p. 328).

DAVID M. ROBINSON. UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI.

MARGARET THOMPSON. The Athenian Agora, Vol. II: Coins from

the Roman through the Venetian Period. Princeton, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1954. Pp. viii + 122; 4 pls. $5.00.

The systematic publication of coins from excavations has become standard procedure for Americans, though our colleagues abroad have not joined the laborious practice, with the exception of Reg- ling's work on Priene. It is expensive in time and money and the results are not exciting to the normal classicist. Nevertheless, it is worth the cost. The coins supply an economic and historical picture of an ancient site independent of all other evidence, though supple- mented by many other kinds. Their testimony must be used with discretion. Increase in the number of coins found from a given period does not prove a proportionate increase in the population-I should suppose that common ware pottery was a much more reliable index in that regard-but it does mean that for one reason or another more coins were used and frequently, in combination with other evidence, it suggests why. The coins found may clearly show to what economic orbit the site belongs, and the comparison of several sites will reveal relations to which we have no other clue.

To our growing resources in this field we can now add a partial publication of the coins from the Athenian Agora, the 37,000 odd pieces found from 1931 to 1949 belonging to the Roman and mediae-

poetry in Homer. See the recent monograph of S. Gandz, " The Dawn of Literature, Prolegomena to a History of Oral Literature," Osiris, 1938, no. 7.

Nevertheless, Miss Lorimer's book is indispensable to every stu- dent of Greece and Greek history and to every scholarly library, and is a masterpiece of analysis. Let us hope that the first edition, written some years ago, will soon be exhausted, and that a second can be printed after revision in the light of the important American contributions to the study of Troy, and making use also of Nilsson's new edition of The Minoan-Mycenaean Age, and such monographs as Helene Kantor's The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Mil- lennium B.C. (reprinted from A.J.A., LI [1947], pp. 1-103). Perhaps by that time scholars will have found an inscription in Asia Minor mentioning Homer and giving his date, thus settling the Homeric Question, which has been debated at least since the third century B. C. Perhaps the solution will come from Caria, where inscriptions as early as 1000 B. C. have recently been found. It is a calamity that Axel Persson, who had discovered these clay tablets, and even a bilingual inscription, died just as he was going to exca- vate thoroughly at Labraunda (cf. Bossert, Altanatolien [1942], figs. 217-18, pp. 219-21; Arch. Orient., XVIII, p. 495, n. 11; Jahr- buch fiir Kleinasiatische Forschung, I [1951], p. 328).

DAVID M. ROBINSON. UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI.

MARGARET THOMPSON. The Athenian Agora, Vol. II: Coins from

the Roman through the Venetian Period. Princeton, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1954. Pp. viii + 122; 4 pls. $5.00.

The systematic publication of coins from excavations has become standard procedure for Americans, though our colleagues abroad have not joined the laborious practice, with the exception of Reg- ling's work on Priene. It is expensive in time and money and the results are not exciting to the normal classicist. Nevertheless, it is worth the cost. The coins supply an economic and historical picture of an ancient site independent of all other evidence, though supple- mented by many other kinds. Their testimony must be used with discretion. Increase in the number of coins found from a given period does not prove a proportionate increase in the population-I should suppose that common ware pottery was a much more reliable index in that regard-but it does mean that for one reason or another more coins were used and frequently, in combination with other evidence, it suggests why. The coins found may clearly show to what economic orbit the site belongs, and the comparison of several sites will reveal relations to which we have no other clue.

To our growing resources in this field we can now add a partial publication of the coins from the Athenian Agora, the 37,000 odd pieces found from 1931 to 1949 belonging to the Roman and mediae-

444 444

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val periods. Mrs. Shear is charged with the publication of the Greek coins whose special problems, particularly in regard to the later Attic series, make their satisfactory cataloguing extremely difficult. It is to be hoped that the Islamic coins may be dealt with by Dr. Miles and the whole body thus made available-unless someone insists on a catalogue of the 11,000 modern pieces. Of course it would be an advantage to have all the material produced simultaneously in one volume but it is a great deal better to have access promptly to what is ready than to pursue that counsel of perfection which has made so many excavation reports recede before the thirsty scholar like mirages in the desert.

The present work has the virtues of clarity and economy. The catalogue itself is reduced to the barest essentials: places, denomina- tion, dates, inscriptions and abbreviated descriptions, and number of specimens. Reference to standard works, at the same time, gives opportunity to consult the fuller treatment of these types and wher- ever more explanation is needed there are remarks in a section of commentary following the catalogue. Most of these remarks are notes on various details, of importance only in adding to the com- pleteness of earlier lists, but there are weightier observations as well, the longest of which is a passage of half a dozen pages devoted to a re-examination of the anonymous bronze coinage. The reader will find with pleasure that Miss Thompson is a critic who tests all her authorities and understands thoroughly how to use the evidence of proportion and provenance to confirm or to amend earlier doctrine, thus adding greatly to the value of her report.

General considerations are gathered into a judicious introduction and a numerical summary, a table of comparative frequencies, and indices of rules and mints add to the utility of a most useful book.

ALFRED R. BELLINGER. YALE UNIVERSITY.

ATTILIO DE LORENZI. Cronologia ed evoluzione plautina. Naples, Istituto della Stampa, 1952. Pp. 223. 2000 lire. (Quaderni Filologici, V.)

With ingenuity backed by scholarship de Lorenzi opens yet again the vexed question of Plautine chronology. His criterion of dating (p. 22) is sequences of more than 20 senarii: the more of these, he argues, the later the play. This criterion passes a number of ob- jective tests: it dates Epid. and Asin. early and Bacch. late, where on other grounds we know they belong; it fits the two plays (Stich., Pseud.) which are firmly dated by their didascaliae. But it will not work, as de Lorenzi candidly admits, for plays with lacunae (Amph., Truc., Aul.). So another criterion, more familiar and less satis- factory, is invoked (p. 47) : topical allusions, either to a great event (like the restoration of prisoners after Zama in Capt. and Poen.) or to a key political idea or an important law (de Lorenzi sees Plautus as pro-Scipionic in Asin., anti-Scipionic in Bacch., and

val periods. Mrs. Shear is charged with the publication of the Greek coins whose special problems, particularly in regard to the later Attic series, make their satisfactory cataloguing extremely difficult. It is to be hoped that the Islamic coins may be dealt with by Dr. Miles and the whole body thus made available-unless someone insists on a catalogue of the 11,000 modern pieces. Of course it would be an advantage to have all the material produced simultaneously in one volume but it is a great deal better to have access promptly to what is ready than to pursue that counsel of perfection which has made so many excavation reports recede before the thirsty scholar like mirages in the desert.

The present work has the virtues of clarity and economy. The catalogue itself is reduced to the barest essentials: places, denomina- tion, dates, inscriptions and abbreviated descriptions, and number of specimens. Reference to standard works, at the same time, gives opportunity to consult the fuller treatment of these types and wher- ever more explanation is needed there are remarks in a section of commentary following the catalogue. Most of these remarks are notes on various details, of importance only in adding to the com- pleteness of earlier lists, but there are weightier observations as well, the longest of which is a passage of half a dozen pages devoted to a re-examination of the anonymous bronze coinage. The reader will find with pleasure that Miss Thompson is a critic who tests all her authorities and understands thoroughly how to use the evidence of proportion and provenance to confirm or to amend earlier doctrine, thus adding greatly to the value of her report.

General considerations are gathered into a judicious introduction and a numerical summary, a table of comparative frequencies, and indices of rules and mints add to the utility of a most useful book.

ALFRED R. BELLINGER. YALE UNIVERSITY.

ATTILIO DE LORENZI. Cronologia ed evoluzione plautina. Naples, Istituto della Stampa, 1952. Pp. 223. 2000 lire. (Quaderni Filologici, V.)

With ingenuity backed by scholarship de Lorenzi opens yet again the vexed question of Plautine chronology. His criterion of dating (p. 22) is sequences of more than 20 senarii: the more of these, he argues, the later the play. This criterion passes a number of ob- jective tests: it dates Epid. and Asin. early and Bacch. late, where on other grounds we know they belong; it fits the two plays (Stich., Pseud.) which are firmly dated by their didascaliae. But it will not work, as de Lorenzi candidly admits, for plays with lacunae (Amph., Truc., Aul.). So another criterion, more familiar and less satis- factory, is invoked (p. 47) : topical allusions, either to a great event (like the restoration of prisoners after Zama in Capt. and Poen.) or to a key political idea or an important law (de Lorenzi sees Plautus as pro-Scipionic in Asin., anti-Scipionic in Bacch., and

REVIEWS. REVIEWS. 445 445

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