Fossey, J.M. & Smith, P.J. (Ed.) Antiquitates Proponticae, Circumponticae et Caucasicae II 1997 Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology and History of the Black Sea (McGill University, November 1994). Contributors: R. Doneva, J.M. Fossey, G. Gauvin, D. Kacharava, L. Kamperídis, S.A. Krebs, V. Licheli, J. Morin, G. Tsetskhladze, K. Tuite. MUMCAH 19 (1997), 190 p. + pocket map. 21x29 cm. - 66.00 EURO, ISBN: 9050634788

The study presented here aims to make a practical contribution to a new understanding and use of digital 3D reconstructions in archaeology, namely as ‘laboratories’ to test hypotheses and visualize, evaluate and discuss multiple interpretations.

This is a study of Hellenistic athletics from the perspective of the victors. By analyzing agonistic epigrams as poetry on commission, it investigates how successful athletes and horse owners and their sponsors wanted their victories to be understood. Based on the identification of recurring motifs that exceed the conventions of the genre, a multiplicity of agonistic cultures is detected on three different levels - those of the polis, the region and the empire. Kings and queens used athletics in order to legitimate their rule, cities tried to compensate for military defeats by agonistic successes, and victorious aristocrats created virtual halls of fame to emphasize their common regional identity. Without a doubt, athletic victories represented far more than just leisure activities of Hellenistic noblemen. They clearly mattered in terms of politics and social status.

Contributors: D. Baronowski, A. Foley, J.M. Fossey, G. Gauvin, R. Greenfield, J. Morin, P.J. Smith.

This volume seeks to reassess ancient Greek and Roman society and its economy in examining skilled labour and professionalism.

In the ancient Greece of Pericles and Plato, the polis, or city-state, reigned supreme, but by the time of Alexander, nearly half of the mainland Greek city-states had surrendered part of their autonomy to join the larger political entities called koina. In the first book in fifty years to tackle the rise of these so-called Greek federal states, Emily Mackil charts a complex, fascinating map of how shared religious practices and long-standing economic interactions faciliated political cooperation and the emergence of a new kind of state. Mackil provides a detailed historical narrative spanning five centuries to contextualize her analyses, which focus on the three best-attested areas of mainland Greece—Boiotia, Achaia, and Aitolia. The analysis is supported by a dossier of Greek inscriptions, each text accompanied by an English translation and commentary.