Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Dissertation abstracts 2022–2023 Danilo Marco Campanaro | Illumination matters. Revisiting the Roman house in a new light, Lund University 2023, ISBN 9789189415713 https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/illumination-matters-revisiting-the-roman-house-in-a-new-light Peder Flemestad | Order and adornment. The role of dress in Plutarch, Lund University 2022. ISBN 9789189415478 https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/order-and-adornment-the-role-of-dress-in-plutarch Valentina Vassallo | A 3D digital approach to the stylistic and typo-technological study of small figurines from Ayia Irini, Cyprus, Lund University 2022, ISBN 9789189415546 https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/a-3d-digital-approach-to-the-stylistic-and-typo-technological-stu Bibliographical information ‘Dissertation abstracts 2022–2023’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 16, Stockholm 2023, 267-268. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977799-5-1. Softcover, 268 pages. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-16

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Book reviews Vassilis Petrakis | J.C. Wright & M. Dabney with contributions by P. Acheson, S.E. Allen, K.M. Forste, P. Halstead, S.M.A. Hoffmann, A. Karabatsoli, K. Kaza-Papageorgiou, B. Lis, R. Mersereau, H. Mommsen, J.B. Rutter, T. Theodoropoulou & J.E. Tomlinson, The Mycenaean settlement on Tsoungiza Hill (Nemea Valley Archaeological Project, 3), Princeton, New Jersey: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens 2020. xlii + 1,191 pp., 503 b/w figs, 150 tables. ISBN 978-0-87661-924-7 (cloth). https://doi.org/10.2972/j.ctv22wtqv8 https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-12 Jenifer Neils | E. Rystedt, Excursions into Greek and Roman imagery (Classical Foundations), Abingdon: Routledge 2023. 272 pp. 90 b/w illus. ISBN 979-0-414-40906-3 (pb). https://doi.org/10.4324/b22992 https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-13 Georgia Galani | V. Evangelidis, The archaeology of Roman Macedonia. Urban and rural environments, Oxbow Books: Oxford & Philadelphia 2022, 223 pp., ISBN 978-1-78925-801-1. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2v6pckz https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-14 Anas Al Khabour | S. Minna, ed., Challenges, strategies and high-tech applications for saving the cultural heritage of Syria. Proceedings of the workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016 (Oriental and European Archaeology, 21), Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences 2022, 247 pp. ISBN: 978-3-7001-8374-7. https://doi.org/10.1553/978oeaw83747 https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-15 Bibliographical information ‘Book reviews’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 16,…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Review article. Gender in ancient Rome: New directions and voices By Lovisa Brännstedt & Lewis Webb Books reviewed R. Ancona & G. Tsouvala, eds., New directions in the study of women in Greco-Roman antiquity, New York: Oxford University Press 2021. xvi + 278 pp., 11 figs, 8 colour pls. ISBN 9780190937638 https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190937638.001.0001 B. Longfellow & M. Swetnam-Burland, eds., Women’s lives, women’s voices. Roman material culture and female agency in the Bay of Naples, Austin: University of Texas Press 2021. 408 pp., 76 figs, 16 colour pls. ISBN 9781477323588 https://doi.org/10.7560/323588 F. Rohr Vio, Powerful matrons. New political actors in the Late Roman Republic, Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza 2022. 236 pp. ISBN 9788413404523 Bibliographical information Lovisa Brännstedt & Lewis Webb, ‘Review artice. Gender in ancient Rome: New directions and voices’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 16, Stockholm 2023, 249-255. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977799-5-1. Softcover, 268 pages. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-11

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Johan Niklas Byström and the so-called Venus of Stockholm. New research on a presumably lost sculpture By Christian Klose Abstract The inventory books of the Skulpturensammlung (Sculpture Collection) in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections, SKD) mention a plaster cast of a Venus sculpture, moulded from the marble so-called Venus of Stockholm. In the first half of the 19th century this statue—always considered an ancient artwork—had been owned by the Swedish sculptor Johan Niklas Byström, before it was sold to an English art collector. From that time on, the sculpture has been considered lost and it has remained unregarded by research. By contextualizing the Dresden plaster cast with other ancient Venus sculptures and textual sources, this article aims to show that the Venus of Stockholm was most likely an elaborate and mirror-reversed imitation made in its entirety in the 17th or 18th century. As such, the Venus of Stockholm was exceptional, because post-antique mirror-reversed copies of ancient sculptures are very rare. In addition, the article compares the Venus of Stockholm to statues…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Hieronymus Odam, engraved gems and antiquarianism By Paweł Gołyźniak Abstract This article is designed to recover and reconstruct the antiquarian, collecting, and documentary activities of Italian artist Hieronymus Odam (c. 1681–1740) in respect of engraved gems. Odam is primarily recognized as a painter, while his contribution to the development of antiquarianism and collecting of antiquities remains virtually unknown. Odam’s speciality was intaglios and cameos. The recently discovered drawings of gems in the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin, and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, as well as archival sources—Odam’s correspondence and two dactyliothecae (those of Pier Leone Ghezzi and James Tassie)—prove that he possessed a considerable number of engraved gems and was one of the experts in this particular field. But above all, Odam documented thousands of engraved gems, notably for Philipp von Stosch, in a very accurate and innovative way, straying from the traditional antiquarian approach. The co-operation between Odam and Stosch resulted in illustrations that were designed to show techniques of engraving and styles of the ancient masters, qualities that…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. New Greek inscriptions from Akmoneia and its territory By Hüseyin Uzunoğlu & N. Eda Akyürek Şahin Abstract This paper publishes nine new inscriptions copied during the archaeo­logical surveys conducted in the Phrygian city of Akmoneia and in its territory between 2014 and 2017. Even though there have been no systematic excavations to date, the city is remarkable due to its rich epigraphic documentation. The new finds make a notable contribution to this. Of the nine inscriptions published here, one (No. 1) concerns the erection of the statues of Koros, the goddesses, as well as of the sacred council, by a certain Hierokles, the priest and the agonothete of the Great Asklepieia. In another inscription (No. 2), a woman called Flavia Hedeia, the daughter of Flavius Montanus of consular rank and the wife of Sallius Aristainetos of consular rank, is honoured by her foster-parents. We attempt to identify Flavius Montanus through some related inscriptions already published from the city and thereby propose a dating in the mid-3rd century AD. Nos. 3–6 are grave inscriptions and they all…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. Statuettes of pregnant sows from Knidos. New light on the cult of Demeter By Linda Talatas Abstract Four marble statuettes of pregnant swine were found in the sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos over 160 years ago, but have been largely overlooked in previous research, even though the connection between pigs and Demeter has long caught the attention of scholars, especially in relation to the piglets required for the celebration of her Eleusinian Mysteries. The statuettes raise several questions. Why make sculptures of pregnant sows? Who dedicated those offerings, and in what context? Are they related to the sacrifice of pregnant sows? And ultimately, why pregnant sows for Demeter? The article starts with a presentation of the four marble sows from the sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos, followed by a more general examination of the archaeological evidence for pig, piglet, and pregnant sow representations at Greek sanctuaries. I will then explore the epigraphical evidence for pregnant sow sacrifices, all of which is in connection with the cult of Demeter, and contextualize it with other…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. The humans of ancient Hermione. The necropolis in the light of bioarchaeology By Anna Tornberg Abstract Bioarchaeology has the potential to substantially inform about ancient lifeways through osteological analyses of the remains of the once-living individuals. This article provides insights of the demography and health of the people of ancient Hermione (Geometric–Roman period). A minimum number of 85 individuals from the Hermione necropolis was osteologically analysed. Although the analysis was limited by taphonomic processes and the long period of use of the necropolis, the results point towards a population affected by urban hazards, such as infections, high child mortality, and, possibly, decreased opportunity to survive into senescence. Further, stunted growth, evidence of general stress primarily in the juvenile skeletal assemblage, and a possible case of child abuse informs of the hardships experienced by children in ancient Hermione. The osteological analysis also confirms that the two individuals buried in the “Warrior Tomb” were of both sexes. The skeletal remains were unfortunately too poorly preserved for detailed analyses of trauma or other health-related patterns. The…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. An overlooked 2nd-century BC decree by the polis of the Orthieians, Thessaly By Robin Rönnlund Abstract The National Archive of Monuments in Athens contains a dossier with documents regarding complications relating to road construction works in 1905 at the then-unknown archaeological site of Kedros in Western Thessaly. Among the documents is a paper copy of a fragmentary inscription of the 2nd century BC, reportedly found at the site. The preserved text of the inscription indicates that it was an honorific decree set up by the polis of the Orthieians to a benefactor from the nearby city of Gomphoi. Bibliographical information Robin Rönnlund, ‘An overlooked 2nd-century BC decree by the polis of the Orthieians, Thessaly’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 16, Stockholm 2023, 113-131. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977799-5-1. Softcover, 268 pages. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-16-05

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. A preliminary report on sculptures and figurative terracottas found at the site of Vlochos, region of Karditsa, Thessaly By Stelios Ieremias & Robin Rönnlund Abstract The existence of an ancient city at Thessalian Vlochos was first established by the discovery in 1964 of several inscribed stelai at a quarry at the site, which in turn prompted its declaration as a protected archaeological zone. A large spoil-heap with mixed soils and quarry debris had been left after the closure of the quarry, and this was examined and removed as part of the ongoing Greek-Swedish archaeological collaboration at the site. Apart from quarry debris and rubbish, the soils of the heap yielded considerable amounts of pottery and tile, and also architectural members, terracotta figurines, stelai, marble statuettes, and votives. The mixed nature of the soils made all finds ex situ, but the composition of the material provides a transect of the chronology of the site at Vlochos, as well as strong indications of cult, including evidence for the cult of the Thessalian goddess Ennodia. Bibliographical information…