Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Distributed by Eddy.se AB at bokorder.se. All content available with open access, use links below.   “The pen fell from my hand when I was in my eighty-sixth year.” Revisiting the work of Martin P. Nilsson Edited by Jenny Wallensten & Gunnel Ekroth https://doi.org/10.30549/actaath-8-24 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of both the death of Martin P. Nilsson, the eminent Swedish scholar of ancient Greek religion, and the publication of the third edition of his monumental Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Nilsson’s scholarly output was huge, with a production of around 20 items annually, and he touched upon most aspects of the study of ancient Greek religion, be it in a book or an article, in a footnote or an in-depth argument. This volume constitutes a re-reading of Nilsson in the light of new ancient evidence, and modern methods and theoretical approaches. Five leading researchers in this field of religion revisit major works of Nilsson’s oeuvre—Geschichte der griechischen Religion, vols 1 and 2 (Jon Mikalson and Eftychia Stavrianopoulou), Greek folk religion (Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge), Minoan-Mycenaean religion (Matthew Haysom) and Greek piety (Michael D. Konaris)—in order to explore whether his works today are mainly touched upon with just…

Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Distributed by Eddy.se AB at bokorder.se. All content is available with open access, use links below. From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological, and zooarchaeological evidence Edited by Jan-Mathieu Carbon & Gunnel Ekroth https://doi.org/10.30549/actaath-4-60 Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200). The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries. Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice. Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice explore the treatment of legs, including…

Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Distributed by Eddy.se AB at bokorder.se. All content is available with open access, use links below. The stuff of the gods. The material aspects of religion in ancient Greece Edited by Matthew Haysom, Maria Mili & Jenny Wallensten https://doi.org/10.30549/actaath-4-59 The “material turn” in the humanities and social sciences has brought about an expanded understanding of the material dimension of all cultural and social phenomena. In the Classics it has resulted in the breaking down of boundaries within the discipline and a growing interest in materiality within literature. In the study of religion cross-culturally new perspectives are emphasising religion as a material phenomenon and belief as a practice founded in the material world. This volume brings together experts in all aspects of Greek religion to consider its material dimensions. Chapters cover both themes traditionally approached by archaeologists, such as dedications and sacred space, and themes traditionally approached by philologists, such as the role of objects in divine power. They include a wide variety of themes ranging from the imminent material experience of religion for ancient Greek worshippers to the role of material culture in change and continuity over the long term. Chapter abstracts and…

Opuscula 7 (2014) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Castration, cult and agriculture. Perspectives on Greek animal sacrifice By Gunnel Ekroth Abstract The castration of most male animals seems to have been the rule in ancient Greece when rearing cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs; only very few adult males are needed for breeding purposes and flocks of bulls, rams, billy-goats and boars are difficult to keep, since they are too aggressive. Castrated males yield more and fattier meat, and, in the case of sheep, more wool. Still, sacred laws and sacrificial calendars stipulate the sacrifice of uncastrated victims, and vase-paintings frequently represent bulls, rams and billy-goats in ritual contexts. This paper will discuss the role of uncastrated male animals in Greek cult in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, both from a religious and an agricultural perspective. Of particular interest are the relations between the practical, economic reality and the theological perception of sacrifice. These issues will be explored using epigraphical, literary, iconographical and zooarchaeological evidence. Bibliographical information Gunnel Ekroth, ‘Cult, castration and agriculture. Perspectives on Greek animal sacrifice’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and…

Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Bones, behaviour and belief. The zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practice in ancient Greece and beyond Edited by Gunnel Ekroth & Jenny Wallensten https://doi.org/10.30549/actaath-4-55 The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Greece is gradually becoming widely recognized. Animal bones form the only category of evidence for Greek cult which is constantly significantly increasing, and they can complement and elucidate the information provided by texts, inscriptions and images. This volume brings together sixteen contributions exploring ritual practices and animal bones from different chronological and geographical perspectives, foremost ancient Greece in the historical period, but also in the Bronze Age and as early as the Neolithic period, as well as Anatolia, France and Scandinavia, providing new empirical evidence from a number of major sanctuaries and cult-places. On a methodological level, the complexity of identifying ritual activity from the zooarchaeological evidence is a recurrent theme, as is the prominence of local variation visible in the bone material, suggesting that the written sources and iconography may offer simplified or idealized versions of…

Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Available for purchase at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, and Bokorder.se Perspectives on ancient Greece. Papers in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Swedish Institute at Athens By Ann-Louise Schallin (ed.) This volume presents current research related to Greek prehistory and Classical Archaeology and thus serves as a crosssection of the research strategies, which the Swedish Institute at Athens promotes. The topics relate to research, which span from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic times. The reason for putting this publication together is twofold: one aim is to publish the papers, which were put forward by a select number of Swedish scholars who were invited to give lectures at the Swedish Institute at Athens during the celebrations commemorating the Institute’s 60th anniversary on 10 May 2008. The second aim is to honour professor emeritus Robin Hägg, who was the director at the Swedish Institute at Athens from 1976 to 1994. This book thus consists of articles based on the lectures, which were held at the Swedish Institute celebrations on May 10 2008 and also of a number of articles by scholars who wished to celebrate Robin Hägg and who thus joined the venture. Contents Acknowledgements Ann-Louise…

Opuscula 5 (2012) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com, and Adlibris.com. Books reviewed in Opuscula 5 (2012) Adam J. Goldwyn | G. Van Steen. Theatre of the Condemned: Classical Tragedy on Greek Prison Islands (Classical Presences), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011. xiv + 354 pp., 5 figs. ISBN 978-0-19-957288-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-09 Susanne Carlsson | N. Papazarkadas, Sacred and public land in ancient Athens (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011. xii + 395 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-969400-6. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-10 Gunnel Ekroth | Aspects of ancient Greek cult. Context, ritual and iconography (Aarhus Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity, ASMA, 8), eds. Jesper Tae Jensen, George Hinge, Peter Schultz and Bronwen Wickkiser, Aarhus 2009. 245 pp. ISBN 978-87-7934-253-8. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-11 Susanne Carlsson | A. Powell & S. Hodkinson (eds.), Sparta. The body politic (Study of Sparta), The Classical Press of Wales: Oxford 2010. viii + 348 pp., 5 figs. ISBN 978-1-905125-26-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-12 Ingela M.B. Wiman | L. Bouke van der Meer (ed). Material Aspects of Etruscan Religion. Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Leiden, May 29 and 30, 2008. BABESCH, Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, supp 16, 2010, Leuven: Peeters, 2010. 1-164 pp. ISBN 978-90-429-2366-9. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-05-13 Örjan…

Opuscula 2 (2009) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Books reviewed in Opuscula 2 (2009) Gunnel Ekroth | M-Z. Petropoulou, Animal sacrifice in ancient Greek religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200 (Oxford Classical monographs), Oxford 2008. xii + 336 p. ISBN 978-0-19-921854-7. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-13 Jenny Wallensten | S.I. Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (Blackwell Ancient Religions), Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2008. 193 p. ISBN: 978-1-4051-1573-5. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-14 Simon Malmberg | P. von Rummel, Habitus barbarus: Kleidung und Repräsentation spätantiker Eliten im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert. Berlin: de Gruyter 2007. xi + 481 pp. ISBN: 978-3-11-019150-9. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-15 Lars Karlsson | O. Henry, Tombes de Carie. Architecture funéraire et culture carienne, VIe–IIe siècle av. J.-C. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2009. 289 pp., 163 figs., 16 pls. ISBN 978-2-7535-0758-6. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-02-16 Bibliographical information ‘Book reviews’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 2, 221–228. Stockholm 2009. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977798-1-4. Softcover, 232 pages.

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Contents Katie Demakopoulou, Nicoletta Divari-Valakou & Ann-Louise Schallin | Excavations in Midea 2002 (pp. 7-28) Berit Wells, Arto Penttinen & Marie Françoise Billot | Investigations in the sanctuary of Poseidon on Kalaureia 1997-2001 (pp. 29-87) Charles M. Adelman | The find group pottery from the Swedish excavations at Sina, Cyprus: significant sherds selected by Arne Furumark for his working notebook (pp. 89-171) Robert Parker | The problem of the Greek cult epithet (pp. 173-183) Birgitta L. Sjöberg | Settlement activity at Late Helladic Asine in the Argolid (pp. 185-201) Book reviews Lyvia Morgan | N. Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior. The naked goddess and Mistress of Animals in early Greek religion (pp. 203-204) Gunnel Ekroth | M. Deoudi, Heroenkulte in homerischer Zeit (pp. 204-207) Björn Forsén | Y.A. Pikoulas, Αρκαδια. Συλλογὴ μελετών (pp. 207-208) Björn Forsén | Y.A. Pikoulas, Λεξικό των οικισμών της Πελοποννήσου: παλαιά και νέα τοπωνύμια & F.A. Cooper (ed.), Houses of the Morea. Vernacular architecture of the northwest Peloponnesos (1205-1955) (pp. 209-210) Izabella Donkow | V. Tatton-Brown (ed.), Cyprus in the 19th century AD: fact, fancy and fiction. Papers of the 22nd British Museum Classical Colloquium, December 1998 (pp. 211-213) Books received…

Distributed by Astrom Editions. Contents Hans-Günther Buchholz | Arthur Milchhöfer, ein Verehrer und Führsprecher Schliemanns und “Die Anfänge der Kunst in Griechenland” (pp. 7-26) Katie Demakopoulou, Nicoletta Divari-Valakou, Ann-Louise Schallin, Gunnel Ekroth, Anna Lindblom, Monica Nilsson & Lena Sjögren | Excavations in Midea 2000 and 2001, with an appendix by Y. Bassiakos (pp. 27-58) Johan Flemberg | A female canon in Late Classical and Hellenistic sculpture (pp. 59-82) Jeannette Forsén, Björn Forsén & Lars Karlsson | The walls of Asea (pp. 83-104) Helen Mangou & Panayiotis V. Ioannou | Trends in the making of Greek copper-based artefacts during the prehistoric period (4000-1050 BC) (pp. 105-118) Gullög Nordquist | Pots, prestige and people. Symbolic action in Middle Helladic burials (pp. 109-135) Mirena Slavova | Mystery clubs in Bulgarian lands in antiquity. Greek epigraphical evidence (pp. 137-149) Helène Whittaker | Religion and power. The nature of Minoan influence on early Mycenaean religion (pp. 151-157) Book reviews Björn Forsén | E. Kourinou, Σπάρτη. Συμβολὴ στὴ μνημειακὴ τοπογραφία τησ (pp. 159-160) Johannes Siapkas | J. McInerney, The folds of Parnassos. Land and ethnicity in ancient Phokis (pp. 160-163) Paavo Roos | S.I. Rotroff, The Athenian Agora XXIX. The Hellenistic pottery: Athenian and imported wheelmade…