SCRIPTA CLASSICA ISRAELICA

YEARBOOK OF THE ISRAEL SOCIETY

FOR THE PROMOTION OF CLASSICAL STUDIES

VOLUME XXXIV 2015

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 SCRIPTA CLASSICA ISRAELICA
YEARBOOK OF THE ISRAEL SOCIETY
FOR THE
PROMOTION OF CLASSICAL STUDIES

Editor in Chief: BENJAMIN ISAAC

Editorial Board:
DANIELA DUECK
IDO ISRAELOWICH
MENAHEM LUZ

Editorial Assistant: Yona Gonopolsky

Assistance in Production: Donna Shalev

VOLUME XXXIV 2015

 INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
OF SCRIPTA CLASSICA ISRAELICA

Hubert Cancik, Berlin Doron Mendels, Jerusalem

Averil Cameron, Oxford
Guido Clemente, Florence
Hannah M. Cotton, Jerusalem
Werner Eck, Köln
John Glucker, Tel Aviv
Jasper Griffin, Oxford
Erich Gruen, Berkeley
Benjamin Isaac, Tel Aviv
Jaap Mansfeld, Utrecht
Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski, Paris
Ra‘anana Meridor, Jerusalem
Fergus Millar, Oxford
John North, London
Peter J. Rhodes, Durham
Hannah Rosén, Jerusalem
Israel Shatzman, Jerusalem
Yoram Tsafrir, Jerusalem

THE ISRAEL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION

OF CLASSICAL STUDIES

OFFICERS 2014-2015

President: Margalit Finkelberg

Secretary: Ory Amitay
Treasurer: Avi Avidov

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Ory Amitay
Gabriel Danzig
Rivka Gersht
Omer Ganor (Student Representative)
Iris Sulimani
Yulia Ustinova
Alexander Yakobson

HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY

Moshe Amit, David Golan, Ranon Katzoff,

Ra‘anana Meridor, Israel Shatzman, Lisa Ullmann
 CONTENTS

PAGE

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM IUDAEAE / PALAESTINAE

BENJAMIN ISAAC, Introductory Remark………………………………………………… v
WALTER AMELING, Epigraphy and the Greek Language in Hellenistic Palestine………. 1
WERNER ECK, Honorary Statues as a Means of Public Communication in Iudaea / Syria
Palaestina ………………..………............................................................................. 19
JONATHAN J. PRICE, Transplanted Communities in Judaea / Palaestina….……………... 27
BENJAMIN ISAAC, Roman Roads, Physical Remains, Organization and Development…. 41

P. J. RHODES, Directions in the Study of Athenian Democracy...……………………….. 49

ANNA NOVOKHATKO, Epicharmus’ Comedy and Early Sicilian Scholarship…….…….. 69
DANIEL GÓMEZ-CASTRO, Alliance Policies in the Elean War (c. 402-400): the Aetolian
Case..……………………………………………………………………..………….. 85
EVA ANAGNOSTOU-LAOUTIDES, An Incident of Magic in Heroides 20 and 21.................. 93
EGIDIA OCCHIPINTI, Athenaeus’ Sixth Book on Greek and Roman Slavery……………. 115
YOUVAL ROTMAN, The Paradox of Roman Eunuchism: A Juridical Historical
Approach…………………………………………………………………………….. 129
AMIT BARATZ, Sources of the Gods’ Immortality in Archaic Greek Literature………..... 151
MOSHE BLIDSTEIN, Entering a Sanctuary the Wrong Way……………………………… 165
KIMBERLEY CZAJKOWSKI, Jewish Attitudes to the Imperial Cult ……………………… 181
ORLY LEWIS, Marcellinus’ De pulsibus: a Neglected Treatise on the Ancient “Art of the
Pulse”………………………………………………………………..……………… 195
NURIT SHOVAL-DUDAI, Greek and Latin Loanwords in the Historical Dictionary of the
Hebrew Language……..…………………………………………………………….. 215

REVIEW ARTICLE
DONNA SHALEV, Collected Papers on Greek into Latin in the Context of Translation in
Antiquity.…………………………………………………………………………..... 227

BOOK REVIEWS
P. Funke and M. Haake (eds.), Greek Federal States and their Sanctuaries: Identities
and Integration (by Kostas Vlassopoulos)…………………………………………. 247
Corinne Bonnet, Les enfants de Cadmos: Le paysage religieux de la Phénicie
hellénistique (by Guy G. Stroumsa)………………………………………………… 249
A.G.G. Gibson (ed.), The Julio-Claudian Succession: Reality and Perception of the
“Augustan Model” (by Christina T. Kuhn)…………………………………………. 251
Suzanne Stern-Gillet and Gary M. Gurtler (eds.), Ancient and Medieval Concepts of
Friendship (by Menahem Luz)………………………………………………………. 253
Monika Frass (ed.), Kauf, Konsum und Märkte. Wirtschaftswelten im Fokus – Von der
römischen Antike bis zur Gegenwart (by Merav Haklai)........................................... 256
T. Bekker-Nielsen, Space, Place and Identity in Northern Anatolia (by Stephen
Mitchell)……………………………………………………………………………... 258
Nicola Cusumano, Valentino Gasparini, Attilio Mastrocinque, Jörg Rüpke (eds.),
Memory and Religious Experience in the Greco-Roman World (by Andrej
Petrovic)…………………………………………………………………………….. 260
Werner Eck, Judäa - Syria Palästina: die Auseinandersetzung einer Provinz mit
römischer Politik und Kultur (by René S. Bloch)………………………………….. 263
Joseph Geiger, Hellenism in the East. Studies on Greek Intellectuals in Palestine (by
Erich S. Gruen)……………………………………………………………………. 266
L. Koenen, J. Kaimio, M. Kaimio, R.W. Daniel (eds.), The Petra Papyri II (by Joseph
Patrich)………………………………………………………………………………. 268
Deborah Levine Gera, Judith (by Cana Werman)……………………………………….. 270
Seth Schwartz, The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad (by Daniel R.
Schwarz)……………………………………………………….…………………… 273

OBITUARIES: LUCIEN POZNANSKI (by Yulia Ustinova)…………………………………... 279

SAMUEL SCOLNICOV (by Joseph Geiger)…………………………………… 280
RACHEL FEIG VISHNIA (by Avshalom Laniado and Rachel Zelnick-
Abramovitz)………………………………………………………………... 281
MORDECAI OSTWALD (by David Schaps)…………………………………... 285

DISSERTATIONS IN PROGRESS............................................................................................. 287

PROCEEDINGS: THE ISRAEL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CLASSICAL STUDIES ............. 293
 BOOK REVIEWS

P. Funke and M. Haake (eds.), Greek Federal States and their Sanctuaries: Identities and
Integration. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2013. 244 pp. ISBN: 978-3-515-10307-7.

The study of Greek history has traditionally focused on the polis, and primarily on Athens, the
most powerful and best-attested in our surviving sources. The Greek world of ethnē and koina was
normally conceived as conservative and a far less interesting “sidekick”. In the last three decades,
however, new ways of approaching the poleis, as well as a growing interest in regional studies,
ethnicity and federal states, are gradually redrawing the map of our understanding anew. Back in
the 80s, a seminal study of Francois de Polignac stressed the role of space and its religious
articulation for the emergence and formation of Greek poleis. A crucial function in the articulation
of poleis communities, the shaping of their identities and the definition of their territories was
played by the construction of temples and sanctuaries both in the poleis’ centres and in the
periphery of the landscapes, as well as the processions and other links, that connected them.
The present volume originates in a conference organised in Münster in 2010, and examines the
relationship between Greek federal states and their sanctuaries. It includes 12 chapters, in English
(8), German (2) and French (2), contributed by well-respected scholars in the field. This highly
stimulating collection ranges very widely, both chronologically (from the archaic period to Roman
times) and spatially (covering the whole of mainland Greece and the Aegean, as well as South
Italy. It is somewhat unfortunate that the Greek koina of Asia Minor are not represented. I shall
provide a brief summary of the chapters, before discussing more general issues raised by
individual contributions.
One of the reasons for the traditional focus on Athens is the availability of source material
resulting in the relative neglect of many other areas of the Greek world. Accordingly, some of the
chapters deal with cases where there is very limited evidence for the federal state and its nature, as
well as its sanctuaries. Michael Fronda (pp. 123-138) examines the lacunose sources for the
koinon of Achaean cities of South Italy and the later Italiote League, in order to establish the
nature of these federations; he also discusses the sanctuary of Zeus Homarios founded by the
Achaean koinon, and the various sanctuaries that served the later Italiote League. Kostas Burazelis
(pp. 173-183) examines the fragmentary evidence for three Hellenistic koina: the koinon of the
Islanders, successively centred on Delos and Tenos, the koinon of the poleis of Lesbos, and finally
the koinon of the poleis of Crete. Klaus Freitag (pp. 65-83) discusses the problem of the
numismatic evidence for the Acarnanian koinon and its main deities in the classical period while
using the more illuminating epigraphic evidence for the later koinon of the Hellenistic period.
Three papers focus on the significance of one particular sanctuary as the focus of a regional
identity and the regional state. Athanasios Rizakis (pp. 13-47) examines the role of the sanctuary
of Zeus Homarios for Achaean identity and the Achaean koinon. In assessing the extent to which
the sanctuary of Poseidon at Helike may have played an equivalent role before its destruction in
373 BC, Rizakis stresses the crucial function of Zeus Homarios in the reconstituted Achaean
koinon. The case of Macedonia is explored by Miltiades Hatzopoulos (pp. 163-171): while no
ancient source explicitly states that Dion was the federal sanctuary of the Macedonians,
Hatzopoulos uses epigraphic and literary evidence to show how Dion played a role equivalent to
that of Thermos and Dodona for the koina of the Aetolians and Epirotes respectively. Strictly
speaking, Olympia was not a federal sanctuary, but James Roy (pp. 107-121) examines how it
functioned in the intersection between the polis of Elis, its hegemonic alliance in the wider region
of Eleia, and its role as a Panhellenic sanctuary and arena of display. Roy shows how Elis used
Olympia in order to strengthen its position vis-à-vis its subordinate allies in Eleia, on the one
hand, but generally allowed other Greek states to make dedications and monuments irrespective of
the interests of great powers like Athens and Sparta.

Scripta Classica Israelica vol. XXXIV 2015 pp. 247-277.

248 BOOK REVIEWS

A number of papers focus on a comparison between two aspects or places. Thomas Heine
Nielsen (pp. 227-244) concentrates on Triphyllia and Arcadia, two short-term federal states that
appeared in the fourth-century Peloponnese. Nielsen stresses two significant issues to which we
shall return: the difference between Arcadia, where regional identity pre-existed the creation of a
federal state ― and Triphyllia, but he also examines the extent to which it is possible to identify
federal sanctuaries for either of these two koina. Giovanna Daverio Rocchi (pp. 139-161)
examines the similarities and differences between the western and eastern Locrians, focusing on
the significance of the myth of Ajax for Locrian ethnic identity, as reflected in the prominence of
the federal sanctuary of Athena Ilias in the West, and the role of the genos of the Aianteioi in the
provision of Locrian maidens in the East. Peter Funke (pp. 49-64) contributes a very stimulating
comparison between Thermos as the federal sanctuary where the original Aetolian koinon held a
major festival alongside the election of its magistrates ― and the festival of Panaitolika, created in
the course of the Hellenistic expansion of the Aetolian koinon, and held in various sanctuaries in
its newly incorporated regions as a means of integrating them into the Aetolian federation.
Finally, the remaining three papers focus on diversity: the diversity of federal sanctuaries, as
well as the diversity of interests within a koinon. Angela Ganter (pp. 85-105) persuasively points
out the need for stressing diversity and conflict in the case of the Boeotian koinon and its
sanctuaries. Instead of the dominance of one federal sanctuary like Thermos, Boeotia possessed a
number of very significant sanctuaries, each normally run by the local community, while at the
same time observing a regional and Panhellenic significance: Ganter discusses the cases of the
sanctuaries of Ptoion at Acraephia, Athena Itonia and Poseidon at Onchestos. A city such as
Thebes tried to dominate the federal state both by putting its own spin on Boeotian myths, as well
as by creating new festivals like that of the Basileia in Lebadeia. A similar case of diversity is
presented for Thessaly by Richard Bouchon and Bruno Helly (pp. 204-226). They discuss the case
of the mythical figures of Thessalos and Aiatos in the articulation of Thessalian identity, and the
role of the sanctuaries of Athena Itonia near Kierion and of Zeus Olympios ― Eleutherios at
Larissa. Finally, Jeremy McInerney (pp. 185-203) examines the role of the three sanctuaries of
Athena Kronaia at Elateia, of Kalapodi, and of the oracle of Apollo at Abai for the Phocian
koinon. McInerney stresses both the wealth and international connections of these sanctuaries, as
well as their location at the intersection between Phocis, Locris and Boeotia: as he argues, the
process of claiming control over these sanctuaries sharpened regional boundaries and shaped
Phocian identity and the federal structure.
As the above summary should make clear, this is a highly stimulating volume, which makes a
number of significant claims, while raising some very important questions for future study. In this
respect, it is somewhat regrettable that the volume lacks an introduction and a conclusion for
drawing out the major threads and arguments. It is also to be regretted that most of the papers lack
cross references even when they discuss the same cult or sanctuary as in the case of Zeus
Homarios (discussed by Rizakis, Fronda and Nielsen), or Athena Itonia (discussed by Ganter and
Bouchon-Helly). I offer a few comments below, in the hope of encouraging future discussion.
The first major issue concerns the extent to which a federal sanctuary could be considered an
essential aspect of a Greek federal state. As discussed by Burazelis for the case of Hellenistic
Crete, Freitag for classical Acarnania, and Nielsen for fourth-century Triphyllia, there seems to be
little or no evidence that in these cases a federal sanctuary ever existed; these were all federal
states that emerged late, were weak, or lasted for only a limited period. More complex is the case
of Arcadia, and the role of the Lykeia festival in articulating a regional identity before the
emergence of the federal state in the fourth century, as well as the role of the federal synoecised
capital of Megalopolis for later developments. We cannot simply assume the existence and
significance of a federal sanctuary for all federal states ― this is an important question for future
research.
The second point concerns the issues of diversity and conflict. While some federal states
appear to have a dominant federal sanctuary, like Thermos in Aetolia, Athena Ilias in Ozolian
 BOOK REVIEWS 249

Locris and Zeus Homarios in Achaea, other regions like Boeotia and Thessaly appear to have a
number of sanctuaries of regional significance and experienced major conflicts about the control
of the federal state and its sanctuaries. But perhaps the most significant issue emerging from this
volume is the crucial role of historical change and major differences between periods. Freitag
shows how the difference between the classical Acarnanian koinon centred on Stratos and the later
Hellenistic koinon, in which Action emerges as a major federal sanctuary; Funke explains how the
expansion of the Aetolian koinon led to the emergence of the federal Panaitolika festival, in
addition to the central role of Thermon for the original koinon; Bouchon and Helly explain the
difference between the classical multipolar Thessalian koinon and the centralised Hellenistic
koinon based on Larissa. In conclusion: not only will this volume be of interest for scholars in
various fields of Greek history, it also raises major questions for future research.

Kostas Vlassopoulos University of Nottingham

Corinne Bonnet, Les enfants de Cadmos: Le paysage religieux de la Phénicie hellénistique. Paris:
Éditions de Boccard, 2015. 606 pp. ISBN 978-2-7018-0371-5.

In this insightful and brilliantly written study, Corinne Bonnet (henceforward CB), a senior
member of the Institut Universitaire de France who teaches ancient history in Toulouse, offers a
remarkable synthesis of the transformation of the religious landscape of Phoenicia in Hellenistic
times. None of the parameters of such a study is easily defined: Phoenicia was never a single,
unified political entity, and its ethnic and linguistic character may be found in a very broadly
spread diaspora all around the shores of the Mediterranean. In her study, CB goes North up to the
island of Arados, near the shore of Antarados (modern Syrian Tartus), and South down to Oumm
el-Amed, just north of Rosh ha-Niqrah. Byblos, Sidon and Tyre are the other main sites analyzed
in depth, together with the Phoenician sites in Athens and Delos.
By referring, in the title of her book, to the idea of “religious landscape”, CB highlights the
fact that she did not intend to write a full-fledged history of Phoenicia in the Hellenistic age, a
history which the dearth of contemporary written sources (if we exclude the lapidary inscriptions
― some of them bilingual), renders an almost impossible task (Lucian’s De Dea Syria, while
obviously a key text, dates from a later period). But what exactly is a religious landscape? This
locution, which seems to be particularly prized by French scholarship (see for instance John
Scheid and François de Polignac, ‘Qu’est-ce qu’un ‘paysage religieux’?’, Revue de l’Histoire des
Religions 227 [2010], 427-434), reflects the space dimensions of public cults in societies: temples,
grottoes, etc. Religious landscapes, then, constantly transform themselves in some fundamental
way. In a land such as ancient Phoenicia, which has left us only sporadic texts from the Hellenistic
period, the religious landscape remains perhaps the most tangible witness of the drama ignited by
Alexander’s conquests and continued by the initial clash and eventual accommodation between
different cultures and religions. For CB, religious landscapes are the result of multiple interactions
and include political, social and economic dimensions.
The complex contacts between Greece and Macedonia, on the one hand, and Phoenicia, on the
other, are but a chapter of the long saga of the relations between East and West in the ancient
world, a saga extending from the time of the Achaemenids to the Islamic conquests. However, it is
a particularly interesting one, as it tells of the people who had given the Greeks the alphabet, and
whose diaspora, spread throughout the Mediterranean, eventually including Rome’s arch enemy,
Carthage.
In its first part, the work follows the coastal cities and their hinterland, analyzing the various
temples and other archaeological remains. In those chapters, the author deals with some of the
most famous aspects of the interpretatio, such as Eshmoun/Asclepios, Baal Hammon and Tanit,
Hadad and Athagartis, Adonis, or Melqart/Herakles. After this rich, detailed and lively tour
d’horizon, CB reflects on what one might call the translatio of Greek religious landscapes to the