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recipes (wine, herbs) are not always analysed. Barbara, on the other hand, pro-vides a detailed examination of two ancient pharmacological substances, castoreum, derived from castor, and the basilisk, a mythical creature impossible to identify. He denies that castoreum was a rare and expensive medicine as its use was frequent and constant, though at times it was counterfeited. Barbaras argumentation is not always convincing: in discussing Praxagoras recipe (pp. 1223) he inexplicably overlooks one of the possible ingredients, the rhombus, or turbot. Next comes what amounts to a monograph by Jean Trinquier (pp. 14995) on the relationship between the fauna of marshes and the aetiology of epidemics. Rather than choosing to summarise the points explored in his essay, Trinquier favours a more thorough approach to his topic, providing detailed analysis of every single aspect he discusses. In this clear, well-organised exposition, he carries out an exhaustive and convincing explanation of his sources, especially the Latin texts. Of particular note is his detailed examination of the theory of animalia minuta, in several passages of Book 1 of Varros Res rusticae, and the excellent com-mentary on Columella 1.56. Naturally, such a vast amount of material (roughly forty pages of text with 156 notes, plus bibliography) leaves some room for minor disagreements, which, however, do not diminish the quality and importance of this contribution. The last two essays offer a different perspective. In their contribution, Marie-Claude Charpentier and Jordi Pmias analyse the context in which panic disorder, often associated with animal cries, arises in Greece, proposing an interpretation of the phenomenon within the questioning of cosmic order. Finally, Vlerie Gitton-Ripoll explores the close relationship between horses and physicians, an association inherited from Indo-European myths, and explains it in the light of comparative religion and the (pre)history of the texts. From Chiron to Hippocrates, the testimo-nies are abundant and varied, though time has eroded or distorted some of them. Speci cally limited to Greek mythology, the paper exposes an interesting theme with implications for other elds, but without reaching de nitive conclusions. The aim was runir quelques pices dun dossier qui pourrait tre considrable (p. 212), and the reader certainly shares that impression as well as G.-R.s interest in the rich symbolism of the horse in limaginaire indo-europen. Various useful indexes (animals, places, plants, proper names, quoted passages) close the book. Bibliography is appended separately in each contribution. This volume has been very well edited (no misprints or anomalies detected) and is an important contribution to our knowledge of ancient medicine.

Universitat de Barcelona JOS-IGNACIO GARCA ARMENDRIZgarciarm@ub.edu

EKPHRASIS

WE B B (R.) Ekphrasis, Imagination and Persuasion in Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Practice. Pp. xiv + 238. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009. Cased, 55. ISBN: 978-0-7546-6125-2.doi:10.1017/S0009840X1000034X

This book is a valuable contribution to the rich bibliography on ekphrasis in antiquity over the last 20 years, a genre which is common in Greek and Latin prose literature and poetry. W. is possibly the greatest expert on the subject. She

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dedicated her doctoral thesis to this theme and later published numerous contribu-tions on speci c topics, which in this volume are taken up again and given a global interpretation. As stated in the Introduction, the aim of the study is to de ne ekphrasis and to understand its function through ancient rhetorical theory, trying to amend the meaning attributed so far. Famous texts such as the Eikones of the two Philostrati (second/third century A.D.) or the Ekphraseis of Callistratus (fourth century A.D.), or the late work of Paulus Silentiarius (sixth century A.D.) conceived as descriptions of works of art and monuments have monopolised the attention of scholars from the end of the nineteenth century. This has resulted in the mistaken conviction that art was central to the ancient de nition of ekphrasis, and that the use of this term indicated a literary text focussing on gurative art. From the manuals of rhetoric, however, it emerges that only in the fth century (Nicolaus, Progymnasmata, p. 69, lines 411, Felten) are works of art and monuments included in the canonical subjects of the ekphrasis, in other words that the theorisation of art was not central to this schol-arly exercise. And even if the very de nition of the term contains a strong visual component, since with ekphrasis one intends to make an object visible, offering it abstractly to the eyes of the listener, none the less examining this type of literary composition as evidence for a visual process, as some have done, in relation to art, or as a way of looking at art, is only one way to approach it.1 The ekphrasis was formulated and applied in the schools of rhetoric, and it is there, according to W., that one needs to search for its real function. From the rhetorical manuals of Theon, Hermogenes, Apthonius ( rst century A.D.) and Nicolaus ( fth century A.D.) and the theoretical texts of Quintilian, Menander Rhetor, Sopater Rhetor and others, W. shows the relationship between ekphrasis and other rhetorical exercises and attempts to understand its usefulness within discourse, from the exercises of young students to the practical experience of declamation. The book consists of seven chapters, with an appendix with translations of the most important places taken from the ancient texts, a glossary and a bibliography of the philological literature on the topic. Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical premise and examines the progumnsmata, one of which was the kfrasij, which led students from the simple reading of the text to the composition of a discourse to be recited. The ability to place the subject before the eyes of the audience, of immersing the listener and his imagi-nation in the event described in the text, is the main characteristic of ekphrasis; indeed students were expected to imagine themselves in mythological situations and to reproduce this perception for the audience. This is followed by a history of studies of ekphrasis from the nineteenth century to the present day, focussing on the ekphrasis of works of art, which demonstrates just how much this latter de nition is a modern creation, the fruit of our aesthetic values, which has modi ed the true theoretical sense of the word. Chapter 2 explores, through ancient de nitions, the meaning of ekphrasis, dis-tinguished from other terms which indicate to describe (for example, and i) and its relationship with the other exercises of the school, the (legend) or (mythological narration), the g (eulogy) or the (invective), the (reasoned discussion), etc., some of which (such as the g) shared subjects described by ekphrasis (people, places, times

1See, for example, although with different interpretations: J. Elsner, Making Myth Visual. The Horae of Philostratus and the Dance of the Text, RhM 107 (2000), 25376; L. Abbondanza, Filostrato maggiore, Immagini (2009).

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and events). These were small components that teachers proposed to pupils and that students could memorise. The distinguishing feature of the ekphrasis was, however, the ability to be more visual than the other progymnasmata, to have an intense effect on the imagination, founded on accurate knowledge of the arguments described and of the details to present to the listener. The following chapters discuss the arguments themselves. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the two guiding concepts of ancient rhetoric, the , or the evidence, the closeness to reality, obtained by the vividness of the words, and its result in the mind of the public, or the , the imagination which is kindled by the words. Chapter 6 proposes examples of the application of ekphrasis, in declamation and in epideictic and judicial oratory, through the examination of the most advanced manuals of rhetoric (Pseudo-Dionysius of Halicarnassus, pp. 139ff., Sopater Rhetor, pp. 141ff. and Menander Rhetor, pp. 155ff.), to demonstrate how, thanks to the visual details that it transmitted, it was able to produce a sort of alteration of the perception of the listener and an involvement necessary to persuade him. Sopater Rhetor (fourth century A.D.) suggests the use of ekphrasis to support the defence of the judicial orations, and cites some famous examples inspired by history, and described through the eyes of the protagonists, which must have led listeners not only to see the horror of the events but also to feel them as protagonists, pushed by circumstances and forced to carry out the choices of which they were accused. Finally, Chapter 7 re ects on ekphrasis of works of art (in Lucian, Achilles Tatius and Longus, and nally in the Eikones of Philostratus Maior) where the visibility of the words reaches its highest levels and can be rightly considered a commentary on the nature of the ekphrasis in the broad sense of the word (p. 186), a sort of sublimation of the production of images. The book is well set out, although perhaps it could have been arranged in a clearer form (some subtitles are repeated in diverse sections: p. 93 and p. 96, also p. 178 and p. 182). Thanks to W.s valuable analysis, scholars who have long dealt with ekphrasis of works of art can now know the scholarly contexts in which it was practised, and understand the rhetorical nature of some of the subjects used.

Rome LETIZIA ABBONDANZAleabbondanza@tele2.it

DIALOGUE

GO L D H I L L (S.) (ed.) The End of Dialogue in Antiquity. Pp. viii + 266. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Cased, 55, US$99. ISBN: 978-0-521-88774-8.doi:10.1017/S0009840X10000351

What is dialogue? Where does dialogue occur in ancient literature and what forms does it take? What relationship does it have to a texts dialogic potential? And does dialogue come to an end with the advent of Christianity? These are just some of the questions addressed in this new collection of essays. After a short introduction G. sets out the books three frames of reference the relationship between the genre and its cultural contexts, Bakhtins theory of dialogism, and the ongoing debate over religious authority and dissent. Part 1 (Greenwood, Ford, Long) investigates Classical models of dialogue by question-