Archaeology Magazine - December 1955 - 69

some postholes- were more exciting to
the young discoverer than any of his
subsequent finds. "Pumpelly at Anau,
Schliemannat Troy, Evans at Knossos,
De Morgan at Susa, Howard Carter at
Luxor could not have been more
thrilled than I that wintry night of my
twelfth birthday. I knew now what I
wanted to be- I would be an archaeologist."
This readable, informally related account of the adventuresof an archaeologist and anthropologist is filled with
the author's zest in pursuing the track
of man wherever he finds the spoor,
but his greatest interest lies in tracing
the life and wanderings of prehistoric
man, especiallyin the Near East. For
one who shared some of the adventures
in the Near East it is a particular
pleasure to say here that in this book
Henry Field shares with his readers
"the thrill of being on the greatest
hunt of all- The Track of Man."
W. S. T.
Picture Book of Greece
Eternal Greece, by Rex Warner and
Martin Hürlimann. 168 pages, 90
figures,1 color plate. The Studio Publications, Inc., in association with
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New
York 1953 $8.50
Of all the recent books on Greeceintended for pure enjoyment,this is one
of the more successful. It consists of
ninety lovely photographs, exquisitely
reproduced in gravure, and a text
which gives an impression of Greece,

suggesting its flavor rather than instructing. With a few exceptions in
favor of landscape, the photographs
are of Greek ruins and of Greek
sculpture in museums throughout the
world (a few acknowledgedas not by
Hürlimann). The selectionof the subjects of the photographs is altogether
praiseworthy, and one cannot but rejoice in the restraint which excluded
post-Classicalremains and modern inhabitants, subjects which, however interesting in themselves, inevitably divert attention from the eternal qualities
of ancient Greek art. Necessarily, the
monuments are familiar, but the photography is decidedly original. The
reasonable, sensible photography with
moderate lighting, quite without startling effectsof which the purchaser will
shortly tire, insures long life to the
book. Of the sculpture, the most unusual selectionis the series of fifth and
fourth century stelae. Mt. Olympus
under snow and the view of the
Phaidriades from Apollo's temple at
Delphi are unusual and impressive.
The arrangement of the photographs
is by places- Sunium, Athens, Eleusis,
etc., ten in all; and the text follows the
same pattern, divided into nineteen
entries- Sunium, the building of Athens, Festivals, the Sin of the Hero
Hippolytus, etc. There is no reference
from text to plates. This plan gives
Warner an opportunity to discourseon
a variety of subjects, with quotations
from authorities from the Homeric
hymnists and Pindar to Osbert Lancaster and Warner himself. Many of

BusinessManager, ARCHAEOLOGY
608 Library Building
Universityof Cincinnati
Cincinnati 21, Ohio

his translations are original. He tells
good stories of the early travelers and
explorers, Byron and Lord Elgin and
Cockerell, and states his position in
favor of returning the Elgin marbles,
not to custody in Greece but to their
original positionson the Parthenon and
the Erechtheum. He tells the whole
story of the House of Atreus dramatically, with as gifted a touch as he uses
for accounts of modern archaeological
intrigues. He endeavorsto raise Greek
religion and medicinein our estimation
and, if he is unsuccessful,at least convinces his reader that the ordinary
knowledge of these matters is rather
slight as a basis for the usual blanket
condemnation. Observations on cults
and rites at Delos and Eleusis and
Epidaurus support this contention, as
does a beautiful translation of the closing lines of the Hippolytus.
The photographs are not recent. In
fact, all seem to be pre-war. In the case
of the architecture, this is regrettable,
for, although not all the recent restorations and rebuildings are important,
they are generally in the direction of
greater completenessand greater accuracy. Since Hürlimann's photographs,
the west entrance of the Parthenon has
been relieved of the ugly arched doorway which appears on page 56 (compare the preceding page and the frontispiece of the book itself). The
Mycenaegate has been improvedby the
replacement of ashlar masonry beside
the lion inset, and on the temple at
Corinth the stylobateblockssupporting
the columns have been repaired.

fei
ViT^9Ì|i
TA/*//
^VRVMgfriBr

orderfor $
for a subscription
Enclosed
is mycheck/money
to ARCHAEOLOGY.
1 year $5.00
2 years(or twosubscriptions
submitted
by one person)$9.00
Noextrachargefor foreignsubscriptions
NAME
ADDRESS

285

Archaeology Magazine - December 1955

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - December 1955