Archaeology Magazine - October 1972 - 76

In the text, the author's main concern is with questionsof style as it relates to cultural and racial diffusion,
which may strike anthropologicallyoriented readers as somewhat antique.
Also, the author's treatment of the prehistory in several of the areas is badly
out of date. But scholarswill be pleased
to see Schmitz' notes on the cultural
context of many of the illustrated specimens. His discussionsof the activitiesof
early researchers,like the Russian anthropologist,Miklukho-Maclayand the
Hamburg Expedition of 1908 will also
be of interest.
Iron Working in Ancient Greece
by Radomír Pleiner*. 55 pages, 27 figures including 4 maps, 2 charts and
numerous drawings, bibliography.National Technical Museum, Prague,
1969, paper
This brief survey, the author mentions
(page 7), is to be part of a more extensive work on early ironworking.
Mythological,literaryand archaeological
sourcesfor the subject are competently
surveyed.The maps, charts and extensive bibliographycombinein the text to
form a most useful summary of known
evidence on the introduction and development of ironworking in ancient
Greece.
Die Antike Stadt Samos: Ein
Führer
by Renate Tolle viii, 123 pages, 50
photographs,12 drawings,7 maps, bibliography.Philipp Von Zabern, Mainz
1969 DM 19.80
In contrast to the nearby sanctuary of
Hera, the ancient city of Samos,modern
Pythagoreion,is lesswell knownand excavated. After the war Professor U.
Jantzen, now director of the German
ArchaeologicalInstitute in Athens, continued E. Buschor's and W. Wrede's
exploration of the Kastro (Acropolis
and Polycratespalace (?) page 67 f.)
and at the same time charted the conspicuous remains of the city wall and
investigatedthe area along the ancient
harbor. R. Toile, a member of the staff
since 1965, includes the results in her
book and succeeds in giving a well
rounded picture of this once so important site, ranging from a historical
sketch through a concise evaluation of
the architectural remains to the presentation of finds. She rightly deplores the
lack of adequate exhibitionfacilitieson
the spot. Part of what a visitor is likely
to miss or cannot enjoy in a proper
324

setting is shown in a selection of fine
illustrations. Ancient Samos certainly
deserves its museum. Besides it is a
charmingplace, appreciatedbut not yet
spoiledby tourists.
Romans on the Bay of Naples: A
Social and Cultural Study of the
Villas and Their Owners from 150
B.C. to A.D. 400
by John H. D'Arms. xix, 252 pages,
16 photographs,.2 maps, 3 plans, select
bibliography. Harvard University
Press, Cambridge,Massachusetts1970
$8.00
In this careful and scholarlymonograph
Mr. D'Arms has compiled evidence
(mainly from inscriptionaland literary
sources) relating to Romans of the upper class, from Scipio Africanus Maior
to Symmachus, who owned villas in
Campania. The social activitiesof these
eminent Romans are of considerableinterest, as is the area under survey, not
the least for its importnat connections
with Greek culture. The author devotes
three fairly brief chapters to the later
Republic and two longer ones to the
Imperial Age. In an appendix he catalogs forty-four known owners of villas
in the Ciceronianperiod and forty-seven
in the Empire (admitting a few conjectures); each entry is accompaniedby
citation and examinationof the relevant
evidence.
The book is characterizedthroughout
by its sensible and cautious treatment
of the primary evidence,which is never
allowed to slip out of sight or control.
For that reason, if for no other, its
value is considerable.And it should be
added that the broader implicationsof
the evidenceare not neglected;not only
do they illuminate questionsof interest
but they raise (as is inevitable and desirable) a whole host of further lines
of inquiry. The social and cultural history of Rome is well served by this contribution.
The Spinning Aphrodite: The Evolution of the Goddess from Earliest
Pre-Hellenic Symbolism Through
Late Classical Times
by Elmer G. Suhr. 217 pages, 51 figures. Helios Books, New York 1969
$6.95
This book, preceded by BeforeOlympus and to be shortly followedby The
Symbolismof the Solar Eclipse, forms
part of a Trilogy entitled The Column
of the Cosmos.The author is mostlyin-

terested in astral symbolismand attempts to interpret a great number of
artistic manifestations,from statuary to
vase painting, and from the Near East
to Rome, as hitherto misunderstoodexpressionsof ancient fertility beliefs.For
instance, the cone held by Sumerian
foundationfigurinesis not a simplepeg
but the tangible representationof the
cone of shadowprojected by the whirling moon to the earth during an eclipse.
Spinning (like whirling) symbolizesfertility (wool = clouds; thread =»rain =
fertility), and thereforeall depictionsof
spinning women are invested with a
meaning well beyond that of the familiar household activity. Moreover,since
distaff, spindle and thread would force
the artists into awkward renderings,
these parts of the equipment could be
omitted and the action conveyedsimply
through the position of the empty
hands, since spinningwas so commonin
antiquity as to make the artist's intention obvious to any ancient observer.
The Capua Aphrodite, the Venus de
Milo, even the Archaic "Kore with the
pomegranate" in Berlin, thus become
examplesof this HeavenlySpinner,who
can also be recognizedin many emptyhanded figureson vasesand reliefs,and
in terracotta statuettes. Even a strigil
held by a womantoward a man with an
alabastron (red-figuredStamnosin the
Art Institute, Chicago, figure 5) becomes a magic instrument held by a
sorceress to transmit power into the
fluid of the container which the man
has just acquired (page 25).
All in all, this is a most imaginative
bookwhich goeswell beyondthe boundaries of credibility.
Roman Granaries and
Store Buildings
by Geoffrey Rickman. xxiii,349 pages,
66 figures,52 plates, bibliography,6 appendices, indices. Cambridge University Press 1971 $25.00
This authoritative gathering and interpretation of the archaeological,epigraphic and legal evidence for the
horrea (store houses) is useful to any
student or scholar interested in the
Roman organizationof the food supply.
The architecture and the organization
of both civil and military horrea in
Rome, Ostia, the rest of Italy and the
Empire are fully dealt with. Historians
of ancient Rome will long depend on
this work for the light it throws on one
of the chief economic questions of
ancient times.

Archaeology Magazine - October 1972

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - October 1972