Looking for Receptions and our summer essays? Find them here.
More inclusive scholarly reviews.
An open-access book review journal prioritizing underrepresented scholarly voices in ancient Mediterranean studies.
Recent reviews
Reading the Letter to Titus in Light of Crete: Dynamics of Early Christian Identity Co
Michael S. Robertson, Reading the Letter to Titus in Light of Crete: Dynamics of Early Christian Identity Construction, Critical Approaches to Early Christianity 3 (Leiden: Brill, 2024). 9789004685710. Reviewed by John D. Doss, Asbury Theological Seminary, Asbury University, John.doss@asburyseminary.edu. As the title suggests, Michael Scott Robertson provides an important contribution to New Testament (hereafter NT)…
Keep readingPhilip V of Macedon in Polybius’ Histories: Politics, History, & Fiction
Emma Nicholson, Philip V of Macedon in Polybius’ Histories: Politics, History, & Fiction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023). 9780192866769. Reviewed by Aaron L. Beek, Case Western Reserve University and North-West University,aaronlbeek@gmail.com. This work is a detailed examination of the Polybian view of Philip V of Macedon. One might readily ask whether this is a work…
Keep readingJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics
Hamish Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics, Classical Receptions in Twentieth-Century Writing (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). ISBN 9781350241459. Reviewed by Martha Shillaker, University of St Andrews, Martha.M.Shillaker@gmail.com. Hamish Williams’s monograph J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics explores how the Classical past is (re)used by Tolkien in the creation and development of his literary utopianism.…
Keep readingRival Praises: Ovid and the Metamorphosis of the Hymnic Tradition
Celia M. Campbell, Rival Praises: Ovid and the Metamorphosis of the Hymnic Tradition (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2024). 9780299348748. Reviewed by Daniel Libatique, Fairfield University, dlibatique@fairfield.edu. Ovid’s experiments with genre have provided fruitful material not only for scholars but also for Ovid himself. From the recusatio of Amores 1.1.1–4 where Cupid steals…
Keep readingAthenian Power in the Fifth Century BC
Leah Lazar, Athenian Power in the Fifth Century BC (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024). 9780198896265. Reviewed by Christine Downton, University of Leicester, cad38@leicester.ac.uk. The overall aim of this monograph is to re-examine the concept of Athenian power in the fifth century BCE. Whilst Athenian power has been the subject of considerable scholarship in the past,…
Keep reading