The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce the publication of Hesperia 81.2. Topics include the workings of the oracle at Archaic Didyma, imagery on early Panathenaic amphoras, the iconographic evidence for Panathenaic ships, and Hellenistic sculpture from the Athenian Agora. Subscribers can read the issue online at JSTOR, which now hosts all current issues of Hesperia as well as an archive of past volumes.
Divination at Archaic Branchidai-Didyma: A Critical Review, by Alan Greaves, assembles the evidence for divination and the way in which oracular pronouncements were delivered at Didyma during the Archaic period. Astragali found at the site prompt the author to experiment with modern knucklebones to see how modification would have affected the randomizing process used during cleromancy.
Roosters, Columns, and Athena on Early Panathenaic Prize Amphoras: Symbols of a New Athenian Identity, by Maggie Popkin, explores the meaning of images on the obverse side of early Panathenaic vases. The author explains how the iconography and prize inscription work together to promote Athens as the emerging, self-proclaimed leader of the Greek world.
Panathenaic Ships: The Iconographic Evidence, by Shelley Wachsmann, evaluates the surviving iconographical evidence for the Panathenaic ship. In looking at relief depictions and ship models, the author, a nautical archaeologist by training, reconstructs the physical appearance of the ship, and shows how representations were patterned after galleys from the Archaic period.
Hellenistic Freestanding Sculpture from the Athenian Agora, Part 1: Aphrodite, by Andrew Stewart, is the first in a series of articles by the author on Hellenistic sculpture from the Agora. Lavishly illustrated, the article will be required reading for anyone interested in Hellenistic art.
Current subscribers can view the issue online at JSTOR. The printed version will be mailed shortly.
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Hesperia welcomes submissions from scholars working on all aspects of Greek material culture, including archaeology, art, architecture, history, epigraphy, and related studies. Further information about the journal, including instructions for preparing manuscripts for submission, can be found on our website.
