Alexander the Great and the East: History, Art, Tradition.

• Author: Finn, Jennifer

Alexander the Great and the East: History, Art, Tradition. Edited by KRZYSZTOF NAWOTKA and AGNIESZKA WOJCIECHOWSKA. Philippika, vol. 103. Wiesbaden: HARRASOWITZ VERLAG, 2016. Pp. 447. [euro]88.

This volume is the product of a September 2013 international meeting of Alexander scholars held at Wroclaw. It represents the second publication of such proceedings (the communications of the first meeting, held in November 2011, were also published in the Philippika series). The volume, containing twenty-four wide-ranging contributions (excluding the introduction), seeks to open new avenues for discourse on the eastern campaigns of Alexander, with a goal of introducing themes and sources that reach "beyond Arrian, Plutarch and the Vulgate authors as much as possible" (p. 1). Many contributions in this volume tackle important and enduring questions in Alexander scholarship, and truly shed new light on essential topics: e.g., the performance (or lack thereof) of the substitute king ritual, the founding and construction of Alexandria, the massacre of the Branchidae, the proskynesis affair, and literary portrayals of Alexander. While each provides its own important conclusions, the quality in writing, argumentation, and research depth varies wildly throughout, and this disparity detracts from the work as a whole. All contributions are written in English (a table of contents can be found at the publisher's website: https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_921.ahtml); however, as with the previous volume, the editing of the book leaves much to be desired.

Space does not allow for a full explication of the argumentation of every article, so I will focus on those that present outstanding or particularly novel theses. Many of the articles in the first portion of the book make important contributions to the study of Alexander's international and diplomatic relationships, as in that of I. Ladynin, who offers the hypothesis that the son of Nectanebo II made a missionary trip to Alexander after his conquering of Egypt. Editors Nawotka and Wojciechowska attempt to show that Alexander resurrected the neglected cult of the Apis Bull (as well as of the mother of Apis and the Buchis bull), a project undertaken on the advice of local experts and in a concerted effort to present himself as a legitimate son of Nectanebo II. E. Rung presents a new interpretation of IG II (2) 356, which has the Greek Thymondas as the honorand of the decree rather than the widely argued...