Städte und Bauten der Westgriechen: Von der Kolonisation bis zur Krise am Ende des 5. Jh. v. Chr by Dieter Mertens

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 213 qualite d'ecrivain et sur le succes futur de son ceuvre. II aurait ete interessant dans le chapitre deux de traiter du genre litteraire des ?Vies ?, greco-romaines ou autres, et de leur influence sur la VMT. Le phenomene de la paraphrase et de la reecriture est tres general. II inclut toutes les formes litteraires. On peut se demander comment des Actes se sont transformed en Vie et queries sont les Vies anterieures qui ont pu influencer la VMT. Les fonctions que Johnson attribue a cette premiere partie me semblent bien correspondre a celles de ce genre litteraire. En outre, et cela vaut pour les deux parties de la VMT, les genres et les formes litteraires ne sont pas des donnees immuables mais ils s'inscrivent dans Thistoire dans lamesure ou ils se transforment. En outre ils n'existent jamais a l'etat pur. II n'est pas impossible par exemple que l'auteur ancien ait amalgame a la paradoxographie le genre des iamata de maniere a inventer quelque chose de nouveau. Cela etant dit, je ne peux que recommander chaudement le livre de Scott Fitzgerald Johnson. On y trouve plusieurs reflexions stimulantes, par exemple a propos de l'influence des actes apocryphes sur le developpement de la litterature chretienne ancienne. J'ai beaucoup apprecie la grande finesse de l'analyse litteraire de laVMT, l'importance accordee aux genres et formes litteraires pour la comprehension globale d'une ceuvre ainsi que sa conviction que la forme litteraire est en lien etroit avec le contenu et lemateriel presented. En privilegiant l'aspect litteraire, il permet de faire saisir la contribution de la VMT a l'histoire du culte de Thecle et, plus generalement, a la litterature religieuse de l'antiquite. Universite Laval, Quebec Anne Pasquier Stadte und Bauten der Westgriechen: Von der Kolonisation bis zur Krise am Ende des 5. Jh. v. Chr. By Dieter Mertens. Munich: Hirmer Verlag. 2006. Pp. 463, 797 plans, maps, and drawings. Scholarship on the art and architecture ofWestern Greece has proliferated in recent years and developed to the point that it is no longer framed by comparisons to the mainland but extolled for its own prodigious growth and innovation. The tide has turned thanks not only to continued archaeological reports and scientific publications, but also to rather comprehensive volumes that aim to discern and define western Greek styles and further elucidate the relationship between the colonial west and the mainland.1 In his preface Mertens indicates that this volume provides the occasion for a more extensive discussion of the monuments and the construction of the cities than previous studies, and signals that it is not a cultural history of the region but rather presents the materialization of the objectives and aspirations of the Greek colonies. It is the fruit of a distinguished career investigating the Greek cities of Italy, and the author's intimate knowledge of the sites?at many of which he directed excavations?is readily apparent through the degree of detail of his discussion, and the stylistic connections made across time and space. Following an extensive introduction, Mertens arranges the discussion chronologically from the time of firstcontact in the eighth century b.c. at Pithekoussai and the establishment of the first permanent Greek settlements in the west, the apoikia: from this point the history of the region is told through the development of the poleis and their monuments. 1 For example, Jean Berard, La colonisationgrecque de I'ltalie meridionale etde la Sicile dans I'antiquite: I 'Histoire et la legende (Paris 1941); T.J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks (Oxford 1948); more recendy, G. Pugliese-Carratelli (ed.), Sikanie (Milan 1985) and id.,I Greci inOccidente (Milan 1996). 214 PHOENIX For each period, Mertens utilizes some of the better-known sites as representative of the contemporary trend; for example, for the early seventh century he focuses on Megara Hyblaia, which has been excavated extensively by the French school at Rome. Mertens emphasizes the importance of the regular division of space that created the private lot (oikopedon) within thecity walls as analogous to thedivisionofagricultural territory outside of them (kleroi). Pointing out the rapid growth of domestic structures in the colony, it...

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