Classical World

The first volume of Marcus Tod's A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions (Oxford 1933) took account of material down to the end of the Peloponnesian War and was replaced by Russell Meiggs and David Lewis in 1969 (rev. ed. 1988). This new collection replaces Tod's second volume (Oxford, 1948), which covered the period from the end of the fifth century to the death of Alexander. Rhodes–Osborne offer 102 inscriptions, including 71 of the 108 in Tod II. About half of the thirty-one additions represent discoveries made since Tod's time (which are thus also missing from the even more outdated IG II2); items of value for readers interested in Athens in particular include laws on silver coinage (#25) and the taxation of the islands of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros (#26), both from the mid-370s; a long record of sales of public property (#36) from 367/6; and a law threatening the Areopagus, should an attempt be made to overthrow the democracy (#79), from 337/6. The balance reflects a laudable effort to [End Page 463] broaden the collection's focus by including a number of laws and decrees touching on phratry organization in Attica (#1, 5) and elsewhere (#61), deme affairs (#46, 63), and religious matters of all sorts (e.g., #27, 62, 97), as well as more non-Athenian material generally. The thirty-seven inscriptions in Tod II that Rhodes–Osborne omit are mostly Athenian honorary decrees or records of alliances (although many examples of both are still included), along with a few short texts and the Marmor Parium, a third-century document Tod offered because it preserves information about fourth-century chronology.

Tod routinely substituted standard spellings for those found on the stones, rarely used sublinear dots to indicate dubious readings, and made only sporadic attempts to give a sense of the physical arrangement of the inscriptions or to take account of the general reader; and his commentary often consisted of a summary of the contents of the inscription, followed by a basic introduction to the historical, prosopographical, or chronological issues it raised, and little more. Although Rhodes–Osborne have not undertaken a systematic reexamination of the stones, the texts they offer are superior to Tod's in every way, and they also provide a facing translation, rendering the material far more accessible than it might otherwise have been. The orientation of the commentary is still consistently and traditionally historical, but the notes are much more substantial and detailed than Tod's are. Rhodes–Osborne also make a large number of careful observations about the evolution of Athenian administrative language and procedures; and while some readers may find this aspect of the commentary daunting (or tedious), this is an area in which the epigraphic evidence offers particularly rich insights into how the city's government functioned on a day-to-day basis. The volume is extremely well produced and includes a number of useful maps and drawings. The nine plates, on the other hand, add little to the argument and must have helped drive the price of an already expensive book even higher.

This will become a standard reference work and should be purchased by all graduate and undergraduate libraries. Many individual scholars with a serious interest in late-classical history will want to own a copy as well.