This volume aims to fill an important gap in the history of Roman entertainment and the epigraphy of Pompeii. The edicta munerum of Pompeii have long been a tool for understanding public spectacles in the city, but the inscriptions themselves and how they serve as advertisements have rarely been the subject of analysis. While the games are present in M.’s discussion, they serve as contextual evidence for the painted messages and how their placement/construction served as an effective advertisement for these events, their benefactors and the artisans who painted them.

The analysis of the edicta is spread over four chapters (Chapter 1: ‘Advertising in the Historical Context’, Chapter 2: ‘Spaces for Advertising in Pompeii’, Chapter 3: ‘Reading Advertisements in Pompeii’ and Chapter 4: ‘Responses to Advertising in Pompeii’).

Chapter 1 begins with a general introduction to the use of advertising in ancient Rome. M. then progressively narrows the discussion of advertising by moving into the different advertising methods found in the Roman world and defining the characteristics of the primary forms of advertisement in Pompeii (edicta, acclamationes and libelli gladiatorum). It is only once these topics have been thoroughly established that M. begins to discuss how edicta should be read as advertisements. Chapter 2 analyses the spatial placement of these messages, both within and outside the city (specifically on funerary monuments). This chapter establishes trends in the physical placement of the edicta munerum amongst places closely connected to gladiatorial games, on popular streets and in highly visible locations such as bathhouses and tabernae, where foot traffic was high. Chapter 3 focuses on the visual aspects of the edicta, breaking down the textual and visual elements of these texts, considering how each of these helped to improve both the overall visibility of the text and how they emphasised the hierarchy of importance in the information they communicated. Chapter 4 moves into a discussion of how these edicta were received by the general public and how other forms of epigraphy, such as acclamationes, libelli and graffiti, demonstrate not only the effectiveness of this form of spectacle advertising, but also its effectiveness for promoting the individuals responsible for organising the games. The book closes with a general conclusion, tying together the different analyses from Chapters 1 to 4.

The volume quickly makes it apparent that the edicta were neither static nor temporary forms of advertisement. Rather, they became a mode of communication for several different people. At their most basic level the inscriptions promoted upcoming games, and this is clearly signalled via the careful placement of these messages throughout Pompeii, favouring highly active places, where both foot traffic and visibility would be guaranteed or there were close ties to arena games (e.g. busy streets, bath houses, the area surrounding the amphitheatre and gladiatorial barracks etc.). However, there are deeper interpretations to these messages. In many cases we see recognition of the artist responsible for their creation (scriptor). The inclusion of the artist’s name and its careful incorporation into the design of the edictum illustrates that there was a public interest in those who crafted these messages and perhaps even an association of a notable scriptor with highly anticipated games. These additions sometimes even record the conditions under which the artist worked (i.e. by the light of the moon), suggesting that the scriptor was proud of their accomplishment to craft such a fine message throughout the night and to introduce a sense of surprise for viewers who would wake to the announcement of a new munus in the morning, seemingly out of nowhere. This is an appropriately spectacular attitude to the promotion of gladiatorial games. Further, for a medium painted onto the sides of buildings, the edicta appeared as surprisingly permanent monuments to well-received games or popular benefactors (editores) known for hosting games (such as in the case of Gnaeus Nigidius Maius). This, along with other formats such as pseudo-libelli, gave the editores a real-time feedback loop of the reception of their games and likely encouraged other members of the Pompeian elite to host games in an attempt to obtain similar fame throughout the city.

The comprehensive appendices and illustrative maps included in the book are likely to be one of the main drawcards for those either looking for a good starting point for studying these inscriptions or those needing a reliable reference source. While the edicta munerum and munera-related inscriptions can be found in sources like P. Sabbatini Tumolesi’s Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell’Occidente Romano series, there are few English sources providing such a complete overview of these texts, and many offer only a selected collection of the edicta. However, M. has put together a helpfully organised complete collection of the edicta. Appendix 1 collects the edicta themselves; the inscriptions are sorted first by general category (advertisements placed on house facades, advertisements placed on funerary monuments and edicta of unknown archaeological provenance) and then by location (e.g. the different regiones for urban advertisements and the various cemeteries surrounding Pompeii). Appendix 2 is shorter and includes a collection of munera-related acclamationes, libelli and graffiti. Each appendix entry is accompanied by the Latin text, line drawing of the inscription (if still extant), an English translation, location, size, colour, date, bibliographical reference and any notable comments regarding the creation/content/location of the text. These appendices serve to address a common limitation when it comes to the discussion of edicta munerum, that they are often described only in terms of their content and those who commissioned them. Very rarely do these discussions position these texts within the wider geographical and physical appearance of the inscriptions. Additionally, the inclusion of English translations to each of these texts will help to make them accessible to a newer generation of scholars who may not have proficiency in languages and thus might miss these valuable texts in a wider analysis on the logistics of Roman entertainment. The appendices are further enhanced by useful figures throughout the book that illustrate the locations of the inscriptions throughout Pompeii.

Overall, the volume serves as an invaluable entry point for the analysis of the edicta munerum. While sources such as G.G. Fagan (The Lure of the Arena: Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games [2011]), S.L. Tuck (‘Scheduling Spectacle: Factors Contributing to the Dates of Pompeian Munera’, The Classical Journal 104 [2009]) and R. Laurence (Roman Pompeii: Space and Society [2007]) discuss the edicta within a wider sense of overall Roman entertainment behaviour, few scholarly texts have placed these advertisements at the centre of their analysis. While M. provides an informative treatment of the available secondary sources discussing the edicta, she is quick to note where distinctive gaps exist in the scholarship and proposes to fill these by applying the knowledge we have gained from modern and historical advertising onto these inscriptions (which, surprisingly, is not a common methodology for treating these texts). This methodology, along with an appreciation of the creation, location and reception of these texts, means that this volume provides one of the most comprehensive and informative analyses of the edicta munerum.

I would highly recommend this book for those who want a good entry point to learning about the edicta munerum, but also for those who are familiar with these inscriptions, as the discussion provides enlightenment for both audiences and will surely be a go-to resource for my own studies on the logistics of gladiatorial combats.