This volume examines a specific kind of ancient Greek memorial, namely inscribed funerary epigrams for individuals dating from the Archaic and Classical periods into the fourth bce, from a primarily literary perspective. G.G. has selected a number of such monuments for analysis based on the information that they provide about ancient Greek literature, religion and society; unsurprisingly, the focus is mainly on Attica. The material is presented with ‘attention to the parameters of age, gender and social status’ and ‘ordered within its historical and chronological context’ (p. 1). A brief introduction describes the aim and structure of the study, after which follow two introductory chapters, which provide an overview of ancient Greek funeral practices and funerary art in Chapter 1 (dealing with such issues as cremation vs burial and the iconography and typology of funerary monuments) and the literary form of epitaphs celebrating individuals in Chapter 2. In the latter chapter, the discussion concentrates on the texts in relation to the literary tradition, especially Homer, tragedy and elegy, and takes into account the long-debated issue of the association between funerary epigram and lamentatory elegy as well as the differences between the former and such similar genres as the epitaphios logos and the public epitaph in the demosion sema.

Having set the scene in these first two chapters with a survey useful for both those more familiar with the literature and those more familiar with the archaeology respectively, G.G. proceeds to examine specific themes related to the epigrams in the remaining six chapters; there preference is given to those monuments for which both text and image have survived and, as mentioned, the focus is on age, gender and social status. Thus Chapter 3, the first of the thematic chapters, presents memorials from the Archaic period, in particular the well-known and well-preserved stone epigrams and accompanying statues celebrating Phrasiklea, CEG 24, and Kroisos (regarding the force of πότε in this and other funerary epigrams, see J.W. Day, Rituals in Stone. Early Greek Epigrams and Monuments, JHS 109 [1989], 16–28, at 19; A. Petrovic, ‘True Lies of Athenian Public Epigrams’, in M. Baumbach, A. Petrovic and I. Petrovic, Archaic and Classical Greek Epigram [2010], pp. 202–16, at 211–13), CEG 27 (which are notable for their social and historical significance and for the extent to which their style and language bear comparison to epigrams of the fifth and fourth centuries bce), as well as the epigrams on the monuments for Tettichos (CEG 13) and for other young people who died in their prime, including the siblings commemorated by the so-called ‘Brother and Sister Monument’ (CEG 25). The focus remains on inscribed monuments memorialising girls and boys in Chapter 4, discussing in detail epigrams dating mainly to the fourth century bce in which a mors immatura is alluded to in the epitaph and / or iconographically (especially by means of the loutrophoros on funerary stelai).

Chapter 5 focuses on memorials for individuals, which are more limited in number than other kinds of memorials and in their chronology; extant examples date to the sixth to the fifth centuries bce, with none from the fourth century bce having been found. These memorials are distinct in that they were set up by friends of the deceased rather than by their kin, as was usually the case. Examples include the recently discovered funerary epigram for Mnasitheos dedicated by his erastes Pyrrichos (SEG 49.505) and one dedicated by Euthylla for Biote (CEG 97, which is compared to CEG 92, now lost, but dedicated to Anthemis by her ἑταῖροι). The epigram for Biote is also examined with respect to its lexicon (φιλότης, ἑταίρα) and its implications for friendship in the ancient Greek world, especially between women. Insight into society that can be gleaned from the epigrams is the topic of Chapter 6 as well, where the discussion includes examples from the fourth century bce in which the deceased is explicitly honoured as a wife; here G.G. draws attention to the praise of these wives, as in the epigram for Melite (CEG 530), and to the fact that, up to the fifth century bce, epigrams for women were fairly rare and those extant include only one explicit reference to the status of the deceased as a wife. Chapter 7 explores two exceptions to the general rule that funerary epigrams do not mention a cause of death, specifically for individuals who died in childbirth and those who died at sea. The last chapter, Chapter 8, considers the significance for ancient Greek religion of epigrammatic expressions that hint at eschatological beliefs (including the imagery of Persephone's chamber, which is well attested in the fourth century bce). The volume closes with a concise presentation of G.G.’s conclusions; it is also equipped with a useful index of the inscriptions and of subjects.

In each of these chapters G.G. explores her primarily literary and ‘social’ interests through an analysis of and commentary on the themes, style, structure and forms of the epigrams that she has selected. The discussion takes into account previous scholarship, especially reference works and studies of key topics. A few detailed interpretations are also proposed, such as one regarding the significance of the iconographic motif of the mirror on Attic stelai (Chapter 3) and another regarding parallel expressions mentioning Persephone that are used in both the inscriptions and the lamellae aureae (Chapter 8), as well as observations on the language and style of the selected epigrams. Some of these observations are interesting and deserving of further exploration, for example regarding the wording of CEG 587 and in particular the use of verbs and parallels to tragedy, for example in the case of καταλείβω and regarding ὄλλυμι and ἥβη in epigrams from the Archaic Period to the fourth century bce. The same is true for the differences in the themes, style and language of metrical epitaphs of the sixth and fifth centuries bce in comparison with those of the fourth century bce and for the parallels between later inscribed epigrams and literary epigrams. Other observations could have been better substantiated. Thus λεύσσω at CEG 527 probably has the well-attested meaning of ‘gaze upon’ and requires no further consideration, while the contention, following Gernet's interpretation of ἀστός in the sixth century bce as indicating a citizen of the nobility, that this word refers in CEG 112 and 13 to the noble origin of the fallen youths Phanes and Tettichos respectively (the latter, incidentally, is described as an ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός at CEG 13.2) does not seem convincing – particularly since ἀστός in both epigrams occurs in the ‘formula’ ἀστὸς καὶ ξένος, the specific function of which is to instruct passers-by, citizens or not, to mourn and praise the deceased.

This monograph is a useful and accessible introduction for readers who are new to the subject. It offers a wide variety of epigrams, all presented in the original Greek (usually the CEG texts) together with G.G.’s English translations. She often explains her choices in translating and interpreting certain words. The discussion of the epigrams outlines the chronological development of the genre and demonstrates the importance of considering both the material and the literary aspects of the monuments (i.e. both the statues and the texts) in order to arrive at a full understanding of these memorials. The volume thus makes the epigrams easily accessible to non-specialists and provides an indication of the epigraphic and iconographic source material along with a rich and up-to-date bibliography (to which should be added R. Lattimore, Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs [1942]) and a judicious index.