Κακοὶ μάρτυρες ἀνθρώποισιν ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ὦτα βαρβάρους ψυχὰς ἐχόντων, the old Heraclitus once said (VS 22 B 107 ap. Sext. Emp. M. VII 126). But barbarian souls cannot be ascribed to C. and L., who collect in this volume an interesting, unified reflection on the role of vision and visual elements in Archaic Greek lyric, containing mainly, but not exclusively, the proceedings of the first open conference of the ‘Network for the Study of Archaic and Classical Greek Song’, held from 17 to 20 July 2009 at the European Cultural Centre of Delphi. Overall, the publication is well organised, timely and helpful.

Some remarks on the details will bring to light the occasional reasons for dissenting rather than the more frequent reasons for agreeing with the contributors (for a complete, sympathetic survey see A. Lather, BMCR 2017.02.38).

In ‘Lyric Vision: an Introduction’, A.-E. Peponi introduces the functional concept of spectatorship, referring ‘to the various ways in which lyric genres responded and contributed to, or even generated their own, modes of visual imagination’ and ‘to the critical junction of vision, on the one hand, and visualization, on the other, in other words to the intersection – and indeed interaction – of what can actually be seen with what can be visually imagined’ (p. 2) and summarises effectively the papers in the volume.

L. Athanassaki's paper, ‘Political and Dramatic Perspectives on Archaic Sculptures: Bacchylides’ Fourth Dithyramb (Ode 18) and the Treasury of the Athenians in Delphi’, is well structured, documented and has an up-to-date bibliography. Athanassaki borrows from O. Taplin (2007, p. 36) the interesting concept of a mutual ‘enrichment’, in the experience of the recipient, between literature and the visual arts (p. 18), with instructive examples – besides Bacchylides – from Eur. Andr. 1085–95 and Ion 190–200. One wonders whether, rather than a direct relationship between Bacchylides and the Delphic Treasury, the similarities in the accounts of Theseus’ deeds prove a certain fixity of these enterprises in the ‘traditional stories’ concerning Theseus.

L. Lulli's hypothesis, in ‘The Fight of Telephus: Poetic Visions behind the Pergamon Frieze’, that the Pergamon frieze betrays the influence of Archilochus and Pindar, though not in my view supported by conclusive evidence, is theoretically plausible and neatly argued.

J. Carruesco, ‘Choral Performance and Geometric Patterns in Epic Poetry and Iconographic Representations’, focuses on the representation of ‘chorality’ in epic poetry and in pictorial art. Sometimes – especially in the analysis of figurative evidence – Carruesco risks going too far in some sort of ‘panchorality’, detecting allusions to the chorus even in the smallest geometric decorative motifs (e.g. p. 92).

Interestingly, but at times at risk of over-interpretation, D. Steiner, ‘Making Monkeys: Archilochus frr. 185–187 W. in Performance’, concentrates on the identity of Cerycides (the poem's target), the function of the ainos embedded in the poem and its performative context. Although Steiner's reconstruction remains highly conjectural in most parts, her final conclusion ‘that public derision is the response that Archilochus intends for his victim’ (p. 125) is plausible.

In ‘Observing Genre in Archaic Greek Skolia and Vase-Painting’, G.S. Jones tries to give a ‘more restrictive definition of the skolion and reveal its proper status as a distinct and serious genre within the canon of Greek lyric poetry’ (p. 147). My own impression is that skolion indicates (as the labels of Archaic Greek lyric often do) rather a circumstance and a manner of performing than a literary genre in the modern sense (in some way, M.L. West [1974], p. 7 and E.L. Bowie [1986], p. 26 – quoted at p. 155 n. 18 – were both right in that the term reflects the occasion as well as the manner of the performance).

No close parallel (either thematic or linguistic) can be found, as far as I can see, for the address to a bride that C., ‘“Glancing Seductively through Windows”: the Look of Praxilla fr. 8 (PMG 754)’, envisages in PMG 754, although her discussion casts fresh light on the problems of the traditional exegesis: this perhaps makes it not so ‘surprising that despite the fancifulness of some of the previous interpretations this more straightforward one has never been defended’ (p. 201). The reasons against the attribution to Praxilla of PMG 749 (i.e. multiple or dubious authorship in ancient testimonia, male addressee, echoes in Carm. conv. PMG 897 and 903) listed at pp. 192–3, although noteworthy, do not seem to me really compelling.

A thorough analysis of Alc. fr. 140 V., Xenophan. fr. 1 W.² and Theogn. 467–96 (convincingly interpreted as a unit) is offered by J.S. Clay, ‘How to Construct a Sympotic Space with Words’, in order ‘to show how all three compositions construct the setting of the symposium verbally’ (p. 204: true, but not new).

Interesting and generally persuasive is the distinction drawn by C. Trieschnigg, ‘Turning Sound into Sight in the Chorus’ Entrance Song of Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes’, between the visual perception of the sentinel and the auditory perceptions of the Choir.

M. Briand's paper, ‘Light and Vision in Pindar's Olympian Odes: Interplays of Imagination and Performance’, is divided into a section on ‘Constructing Visual Images in the Mythological Discourse: the Manifold Plays of enargeia’ (pp. 242–6) and another on ‘Melic Praise as Spectacular Action: Interplays of Ethics and Aesthetics’ (pp. 247–9), with a useful distinction between ‘imaginary vision’ and ‘spectacular vision’ (p. 240): some examples of the former are in 2.53–74, 6.39–58, of the latter in 9.89–99, 10.20–5.

The density of visual references, descriptive or auto-referential, on the occasion of female choral performances is the focus of L. Swift's ‘Visual Imagery in Parthenaic Song’. The question is whether the differences between the use of visual elements in the self-references of parthenia and the (male) choral lyric depend on performers or rather on celebrandi, which in parthenia coincide with the performers: samples collected in §3 – where performers and celebrandae do not coincide – seem to confirm that the focus is actually in line with the object of the celebration. This consideration corrects while confirming the central thesis of the paper, i.e. that ‘the visual language is a feminine phenomenon, associated strongly with descriptions of female choruses; this indicates that the performers’ own identity is fundamental to the poetry's purpose’ (p. 276).

C. Calame, ‘The Amorous Gaze: a Poetic and Pragmatic Koinê for Erotic Melos?’, aims at illustrating the ‘correspondences between the role of sight in the manifestation of amorous desire through the power of eros and the role of the gaze in the performance of a song that was danced to (?) as a physical practice involving the body’ (p. 291). The phenomenon is thoroughly analysed in Alcman's two major parthenia (Hagesichora: PMGF 1 = fr. 3 Calame; Astymelousa: PMGF 3 = fr. 26 Calame) and in some melic fragments from Sappho to Pindar.

In ‘Visualizing the Cologne Sappho: Mental Imagery through Chorality, the Sun, and Orpheus’, A. Bierl argues that Sappho's paideia was practical (choral singing, dancing etc.), and the contemplation of feminine beauty, in all its forms (‘both physical and inner beauty’, p. 311), was one of its essential components. However, the equations Eos/Sappho and Sappho/Aphrodite, envisaged in Tithonos’ fragment (fr. 58), are (brilliantly) suggested rather than (textually) demonstrated (pp. 321–2).

The synaesthetic features of Sappho's poetry – in the light of some fragments (94, 44, 2) and of Philostratus the Younger as witness (Im. 2.1) – is the focus of K. Ladianou, ‘Female Choruses and Gardens of Nymphs: Visualizing Chorality in Sappho’, while I. Kantzios, ‘Imagining Images: Anacreontea 16 and 17’, shows how ‘in the two poems poetry turns into image, and conversely image into poetry. Words paint pictures, paintings speak’ (p. 382).

A useful index of major concepts, names and passages quoted closes the book. In order to avoid repetition, a unitary final bibliography would have been welcome. Some inconsistencies and typos do not affect the excellent volume's graphics.

The book is very readable and useful. What is perhaps missing is an inspection of the other side of the coin of the kaleidoscopic interplay between lyric and visual elements: namely, the iconography of the lyric poets in Classical and post-Classical paintings and sculptures – with a primary focus on Sappho and Anacreon: but this, perhaps, is another story.