This volume started life as a seminar held at the University of Bologna in 2011 on the lex sacra from Selinus. Its focus, however, is larger, concerning the crisis that Selinus seems to have undergone towards the end of the sixth century and the consequent need for both individuals and the community to purify themselves of pollution (miasma).

In their introduction, I. and M. address the particular significance of Selinus from the perspective of frontier history, laying emphasis on the high degree of cross-cultural interaction characteristic of Western Sicily in the Archaic and the Classical periods. The authors posit a link between the mix of people from different origins and cultures with civic strife, reflected in both the lex sacra and the defixiones. Much of this introduction, however, consists of a discussion of the most debated points concerning the lex sacra’s interpretation; of a detailed report concerning the restitution of this inscription by the J. Paul Getty Museum to the Italian Ministry of Culture and its acquisition by the Museo Civico in Castelvetrano; and, finally, of a reference to the Getty Hexameters, purchased from the same dealer of the lex sacra and seemingly also from Selinus.

The first chapter, by E. Acquaro, G. Pantaleo and P. De Vita, is largely off-topic, focused as it is on Selinus after 409, when the city was mainly under Carthage's control. A discussion of the much-debated relationship between Selinus and Phoenicians in the sixth and fifth centuries would have certainly made more sense within the context of this volume. By contrast, in her excellent discussion of the history of Selinus towards the end of the sixth century, S. De Vido argues for the relative weakness of local tyrannical regimes (one need only consider the cases of Peithagoras and Euryleon), unlike other poleis on the island such as Acragas. Very convincingly, De Vido associates these weaknesses with the power of a local aristocracy that would have been hostile to any form of autocratic power. The differing pro-Phoenician/Carthaginian or pro-Greek views of the elite families within such a system would explain the shifting – yet astute – diplomatic decisions of Selinus, which allowed the city to navigate through crises including the period before and after the Battle of Himera. Also important is De Vido's emphasis on the two levels that characterised Selinus’ society in the Archaic and the Classical periods. At the upper level was the elite of wealthy landowners, which was in control of politics and was emphatically Greek in its expressions and self-presentation, including religious practice. At the lower level was a much more numerous – but for us less tangible – population, belonging to the lower classes and being of varying origins, including metics. This is the unseen world represented in the defixiones.

In the next chapter, A. Robu offers a new examination (after the one by C. Antonetti) of the dossier concerning the links and relationship between Selinus, Megara Hyblaea and Megara Nisaea, with a particular focus on the pantheon and topography of cults of Selinus (Robu is apparently not informed about recent progress in the investigation of the main urban sanctuary) and Megara Nisaea. Unlike earlier literature, Robu assigns the cult of the Tyndaridai at Selinus to the heritage of Megara Nisaea and suggests that this city, not Megara Hyblaea, may have hosted the Selinuntine exiles mentioned in IvO 22 (IGDS I 28). F. Cordano examines in the following chapter the epigraphic record concerning familial history at Selinus in the Archaic and the Classical periods: this includes the cult of Zeus Meilichios; the term patria attested in one of the inscriptions from the ‘Campo di stele’; the use of family names to designate groups associated with a particular cult; and, finally, the curse of entire families in defixiones.

Shifting from the documentary record to material culture, C. Greco and V. Tardo offer a new analysis of the sanctuaries of Selinus, focusing on the sanctuaries along the Modione River, and particularly Temple M (the authors argue for the alternative identification of this building with a monumental fountain) and Malophoros: particularly notable in relation to this second sanctuary is the authors’ emphasis on a first phase of open-air cult (between the last quarter of the seventh and early sixth century), which according to Greco and Tardo would have had a thesmophoric character.

With the following chapters the focus shifts to the lex sacra: R.D. Kotansky offers a new introduction, translation and notes for this text, but without confronting the copious literature that has accumulated on the subject since his editio princeps with M.H. Jameson and D.R. Jordan in 1993. A. Dimartino, instead, besides proposing her own translation, addresses systematically the original context (kyrbis, originally placed in the prytaneion, as suggested by G. Nenci), palaeography (inscription written by two, not three scribes), dating (not 475–450 but end of sixth–early fifth century b.c.e.) and interpretation of the text, which she argues would refer to one and the same purification (both columns), both of an individual responsible for homicide (that without premeditation, being out of his mind under the effect of an elasteros) and of his family. In the following chapter, J.-M. Carbon focuses on formal characteristics such as format, layout, punctuation and lettering, reaching the wholly implausible conclusion that the lex sacra would be a sort of bricolage, an assemblage of ritual instructions, probably in relation to a cult or sanctuary of Zeus. The following chapter by S. Georgoudi also focuses on the lex sacra, specifically sacrifices (particularly those to the Tritopatores and Zeus Meilichios) and purifications (the sacrifices in Column B, not being purificatory, according to the author) mentioned in the text. While addressing specific details, Georgoudi does not propose a comprehensive interpretation of the document.

Shifting again to broader discussions, S. Bouffier analyses the lex sacra within the context of magic in fifth-century Selinus, comparing the text with local defixiones. While the latter inscriptions are quite different in terms of their function and original context, both sets of texts are written on lead, they both reference chthonian deities and both relate, undoubtedly, to civic strife. In the next chapter, M. discusses the well-known episode recounted by Diogenes Laertius concerning the drainage/purification of Selinus by Empedocles. This intervention is often considered pure fiction, but is regarded as plausible by M., who links the intervention of the philosopher to civic strife in Selinus evidenced by literary and epigraphic sources. Finally, L. Bettarini compares the local written dialect at Selinus (especially in the defixiones) with the evidence from Megara (not an easy task, in consideration of the disparity in dating of much of the documentation), highlighting similarities and differences. Bettarini argues that differences are due to local linguistic developments unique to Sicily.

The volume ends with two appendices. The first includes a transcription of the text of the lex sacra and its translations by, respectively, R. Arena, N. Cusumano and J.-M. Carbon. A second appendix features photographs of the lex sacra.

Overall, with minor exceptions, the quality of the chapters is quite high, making this volume a valuable contribution to our understanding of not only the lex sacra and defixiones from Selinus, but also the history of this polis in Western Sicily between the end of the sixth and the first half of the fifth century.