As Dunstan Lowe makes clear from the outset of this book, monsters are loaded with meaning. As such, they served as excellent tools for poets in antiquity and could be used to push social, political and literary boundaries in ancient Rome. The aim of this book is to provide a detailed analysis of monsters in Augustan poetry focusing in particular on mythical monster-human hybrids, especially in the works of Ovid and Virgil. The lack of a coherent definition for monsters in either the ancient or modern world makes L.’s task a difficult one and so the decision to limit his study to hybrids certainly makes sense, although it inevitably means passing over plenty of fertile material. Over the course of six chapters, L. examines a veritable menagerie of mythical monsters that were reshaped (sometimes dramatically) by Roman authors, with new meanings constantly emerging. One of the overarching arguments of the book is that monsters could hold both positive and negative meaning, at times being used to represent poetic innovation, ambition and creativity, as well as social discord and upheaval.

The first chapter provides the necessary framework for L.’s investigation and begins by considering the significance of the term monstrum, with all the religious and political implications that came with it, along with the fact that the rise of Augustus coincided with the apparent shift in the perception of, and response to, such phenomena in Roman society. L. uses this to show how Roman attitudes towards monstrosity, deformity and novelty were often ambivalent, especially by the Augustan era. The latter half of the chapter provides a useful overview of the current state of ‘monster studies’ in relation to notions of the uncanny, the sublime and the grotesque, all themes that L. returns to throughout his study. Ch. 2 deals with ‘Real monsters’, considering the place of bodily abnormality and deformity both inside and outside Roman society, and the change in attitudes that occurred over the course of the late Republic as monsters became desirable objects for collection, public display and entertainment. L. sees monsters in this period as beginning to occupy the territory of political invective, but in doing so he looks well beyond the limits of the Augustan era, providing a detailed digression on Pliny the Elder and the rôle of monsters in the negative portrayals of early emperors.

Chs 3–6 provide the meat of the investigation, exploring an extensive range of notable human-monster hybrids and the changes they underwent in the works of Augustan writers. Ch. 3 examines ‘Feminine exteriors’ and offers a fascinating discussion of Scylla, the Sirens and Medusa as examples of feminine hybrids that were transformed and ‘maidenized’ by Augustan poets (70) whose works developed descriptions of their outward appearances while continuing to make use of established misogynistic tropes to express contemporary Roman anxieties. Ch. 4 moves on to ‘Feminine interiors’, looking in detail at the Harpies and the Furies, both of whom represent unrestrained emotional excess. The danger that they pose is compounded by the physical and emotional contagion which they carry with them. The chapter contains an ambitious and engaging discussion of ‘monstrous gynecology’ which builds on the wider theories discussed earlier in the study. Ch. 5, ‘Beast men’, deals with the Centaurs and the Minotaur. The Centaurs are cast as the epitome of primitive hypermasculine failure, while the Minotaur is an anomaly whose human characteristics were increasingly developed. Both, however, could also be used to emphasize the monstrosity of their human opponents. Ch. 6 concludes with ‘Hyperbolic monsters’, perhaps L.’s most ambitious chapter which focuses on ‘anti-Olympian beings’ and Gigantomachy, whose themes are used to represent literary ambition and the undertaking of futile/insurmountable struggles in this arena. This leads into related discussions of the Cyclopes, Hercules and Cacus, and Argus.

Despite the persuasiveness of L.’s arguments, the book is not without its flaws. Its structure at times obscures the broader threads that run throughout, while the later chapters start to become rather repetitive at times. Ch. 2 on ‘Real monsters’ feels out of place and many of the interesting questions that it raises are left unresolved as L. moves on to the literary case studies which form the book's core. Although the importance of the Augustan era as a period of transition and transformation is stressed repeatedly, no real attempt is made to place the literary developments on which L. focuses within their wider political context. The opening pages create a degree of expectation in this regard, and so this feels like a missed opportunity. It is especially noticeable in the early chapters where L. refers to apparently significant events or changes in widely held attitudes, for example with regards to the perception of monsters as portents, but does not discuss the potentially far-reaching political factors at work behind these changes.

These issues do not take away from the wider significance of the book, however, and L. deserves full credit for creating an impressive and original study which will undoubtedly be a valuable resource for the burgeoning research on monsters and deformity in the ancient world.