The methods and approaches of sensory studies are well established in the Social Sciences, their main proponent being David Howes, notably via his Sensory Formations series and the Centre for Sensory Studies (http://www.centreforsensorystudies.org). Sensory studies are rapidly becoming an area of research in Classics, as these two volumes illustrate, though in quite different ways. There is much to be gained from reading both volumes, and each makes a valuable addition to the field of Classical Studies.

J. Toner's edited volume is an introduction to sensory studies of antiquity, and should be read in its wider context: it is the first of six volumes concerning a cultural history of the senses (a set which sits within C. Classen's Cultural Histories series). In contrast, M. Squire's edited volume is the third in Routledge's six-volume The Senses in Antiquity series (under the overall editorship of S. Butler and M. Bradley), a series which, after the introductory volume Synaesthesia and the Ancient Senses (ed. S. Butler and A. Purves, 2013), takes each of the traditional five senses in turn. As a result, it is more detailed than Toner's volume, although the ‘sense by sense’ approach may be critiqued for its arbitrary division of the senses.

Toner's volume begins with an entertaining discussion of a passage from Lucian, then moves to a section on synaesthesia (which, I would suggest, is a problematic and poorly used term within sensory studies of antiquity). That the senses were not ‘passive conduits’ (3) is a key point, which warrants development if we are to develop sensory studies as an area of research in Classical Studies. Also key is the association of moral judgement with particular sensory stimuli, set out in the literary sources (we need to read against the grain of the sources to access sensory data). The Introduction is largely a summary of the chapters in the volume, but Toner applies his usual joie de vivre to this, making for a dynamic synopsis.

D. Potter discusses feasts and funerals, in both Greek and Roman contexts, and this chapter would best be read in conjunction with, for example, the chapters by C. Weddle and V. Hope in Senses of the Empire: Multisensory Approaches to Roman Culture (ed. E. Betts, 2017). Potter's narrative ranges widely, but encompasses the Roman triumph (making a valuable addition to previous works on this topic), dining and banquets, and funerals, drawing predominantly on literary sources. G. Aldrete takes an overarching approach to the multisensoriality of the city of Rome, seemingly influenced by D. Favro, The Urban Image of Augustan Rome (1996) and E. Betts, Rome, Ostia, Pompeii: Movement and Space (2011), 118–32. A balanced argument is presented, but the trope that Rome was a ‘crowded, loud, dirty, noisy, smelly, chaotic, and dangerous’ place remains (47), and is a point which future sensory studies of Rome may address; for comparison, see N. Morley in Smell and the Ancient Senses (ed. M. Bradley, 2015), 110–19; M. Flohr in Senses of the Empire (ed. E. Betts, 2017), 39–53.

A. Wallace-Hadrill adds a multisensory interpretation to the exotic and economic, providing a new reading of parts of his 2008 publication Rome's Cultural Revolution. This chapter demonstrates how a multisensory reading may add nuance to existing topics of research. S. Ashbrook Harvey builds on her previous work (notably Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination (2006)), to present the importance of the senses in our understanding of Roman and early Christian religion. A. Clements takes us to ancient Greece, and his discussion of the senses in Greek philosophy is best read in conjunction with chapters in Squire's volume (particularly those by K. Rudolph, A. Nightingale, R. Netz and Squire himself), which allow fuller discussion of the topic. H. King and J. Toner's chapter summarises much of King's earlier research, and demonstrates that the senses have been an inherent part of research on ancient medicine for some time (see also P. Baker, The Archaeology of Medicine in the Greco-Roman World (2013)). S. Montiglio reminds us that Greek (and Latin) literature are creative writing, evoking imagined sensory experience. The use of creative writing techniques in sensory studies of antiquity is an avenue yet to be explored: for examples in archaeology, see R. Skeates, An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta (2010) and R. Tringham in Making Senses of the Past: Toward a Sensory Archaeology (ed. J. Day, 2013), 177–95. M. Bradley returns to his work on colour (Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome (2009)) and the ways in which decoration of the Roman body was more than a visual phenomenon. B. Eldon Stevens’ contribution is the most theoretically informed and best contextualised chapter in the volume, and demonstrates how a multisensory reading of Classical literature can be used to understand Graeco-Roman socio-cultural contexts.

Toner's volume provides an introduction to the multiplicity of ways in which sensory approaches may contribute to our understanding of the Classical world, whilst Squire's volume is the first publication to explore ancient perceptions of sight in detail. In his Introduction, Squire succeeds in challenging the centrality of sight in Graeco-Roman culture (8–9), a philosophy which is explored fully in the chapters by K. Rudolph, A. Nightingale, R. Netz and M. Squire. The chapters by J. Grethlein, J. Tanner and R. Bielfeldt take art-historical approaches, and examine the close inter-relationships between artefact, art and the viewer. The scope widens in the next four chapters, largely with an emphasis on imperial Roman case-studies, as each author explores the socio-cultural impact of vision: in funerals (S. Tanner), religion (V. Platt), Roman mnemonics (J. Elsner and M. Squire) and Lucian's ‘Hall’ speech (R. Webb). Aspects of the chapters by J. Heath and L. Coo consider the partially-sighted and blind, and it is to be hoped that their contributions will inspire further studies of disability within the Classical world, utilising sensory methods and approaches. A science of sight concludes the volume (A. Mark Smith).

The main strength of Toner's volume is its multisensory approach, and each contributor has used case-studies which demonstrate that analysis of each of the different senses increases our understanding of the Classical world. The contributors take topics on which they have published previously, and enhance them via a multisensory study. Some readers may see this as a veneer, and the question remains: how does a multisensory study further the discipline of Classical Studies? The lack of citation is the main weakness in Toner's volume, and whilst this may have been an editorial decision, given that each volume in the Cultural Histories series serves as a multidisciplinary introduction to its selected topic, this impacts on the usability of the volume for research in this burgeoning field. Setting aside this issue, Toner's volume is a solid introduction to sensory studies of antiquity, although it should be noted that the chapters included give preference to Roman case-studies, whilst ancient Greece receives little attention. It is to be hoped that a volume applying sensory studies to Greece will be forthcoming, since this has potential as a growth area for our discipline. In contrast, a feature of Routledge's The Senses in Antiquity series is that it aims for a balance between Greece and Rome in each volume; in fact, Greece often predominates. Whilst the series as a whole takes a ‘sense by sense’ approach, Squire's volume demonstrates effectively that it is possible to focus on one sense (sight) and to simultaneously incorporate other senses, although more robust methodologies and theoretical approaches would be welcomed.

Overall, these volumes (and series) would benefit from theoretically grounded approaches and robust methodologies, both of which are necessary if sensory studies of antiquity are to become established as an approach in Classical Studies. Here, we could take guidance from archaeology, where sensory studies methods and approaches have begun to be developed (for example, S. Hamilton and R. Whitehouse, Journal of Iberian Archaeology 8 (2006), 159–84; F. Fahlander and A. Kjellström (eds), Making Sense of Things: Archaeologies of Sensory Perception (2010); R. Skeates, An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta (2010); Y. Hamilakis, Archaeology and the Senses: Human Experience, Memory, and Affect (2013)). It is hoped that sensory studies of antiquity will develop further, and that we might move beyond edited volumes to monographs which test the full potential of these methods and approaches to understanding the Classical world.