Greek epigram represents the most enduring literary genre in the history of Greek literature, since it is systematically cultivated from the first beginnings of alphabetic writing in the early archaic period down to the end of the Byzantine era and even beyond. This synthetic volume testifies both to the epigram's multifarious nature and protean metamorphoses but also to the fact that it has become a subfield of philological research in its own right.

In contrast to what the title suggests, this volume of collected essays is neither a history of the evolution of Greek epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era nor is it based on a chronological presentation of various case studies. The three editors did well to organise the relevant material thematically in six parts (1: ‘Encountering Epigram’; 2: ‘Imitation, Variation, Interaction’; 3: ‘Writing Death’; 4: ‘Gods, Religion, and Cult’; 5: ‘Praise and Blame’; 6: ‘Words and Images’), so as to offer readers a panoramic view of some of the key issues with which modern research on Greek epigram is engaged.

Part 1, ‘Encountering Epigram’, takes its lead from the pioneering work of K. Gutzwiller (Poetic Garlands: Hellenistic Epigrams in Context [1998]), which stressed the importance of studying Hellenistic epigrams by paying attention to the collections in which they are incorporated. The studies in this section of the volume expand our interpretative horizons by considerably widening the scope of epigram contextualisation: from stones and ostraca to schoolbooks and anthologies, the authors take into account different kinds of physical objects on which epigrams were inscribed or written. Particularly rewarding is the attention paid to private compilations of epigrams designed to meet an individual's needs (in symposia, as mnemonic aid or as educational means at schools). By examining such para-literary contexts, A. Petrovic is able to show that reading habits were remarkably similar as far as fourth-century bc verse inscriptions and third-century bc epigrams on papyri are concerned: both were read in sequences. Petrovic's analysis has far-reaching consequences. If epigrams were composed and read in sequences not only in anthologies and book collections but also in private compilations, then their pairing and grouping should be seen under the scope not only of enhancing cross-reading and encouraging complex interpretation but also of promoting ideological agendas, in this case that of Ptolemaic supremacy. Equally rewarding is the study by R. Höschele, who achieves nothing less than re-establishing the epigrammatic collection by Philip of Thessalonica to the place it deserves. By disclosing Philip's use of five ‘modes of concatenation at a micro- and macrotextual level’ (p. 57) (the juxtaposition of model and copy, the grouping of epigrams sharing thematical, structural or verbal associations, the interweaving of epigrams by means of intertextual references, the creation of pairs or sequences of epigrams on the same topic scattered across the Garland, and the coordination between certain themes and letter groups), Höschele shows that Philip's Στέφανος opted for a more demanding mode of organisation of his material than Meleager in his own Garland, which testifies to his artistry.

Parts 2–3, ‘Imitation, Variation, Interaction’ and ‘Writing Death’, focus on interpretative issues, the former discussing inter- and intrageneric interactions, the latter adding further explorations to the already rich secondary literature on sepulchral epigram. All chapters are meticulously argued, full of new insights and rewarding analyses. A. Harder's diachronic exploration of the reception and miniaturisation of short poetic forms (narrative elegy, bucolic poetry, the paraklausithyron and the propempticon) and S. Beta's examination of the riddling epigrams of Book 14 of the Greek Anthology are particularly rewarding. In the latter case, Beta's exploration of the contextualisation of riddles as well as his conclusion that poets of the Byzantine era were inspired by anthologies of riddles tread new paths in the study not only of this particular form of epigram but also of riddles in general. This is an important step forward after C. Luz's hallmark study on Technopaignia (2010).

In Part 4, ‘Gods, Religion, and Cult’, M. Fantuzzi offers an insightful analysis of epigrams dealing with Cybele's music. Fantuzzi's learned interpretation of a series of Hellenistic epigrams and Catullus 63 is centred on the question pertaining to the approval of Cybele's frenzied cult through the shifting approaches to her emasculated galli and loud music. Instead of the victorious gallus and the ‘defeated’ lion of the Greek epigrammatic tradition that testify to the impact of Cybele's cult on her worshippers, Catullus’ roaring lion triumphs, whereas his gallus completely deprived of the power of Cybele's music runs away and is sexually metamorphosed. Gutzwiller discloses the key role played by a series of love epigrams in AP 5.176–80 in the reshaping of earlier views on Eros. The strength of this contribution lies not only in the minute analysis of how the stress on the cosmic force of an all-powerful god gives its place to the inconsolable acknowledgement of love's power but also to the fact that this series of epigrams in Meleager's Garland has influenced chief Roman poets like Virgil, Propertius and Ovid.

Part 5, ‘Praise and Blame’, is devoted to what may have seemed an appropriate theme for a study on archaic Greek epic. The three chapters follow different paths. While Kanellou shows that subgeneric boundaries between scoptic and erotic epigrams are blurred as early as the Hellenistic period, F. Giommoni delves into the political context that has conditioned the resurgence of symbolic feats of the past to praise dynasties and emperors of the present. J.M. Romero investigates how gifted epigrammatists have reshaped encomiastic strategies and themes and applied them to philosophers. What is particularly gratifying in Romero's chapter is the analysis of how epigram ‘does its bit’ as a poetic genre in the time-old rivalry between poetry and philosophy. By a sensitive analysis of various epigrammatic compositions, he is able to disclose the subtle ways in which literary epigram implicitly extols itself as a suitable medium for renouncing philosophy. To this extent, this poetic genre carves a special place for itself within other poetic genres.

Part 6, ‘Words and Images’, is all about ekphrasis. In her analysis of the ways in which scoptic epigrams deal with the ekphrastic tradition, L. Floridi studies three different types of parodic reversal: (a) standard themes of ekphrastic epigrams are turned upside down by focusing on unskilled artists and repulsive people, (b) standard images (like the ‘thorn-puller’) are evoked only to be lampooned by means of an astute recasting of image and text, and (c) the typology of ekphrastic poems is verbally evoked by means of a jocular mythical revision that caricatures the standard presentation of a mythical figure; see especially p. 319 with Floridi's persuasive analysis of an epigram by Antipater of Thessalonica (AP 11.224 = GPh 99), who reverses the appreciation of Aphrodite's beauty by Athena and Hera in the θεῶν κρίσις by having Priapus admit his defeat at the sight of Cimon's penis (here a stress on the alliterative play between penis–Priapus and mortal–immortal has been missed: ἑστηκὸς τὸ Κίμωνος ἰδὼν πέος, εἶφ᾽ ὁ Πρίηπος· | ‘οἴμοι, ὑπὸ θνητοῦ λείπομαι ἀθάνατος’). P. Bing's analysis of Palladas’ epigrammatic production explores ekphrasis as a vehicle for meditation on the changing attitudes towards ancient statues of gods. There are many new insights presented here, but I would like to dwell on one among them: Bing is absolutely right to disclose the caustic tinge of ἐνθάδε in l. 2 of Palladas, AP 9.258, which refers to Olympus. Further support to his argument may have been given by the fact that the epigram (… Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχοντες | ἐνθάδε ναιετάουσιν ἀπήμονες | οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὺς | χώνη φόλλιν ἄγουσα φερέσβιον ἐν πυρὶ θήσει) divulges a sophisticated inversion of the well-known epic passage about the idyllic Olympian habitat of the immortals (Od. 6.42–6: Οὔλυμπόνδε, ὅθι φασὶ θεῶν ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ | ἔμμεναι· οὔτ᾽ ἀνέμοισι τινάσσεται οὔτέ ποτ᾽ ὄμβρωι | δεύεται οὔτε χιὼν ἐπιπίλναται, ἀλλὰ μάλ᾽ αἴθρη | πέπταται ἀνέφελος, λευκὴ δ᾽ ἐπιδέδρομεν αἴγλη· | τῶι ἔνι τέρπονται μάκαρες θεοὶ ἤματα πάντα). Along similar lines to Bing's chapter, S.D. Smith's contribution explores how a series of epigrams on emperors’ gardens dating from the first to the seventh century ad engages with the issues of authority and the conflict between the pagan world and Christianity. The emperor, as the embodiment of the political, religious and artistic standards is of course the centre around which all these topics evolve. Smith deftly shows that, despite the fact that garden epigrams were never acknowledged as an epigrammatic subgenre, they nevertheless present a small corpus that allows us to examine the development and negotiation of similar concerns and themes like the ones we see in the handling of other artistic forms, statues being a well-known example.

This volume, a valuable contribution to the ever-growing literature on Greek epigram, will definitely find its place next to other collected volumes dealing with this remarkable poetic form. Readers who have the patience to go through the book from beginning to end will be rewarded by the many perceptive interpretations of individual passages, the novel topics, new insights on often discussed themes as well as the high quality of the scholarship of all contributions. This is not a comprehensive overview of the genre, as the editors themselves rightly acknowledge (p. 16), but it is a rich, meticulous and thought-provoking presentation of a genre that (ut quibusdam videtur) almost defies comprehensiveness.