Regional studies of Greek cult encompassing both the written record and archaeological remains are challenging to produce but have the potential to be richly rewarding. Following in the footsteps of successful studies of the cults of Boeotia (A. Schachter), Arcadia (M. Jost), Northern Ionia (F. Graf) and Messenia (M.L. Zunino), P. has undertaken to do the same for the region that includes the territory of ancient Elis proper, along with the areas of the Pisatis and Triphylia to the south, which at times during antiquity came under the political control of Elis. In doing so, P. aims to counterbalance the understandable dominance of Olympia in the scholarship on religious practice within the territory of Elis. In a thorough and methodical study P. collects and surveys the available evidence, but interestingly concentrates on civic or communal cult practice in all other parts of the region (and leaving aside the consideration of private or domestic cult), adducing evidence from Olympia only when relevant to the matter at hand.
His aims are twofold. First, by assembling in one place not only the various scholarly interpretations of ancient literary and epigraphic testimonia but also the results of excavations and surveys conducted throughout the region from the nineteenth century to the present, he aims to produce the most comprehensive and current assessment of the available evidence. Second, he aims to deduce from this full consideration of the available evidence a more synthetic understanding of the sacred topography or landscape as well as the political dimension of cult practice within the region.
In an introductory chapter P. defines the scope of his work and his methods of inquiry and offers a summary of the political history of the region, which proves important for understanding his later claims about the politics of cult. The three main chapters are organised geographically and, within each geographical unit, by divinity or place of cult. As the title adumbrates, the two chapters on Elis and Triphylia are substantial, each spanning more than 150 pages and subdivided into geographical units: the urban centre of Elis, its suburbs and the surrounding valley in the case of the Elis chapter, and from polis to polis in the case of the Triphylia chapter. Between them appears a very brief chapter on the Pisatis.
The wealth of evidence assembled is admirable. P. discusses the main literary sources attesting to cult, among which Pausanias and Strabo loom large. It is a benefit to the reader that P. usually provides the original Greek text as well, mostly appearing in the footnotes. Very rarely is there a typographical error in the transcription or discussion of the Greek, but nothing that the reader cannot easily correct (e.g. on p. 42, ἐπιδημούν των should read ἐπιδημούντων, and shortly thereafter, ἐπιδημούντοι should read ἐπιδημοῦντες; the name of the father referenced in the inscription on p. 108 is Leontomenes, not Leontomentes; and in n. 2771 on p. 362 περίτοῦ should read περί τοῦ). The archaeological and epigraphic evidence that P. assembles derives from the earliest modern explorations of the region to the most recent excavation and survey work, for example J. Heiden and C. Rohn's survey of Triphylia as well as the recent excavation by X. Arapogianni at Prasidaki and by other members of the Greek Archaeological Service elsewhere.
The conclusions drawn are often speculative, but P. is admirably conscious of the limitations imposed by the evidence and rarely claims certainty. He nevertheless frequently argues for what he sees as the preferable or more probable interpretation, with which readers may not always agree. To his credit, P. always makes us aware of what other scholars have proposed, so that readers may draw on the text, notes and bibliography to pursue other lines of argument.
To advance his arguments, P. usually fleshes out the evidence by examining comparanda elsewhere in Greece. The wealth of detail adds to the value of the book. On occasion, this effort leads P. on tangents that, while interesting in their own right, are of questionable relevance to the goals of the book. His discussion of the activities of the Sixteen Women of Elis, for example, prompts P. to adduce valuable comparative evidence for the ritual presentation of woven garments, but his discussion of whether the scenes found on a Corinthian pyxis and Locrian relief plaques represent acts of public ritual or private dedication (p. 84) adds little to our understanding of what happened in Elis. Similarly, a discussion of the evidence for a cult of Kaukon at Lepreon in Triphylia leads to an unnecessarily lengthy treatment of this figure's association with the Mysteries at Andania in Messenia (pp. 357–60).
Accompanying the text are a number of illustrations, most of which are helpful, although a few of the photographs of the landscape appear very dark. P. also includes numerous maps, reprinted from various other publications. Since they were not created for the present work, it happens that a few place names mentioned in the text appear nowhere in the maps, and readers who are not already familiar with the region are left to infer their location based on clues in the text. Most of the missing place names are minor (e.g. Alphiusa, pp. 236–7; Diasella, pp. 288–9), but even the Sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis at Kombothekra, which garners significant attention (pp. 335–54), is absent from the maps.
To serve as a conclusion, P. provides a brief final chapter of ten pages, in which he draws out some of the patterns that he extracts from his study. Half of the discussion is devoted to the cultic connections between Elis and Olympia, reflecting the inescapable pull of Olympia on our understanding of the region. There follows a brief summary of the evidence for Elis' manipulation of both cult and myth in order to reinforce its claims of territory and political control in the wider region. Finally, P. examines the patterns of distribution among the cults of various divinities across Triphylia.
P. has provided a meticulous and comprehensive work that constitutes an important scholarly resource both for those interested in the cultic landscape of an important region of the western Peloponnese and for those who want to know the comparanda from this region for cult practised elsewhere in ancient Greece.
