For students of Greek religion, few names are as resonant as that of Robert Parker. One of the world’s experts in the study of ancient Greek cult practice, Parker’s pioneering monographs on the subject[1] have fundamentally shaped the field, and few scholars of religion today lack these groundbreaking books on their shelves. In addition to his extensive publications, Parker long held the appointment of Wykeham Professor of Ancient History and Fellow of New College, Oxford, and he also delivered the Sather Lectures at Berkeley, the Townsend Lectures at Cornell, and has been a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy, an Officier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in France, and a Member of the Academia Europea. But beyond this necessarily truncated list of publications and accolades, ultimately Parker’s mark on the field is immeasurable.
It is therefore unsurprising that a volume which collects and curates some of Parker’s most impactful and thought-provoking work has appeared. The essays collected in this volume highlight Parker’s ability to deftly weave complex arguments, his foregrounding of robust evidence, and his lifelong dedication to unpacking and disentangling the web of ancient Greek religion, while simultaneously acknowledging that new tangles regularly appear. All reprinted essays are reset but otherwise published without changes; some chapters have an added “Postscript 2023,” which, when appended, usually offers some additional relevant and critical bibliographic information and/or occasionally a noteworthy corrigendum. A short preface and abbreviated index bookend the essays. There is no unified bibliography. Instead, all footnotes provide full citation details within each reprinted chapter, including references to his own essays reprinted in this volume with corresponding (updated) page numbers.
The twenty essays are divided into four sections with a variable number of chapters in each. The first grouping, “Religion and Society,” is the largest, including eight papers spanning publications from 1989 to 2019, with some of Parker’s most influential and well-known essays, such as the titular “Cleomenes on the Acropolis” (first published in 1998) and “What are Sacred Laws?” (first published in 2004). As might be expected, the papers gathered in this section address Greek religion broadly and exhaustively, with particular attention to the socio-historical impact of worship. Of special note is that these papers, particularly the final essay, “Regionality and Greek Ritual Norms” (first published in 2018), do a remarkable job of highlighting Parker’s ability to extrapolate nuanced generalities from rigorous specifics, and vice versa, showcasing the carefulness with which he approaches complex issues.
The remaining three sections all contain four papers each, with original publications ranging from 2000-2023. The grouping under “Divination” draws together essays on oracular cult at Delphi and Dodona, and on the processes of divination more broadly. Although Parker never puts it in these terms, these chapters are all largely concerned with the interrelated nature of religious authority and procedure. For those interested in process and the mechanisms of control within the sphere of Greek religion, therefore, it is well-worth reading these papers as a collected set, despite their disparate original appearances.
The third section highlights Parker’s sustained attention to the thorny topic of “Sacrifice,” with a collection of essays devoted to the act of sacrifice and its central importance to Greek ritual. Although one chapter, “Eating Unsacrificed Meat” (originally published in 2010), would have benefitted from consideration of osteological data and analysis, these four essays underscore another one of Parker’s strengths: his ability to engage in conversations surrounding anthropological approaches and complex theory (the footnotes are replete with references to Burkert, Evans-Pritchard, Girard, Mauss, Vernant, Versnel, and other theory-heavy Anglophone and Continental writers), but in a way that is utterly intelligible, understandable, and lucid. Parker eschews jargon, convoluted sentences, and specialized vocabulary in order to deliver a straightforward assessment of evidence as a way to unpack and apply choice aspects of prevailing theories. That he does so in an unpretentious way only adds to the convincing nature of his prose and argumentation.
The final section, “Gods and their Names,” is more haphazard than the other sections, particularly due to the final essay, “Priapean Problems” (originally published in 2020), which, while interesting, feels out of place for a variety of reasons. Yet there is still much to be gained from the grouping, particularly reading “The Cult of Aphrodite Pandamos and Pontia on Cos” (originally published in 2002) alongside “The Problem of the Greek Cult Epithet” (originally published in 2003). Indeed, this final section ties together and highlights some of Parker’s real gifts as a scholar of ancient religion: his attention to detail while situating specifics within the bigger picture, his embrace of digital humanities initiatives, such as the Collection of Greek Ritual Norms (CGRN) database, his keen epigraphic eye, and his encyclopedic knowledge of and fluency with a broad geographic and chronological swath of the ancient world. In the assembled twenty essays, articles, and chapters, there emerges the picture of a scholar who is meticulous, thoughtful, and reflective.
Despite this glowing praise, I do have a few minor quibbles. A general problem with volumes of collected essays like this is what to do about page numbers and years when it comes to bibliographic citation. While the present volume does include a list of initial publication information, the reprinted chapters do not indicate the original pagination. How, then, is one to properly cite a reference from Parker’s “Spartan Religion” (initially published 1989, pp. 142-172, now reprinted 2024, pp. 35-60)? Ought one to use the original publication (so, Parker 1989, p. 156), the newest publication (so, Parker 2024, p. 43), or some hybrid of both (so, Parker 2024, p. 43 [= Parker 1989, p. 156])? This is not the fault of this particular volume, and certainly not of Parker himself, but is rather endemic to all such collections. It matters because all too often citations and bibliography serve as gatekeeping devices, and persnickety barriers like this can (and have!) been used to stifle research and publication.
Another problem, also germane to all such collected reprints, is that it is not clear who the intended audience is for this volume. Most scholars familiar with Parker’s impressive oeuvre are likely already aware of most, if not all, of the essays collected in this volume. Students are more likely to encounter the essays individually, in their original places of publication (journals, edited volumes, and the like). The collection of these essays in the present book provides a wonderful witness to a prolific and detailed scholar, but I doubt many people will read the volume cover to cover.
A few missed opportunities might also be noted. The reprinting would have been an excellent time to add a few images or a map. For instance, much material evidence is described in “The Cult of Aphrodite Pandamos and Pontia on Cos,” including coins, figurines, and archaeological remains, and a few figures to accompany this essay would have helped illuminate some of Parker’s points. It also would have been helpful if each of the four sections contained a short preface, offering perhaps an explanation for the chosen grouping of chapters, written by Parker himself or perhaps penned by his students, as a way of more strongly showcasing his enduring legacy and fundamental role in shaping subsequent generations of scholars.
There are rewards to reading the book as a complete monograph, however. The chapters altogether encourage and suggest further avenues for research in the field of Greek religion. In particular, Parker’s use of online databases, such as the CGRN (for which he continues to serve as an advisor), showcases how digital corpora might facilitate more cross-comparative studies that allow scholars to question generalizations (such as the—incorrect but oft repeated—claim that all Greek sanctuaries prohibited access to women in active menstruation, mentioned on p. 159) and to think more about contextual specificity (such as the sale of priesthoods in the Aegean islands and Ionia, but not in mainland Greece, as discussed on pp. 158-159). As shown by Parker, these databases provide greater accessibility to vast amounts of material, thereby allowing scholars to approach long-standing problems, issues, and controversies in a rigorous, data-driven way; Parker’s careful work here sets the stage for further exploration and provides a model for how such digitized data can enrich scholarly research.
Ultimately, this book assembles in a single place some of the best work by one of the world’s greatest scholars of Greek religion. It is a testament to Parker’s keen insights, meticulous approach, and long-lasting impact on the field.
Notes
[1] Among his prolific output, I note four monographs of particular importance: Miasma (1989, OUP); Athenian Religion (1996, OUP, reviewed BMCR 1997.05.01); Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005, OUP, reviewed BMCR 2007.07.34); On Greek Religion (2011, Cornell, reviewed BMCR 2012.03.06).