Peter Miller presents a compelling study that focuses on the importance of the so-called angelia to both epinician poetry and epigram. The angelia was the proclamation of the herald that was offered at a festival after an athlete had attained his victory. It generally included the victor's name, his father's name, his polis, the event he won, his age category, and a form of the verb "to win" (nikaō) (12). In this book, Miller "interrogates the epinician and epigrammatic modes of representing the proclamation, and the ways in which their poetics depend on manipulating, expanding, and elaborating on the proclamation" (2).

Miller begins his book by focusing on Olympian 12 and CEG 393, both written for Ergoteles of Himera; these two poems provide the only extant example of an epinician ode and an epigram being composed for the same victor. Miller shows how Pindar's praise poetry works in reference to Ergoteles' troubled history as an exile from Crete, whereas the author of the epigram only mentions his adopted city, Himera, thereby eliding Ergoteles' politically complex background. But Miller's primary purpose with these texts composed for Ergoteles is to introduce his readers to the primary concern of his project on epinician and epigram, namely: "how are epinician song and agonistic epigram similar or different in their representation of the angelia?" (186). Introductory sections follow: on heralds; the historical angelia; representations of the angelia; augmentations of the angelia; and previous related scholarship. These sections set the stage for the argument to come. Herein I particularly appreciated Miller's section on "representations of the angelia," wherein he reminds us that neither epinician poet nor epigrammatist reproduces the angelia but rather manipulates it to suit his poetic and ideological needs.

The first substantive chapter begins by addressing the angelia-motif in epinician song. Miller gives several examples of the importance of the "representation" of angelia in praise poetry. He begins by showing how Bacchylides' second ode, for example, "stretches the angelia to fourteen lines; it seems to be a verse version of the actual proclamation with little elaboration" (39). After analyzing this charming example, Miller turns to more complex Pindaric use of the song-as-message metaphor, showing how Pindar interweaves the theme in complex ways. In Pythian 6, for example, Pindar has the treasure-house of hymns "proclaim" the victory, while he also integrates other elements of the angelia into the proem. Thereafter, Miller changes tack and examines the angelia in epigrams. He begins by noting that some simple epigrams appear to provide a "record of the proclamation" (e.g., CEG 834) but that others can be quite expansive, having only an introductory kernel in the historical angelia (e.g., CEG 862). In the two following subsections, Miller turns to the voice of the herald in epinician and epigram. He argues that, by activating the voice of the herald, the epinician poet creates a more authoritative voice for himself as a proponent of praise. The epigrammatist can do much the same, integrating, for instance, the motif of the "poem-as-herald"; CEG 823 provides a good example: "[I announce] the victory of a Mess[enian who was crowned... and was proclaimed] a boy in the sta[dion]...". Miller closes the chapter examining the athlete-as-herald metaphor.

In his second chapter, Miller addresses the manner in which much of the epinician program can be read as an "expansion" of the angelia. Miller argues that "by replacing fathers and integrating family, spinning myths derived from the victor's polis or the festival site, and using the details of athletic practice itself as a mode of praising, the epinician singer uses the angelia to structure his song and praise his patron (or patrons)" (81). This is both a dense and a rich chapter: dense, because Miller catalogues numerous phenomena in support of his argument, and rich, because the phenomena that Miller catalogues give one pause to reflect on the importance of the angelia as a means for expansive thinking. I think that Miller is right that the foundational categories of the angelia may be expanded upon to craft richly variegated odes. What is remarkable to me in Miller's work here is his recognition that Pindar's and Bacchylides' capacious poetics of praise can regularly be seen as expansions of the relatively simple phenomena that comprise the angelia.

In his third chapter, Miller examines the manner in which inscribed epigrams include, and expand upon, the content of the angelia. Miller begins with the victor, noting how extended family members may be mentioned in epigrams, as an expansion of the naming project in the angelia. Such expansion, at a most basic level, redounds to the glory of the larger family. At the same time, these epigrams "may make ideological claims about elite networks or about the heritability of athletic prowess" (149). Related sections follow on father's name, city, event, festival, and victory catalogues. Herein, and elsewhere, Miller shows how expansion adds "surplus value" to the specifics of the angelia. For example, in CEG 825, not only the event won, wrestling, is mentioned, but also the manner in which the victor contested aptēs, 'without a fall'; that is to say, the victor would have brought his opponents to the ground at least twelve times without suffering a single fall of his own. In his section on festival, Miller provides a thoughtful and important discussion of the dedication of the Spartan princess Kyniska, the first female Olympic chariot-race winner.

Miller writes clear argumentative prose, and his chapters are well designed: his academic writing is exemplary. Miller shows himself to be a keen and thoughtful interpreter both of epinician poetry and of epigram, well-versed in the relevant, contemporary scholarly concerns. This is a great book.

Chris Eckerman