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extensive critical apparatus, while the French translation has two sets of notes, brief notes at the bottom of the page and longer notes (numbered consecutively with the brief notes) gathered in “Notes complémentaires.” These notes are almost a commentary on the text, crammed with useful information. A Greek Index Nominum, an Index Verborum, an Index of French proper names, and a list of citations complete the volume. Everyone working with classical rhetoric will want this edition at hand, whether in university or seminary library, or on one’s own shelves. It is a major editorial achievement and deserves wide use. Edgar Krentz Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago THE ENEMIES OF ROME: FROM HANNIBAL TO ATILLA THE HUN. By Philip Matyszak. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2004. Pp. 296; illustrations. $31.95, ISBN 0-500-25124-X. Judgments on the Roman Empire generally invoke Vergil’s famous lines about Rome’s mission (Aen. 6.851-53), as well as, occasionally, Rutilius Namatianus’ seemingly anachronistic claim, in 417 CE, that Rome had made a city of what was once the world. Yet, as we all realize, where there is a winner, there will also be a loser; conquest produces conquered. Matyszak takes the side of the underdog. He offers brief sketches of seventeen individuals, from the third century BCE to the fifth CE. It is a somewhat amorphous group: representatives of great states, monarchs, tribal chieftains, a slave, and others, are paraded before the reader. Spartacus, Orodes II, Decebalus, Arminius, Zenobia, and Boudicca [sic] appear; the oddest choice is Josephus, representing Jewish resistance. Of course we have his writings, but compared with someone like BarKokhba, he is quite unimportant. Matyszak writes with vigor and enthusiasm. His thesis is summed up at the end of his preface: “Few withstood conquest, and fewer still died in their beds. And as each one fell, the civilization of the Mediterranean became that much poorer.” There are too many errors, however, to recommend the book wholeheartedly. Caution will be required in its use. There are misspellings, wrong dates, odd blunders (as with Vercingetorix; his year of birth is given as “around 78 BC,” his childhood is placed “during the 80s BC”), and unexpected omissions. Had the summa manus been applied, this would have been a substantially stronger book. Herbert W. Benario Emory University THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGES IN ROMAN ART. By Tonio Hölscher. Translated by Anthony Snodgrass and Anne-Marie KünzlSnodgrass. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. xxxv + 151; plates, glossary. $28.99, ISBN 0-521-66569-8.
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Originally published in 1987 and now available in an English translation, Hölscher’s book presents a new theory for the understanding of Roman art useful for any scholar of antiquity. More art historian than archaeologist, the German author is deeply rooted in the philosophy of the discipline; threads of Hegel, Wölfflin, Panofsky, and others permeate the entire text. Focusing on the commonly neglected issues of iconography and iconology, and concentrating on specific works of art, Hölscher develops a semantic system of viewing Roman art. That is, he claims that different stylistic forms were used for different themes and messages. In particular, Hölscher proposes that Roman art chose its visual paradigms not predominantly on considerations of style and taste, but rather in terms of content and subject. In the end, Hölscher is trying to understand more fully the society and culture of Rome through the study and analysis of works of ancient art, for these objects hold many clues to the nature of life in antiquity. Overall, Hölscher’s book is easy to read and his argument is clear. While it is difficult to prove the validity of the author’s semantic system (and he even admits as much himself, stating it is far from set in stone), the book is useful nonetheless, for making the reader think of Roman art in a new and different way. Julia C. Menes Ohio State University
Christian Origins THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW. By John Nolland. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. Pp. xcviii + 1481. $80.00, ISBN 0-8028-2389-0. Like the other commentaries in the series, this commentary is enormously learned, exhaustive in its detailed textual, literary, redaction- and source-critical comments and bibliographical material, and interesting, useful, and accessible to a wide range of readers. Nolland pays special attention to Matthew’s “Jewishness,” his use of sources, particularly Mark, Q, and the HB, and to the literary structure and narrative techniques (e.g., repetition, framing, chiasm) Matthew uses to achieve his theological goals. A few items of interest: Nolland dates Matthew before the build up toward the Jewish war (not post-70, as is more common), which places Mark and Q even earlier, which in turn allows him to argue in favor of general historical reliability. In breaking down Matthew into sections, Nolland follows the five-part discourse/narrative divisions in Matthew, though often he further subdivides those sections. I feel that Nolland underemphasizes the extent of Matthew’s creativity, especially in terms of his fulfillment formulas and the citation of scripture. Finally, there is a puzzling use of the phrase “final solution” that is troubling and
distasteful, especially given Matthew’s (27:25) place in a history of Christian antisemitism. Zeba A. Crook Carleton University MATTHEW 21-28. By Ulrich Luz. Hermeneia. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2005. Pp. xliv + 680. $90.00, ISBN 0-80063770-4. This is the final volume in Luz’s commentary on Matthew. The format is the same as the previous two volumes. For each section of Matthew there is an introduction, Luz’s translation, comments on the structure of the textual unit, a history of interpretation, commentary (with appropriate excurses), and somewhat new sections on the text’s “meaning for today.” There are also very helpful cross-references to volume two (Hermeneia 2001), but the cross-references to volume one refer to the German edition. There is a planned revision of the English translation of volume one (1989) for the Hermeneia series. Luz’s focus throughout all volumes of the commentary is on the “history of the way the text has influenced subsequent generations” (Wirkungsgeschichte), and for volume three, Luz comments on many works of art. Since Matt 21-28 deal with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and his death and resurrection, the trajectory of this volume, is drawn inescapably toward Matthew’s negative portrayal of the Jewish leaders. Although Luz finds Matthew’s portrayal of the Jewish leaders and their followers troubling, he subsumes this under the usual view of “sibling rivalry” and the post-70 separation of Matthew’s group from other forms of Judaism. This is a landmark commentary. Fred W. Burnett Anderson University MATTHEW: A SHORTER COMMENTARY BASED ON THE THREE-VOLUME INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY. By W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison. New York: T & T Clark, 2004. Pp. xxix + 549. $35.00, ISBN 0-567-08249-0. As the title indicates, this work is a shorter version of the three-volume International Critical Commentary (ICC) that has taken its place in Matthean scholarship as perhaps the foremost historical-critical commentary. The shorter version is done by Allison, and its target audience is “readers who find the larger commentary too involved or too difficult.” In that light, this work, Allison says, “comments not on the Greek text but on my own English translation.” There are no major revisions of the three-volume work, and any subsequent publications of the shorter version will follow revisions in the three-volume commentary, not vice versa. Bibliographies in the shorter version cover basic works only through approximately 2003 but are helpful nonetheless for the novice. The shorter commentary is an excellent tool for students, busy pastors and priests, and laypeople, and it is an excellent entrée into the larger