This edited volume—a companion to the exhibition of the same name, co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), in association with the Sicilian Region and the Assessorato for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity—showcases the art, archaeology, history, and culture of the Greek cities on Sicily from the victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera in 480 BCE to the defeat of Syracuse in 212 BCE by the Roman general Marcellus. The book’s objective, explained in the forewords by Italian officials, the editors, and museum personnel, and in the introduction by Claire L. Lyons and Michael Bennett, curators at the Getty and CMA, respectively, is to analyze the artistic and intellectual contributions of Sicily to the rest of the Mediterranean world. Furthermore, they seek to redress the predominant scholarly focus on the period of Hellenic colonization on Sicily in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE by investigating the art and archaeology of the island in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

The volume is divided into five thematic sections, each comprising two to six chapters. In addition, there are thirteen one- or two-page “focus” essays by various authors that highlight either signature pieces from the exhibition, such as the Archimedes Palimpsest and the Goddess of Morgantina, or archaeological sites in Sicily. The first section, “History, Cultural Politics, and Identity,” examines the history, politics, and cultural identity of the Sikeliotes—the term used throughout the volume to designate Sicilian Greeks. The first chapter, “History of Sicily, 480–211 B.C.” by Carmine Ampolo, is a very thorough discussion of the history of Sicily, from the fifth to the third centuries BCE, and is supplemented by a timeline at the beginning of the volume. The remaining chapters in this section address specific aspects of Sicilian history. In her chapter on the Hellenistic kingship in Sicily (“Hellenistic Kingship in Sicily: Patronage and Politics under Agathokles and Hieron II”), Caroline Veit places the rulers within the context of the concurrent wars of succession and efforts to define political legitimacy in the wider Mediterranean. Hieron II, for example, placed a great emphasis on his dynastic and royal ancestry and linked the authority of his kingship to the cult of Zeus Olympios. He sponsored building projects, such as a new temple to Zeus Olympios in the Syracusan agora and a religious center in the Neapolis quarter, which linked Zeus, Herakles, and other gods and heroes to prominent members of his family. Hieron also drew connections between himself and a long tradition of Sicilian dedications at the god’s sanctuary at Olympia on mainland Greece. Veit argues that this emphasis on his Hellenism also constructively denoted his opposition to the growing power of Rome at his doorstep. In her essay on ethnic identity (“Ethnic Identity in Sicily: Greeks and Non-Greeks”), Francesca Spatafora discusses different types of “encounters”—avoiding assumptions of power politics that are tied to colonization—between the Greeks, Phoenicians, and native Sikels and furthers the discourse on cross-cultural theory in the ancient Mediterranean. She uses literary sources and archaeological evidence from the necropoleis, sanctuaries, and settlements of Sicily to show that the native Sikels maintained their own distinct communities, yet shared some common architectural vocabulary with the Greek and Phoenician settlers on the island.

The rich and varied mythological and religious life of Greek Sicily is investigated in the next section (“Religion and Mythology”), with particular emphasis on the role of the agricultural goddess Demeter. Caterina Greco (“The Cult of Demeter and Kore between Tradition and Innovation”) begins by examining the “civilizing” role the goddess, whose aspect as Thesmophoros (law-giving) emphasized the link between agricultural productivity, female fertility, and the creation of established laws that helped to form civilized cities out of potentially chaotic communities. Her worship played a major role in Sicily, as new urban centers, such as Gela, Akragas, and Selinus, used the agricultural cult to stress female fertility and the gendered division of labor. Greco then proceeds to analyze the implications of the Deinomenid dynasty’s political uses of the implications of Demeter’s myth and cults in the fifth century BCE. The Deinomenids appropriated the myths of Kore’s abduction for propaganda purposes, relocating the story from the territory of Eleusis on the Greek mainland to the sacred landscape of Sicily, specifically Syracuse and Enna. By transferring the sacred geography of Demeter’s most important myth to Sicily, the Deinomenids elevated the importance of their own Demeter sanctuaries and the critical value of the goddess’s agricultural and law-giving aspects. Monica de Cesare’s chapter (“Greek Myth and Religion in the Sicilian Context”) examines some of the other mythological stories involving Sicily, including Odysseus’s adventures and Aeneas’s flight from Troy. She shows how these myths were instrumental in the formation and definition of the Greek ethnic and civic identity in Sicily.

The three chapters of the next section focus on the artistic and literary contributions of the Sikeliote culture (“Sikeliote Culture in Art and Literature”). Essays by Gianfranco Adornato (“Rivalry, Competition, and Promotion: Cities and Citizens of Sicily in the Sanctuaries of Greece”) and Kathryn Morgan (“Imaginary Kings: Visions of Monarchy in Sicilian Literature from Pindar to Theokritos”) evaluate the Sicilian contribution to Greek competitive athletic society. Adornato considers the treasuries and other dedications by Sicilian cities at the panhellenic sanctuaries at Olympia and Delphi, and Morgan examines the poetic patronage of the kings and the ways that kingship was exalted, deployed, and constructed not only by Pindar but also by Xenophon, Aeschylus, Plato, and others. Finally, in an essay by the late Kathryn Bosher (“Infinite Variety: Ancient Greek Drama in Sicily”), the fragmentary evidence of Sikeliote dramatists in the Classical and Hellenistic periods is analyzed. Although no Sikeliote plays survive in their entirety from this period, Athenian and Roman sources indicate that they were held in high regard. A fuller picture of these enigmatic playwrights and the varied genres of dramatic productions is created through the consideration of terra-cotta theater masks, Southern Italian and Sikeliote vase paintings, theaters, and textual evidence.

The fourth section, “Hellenism and Its Legacy,” begins with the enigmatic figure of Archimedes. Raviel Netz investigates Archimedes, not only as a scientist, but as a Sicilian and Syracusan specifically (“Science in Syracuse: Archimedes in Place”). He focuses on Archimedes’s relationship with his native city, how he represented his city to the rest of the scientific community in the Mediterranean, and how he worked both to promote and defend Syracuse. Gabriella Cirucci (“The Roman Conquest of Sicily and Its Consequences”) argues for the more specific contributions of Sikeliote art to Roman art, showing the Sicilian influence on the so-called “Hellenization” of Rome and pointing out that Roman conquerors used Sikeliote art as a means of self-promotion both before and after the sack of Syracuse.

The last section, “Sicilian Art and Archaeology in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods,” is a survey of the architecture, sculpture, coinage, coroplastic arts, wall painting, and vase painting from Classical and Hellenistic Sicily. Margaret M. Miles (“Classical Greek Architecture in Sicily”) analyzes the massive and innovative building projects—key to the early development of the Doric order—in Archaic and Classical Sicily that were made financially possible through the war booty and indemnities commanded by the Sikeliotes after their victory over the Carthaginians. She concludes the chapter with an all-too-brief discussion of the influences of Sikeliote architecture on the Greek East. Clemente Marconi (“Sculpture in Sicily from the Age of the Tyrants to the Reign of Hieron II”) analyzes the fragmentary evidence of sculpture from Sicily, while Carmen Arnold-Biucchi’s discussion of the abundant numismatic evidence (“The Art of Coinage”) analyzes the coins both for their historical value, but also as works of sculpture in their own right. Maria Lucia Ferruzza (“Agalmata ek pelou: Aspects of Coroplastic Art in Classical and Hellenistic Sicily”) discusses the coroplastic arts from Classical and Hellenistic Sicily, with a special focus on mythological themes, highlighting the Sikeliote interest in the heroes Odysseus and Herakles, both of whom traveled to foreign lands and represented the liminal space of the human condition. Alessandra Merra (“Hellenistic Tradition in the Mural Painting of Ancient Sicily”) examines Sicilian wallpainting of the Hellenistic period, and, finally, Sebastiano Barresi (“Sicilian Red-Figure Vase Painting”) traces the history of Sicilian red-figure vase paining, especially in the context of better-known Athenian workshops.

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome provides a strong collection of worthwhile essays about Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Sicily for an English-speaking audience. My criticisms are largely minor and cosmetic. The treatment of the captions to the many high-quality illustrations is inconsistent. While some exceptional artifacts and archaeological sites have small “focus” essays, others have explanatory captions, and still others have only basic information. Though the aim of the volume is more to thrust the island of Sicily on the Mediterranean stage than to serve as a catalogue for the show, and thus includes artifacts that were not part of the exhibition, it is not clearly noted which were on display and which were not. As a result, there is at times a discontinuity between the articles and the highlighted artifacts. There is also perhaps too much focus on Athens, given the fact that the intended goals of the volume are a reevaluation of the presumption that cultural influence traveled almost exclusively from east to west and to highlight the artistic and intellectual contributions of Sicily to the rest of the Mediterranean world. Many of the essays compare Sikeliote contributions to those of their Attic contemporaries in attempts to legitimize and raise the importance of Sicily in comparison, rather than emphasizing the island as a cultural center in its own right.

This volume is part of a large body of scholarship on the complexity and multi-directionality of ancient Mediterranean cultural interaction. Some of the essays, particularly those by Ampolo and Spatafora, are more detailed than what one would normally expect to find in a museum catalogue. The intended audience seems more likely to be academic, rather than the casual museumgoer, and this volume would be beneficial to undergraduates and other scholars who want to engage with Classical and Hellenistic Sicily. It is a welcome addition to the study of the Hellenic cities on Sicily and certainly promotes that island’s place in, and its impact on, the wider Mediterranean.