Letter from the Editor, Daisy Dunn

These variants have really given Greek a bad name. Curse Delta! Curse Omicron! On the one hand, we should be pleased that many more people are now familiar with the Greek alphabet. On the other, the ostensible omission of letters – what ever happened to Xi? – is hardly helpful for those who seek to extract some educational benefit from the mutation of the virus.

If, by some miracle, this alphabet cuts off before the end, Greek learners can celebrate by carrying on down to Omega much more pleasurably through the pages of The Cambridge Greek Lexicon. As Editor‐in‐Chief James Diggle explains on p. 5, the new two‐volume edition was 23 years in the making, and differs from its predecessor, Liddell and Scott, in a number of significant ways. It is certainly refreshing to find editors prepared to call a spade a spade – and, for that matter, to employ the f‐word where necessary. (Continue reading)

Contents

ANCIENT

James Diggle overhauls our comprehension of Greek vocabulary
Altan Mardin joins the Sardis Expedition team – and interviews its director Nicholas Cahill
Paul Cartledge picks holes in the myth of Sparta’s austerity
Zenia Duell explains why the excavation of Qaryat al Faw in Saudi Arabia has been so important to the history of classical archaeology
Max Cheung examines Thucydides’ description of the plague that ravaged Athens

SOCIETY

Fiona Haarer explores the foundation of the Cyprus and Cretan Exploration Funds
Fiona Haarer looks back on recent activities and features some news on our grants programme and library
Julian Morgan’s Puzzles

MODERN

Alice Dunn on the Greek PM’s redecoration
Anthony Skordi on playing Aristotle Onassis
Joshua Barley considers past successes and failures in rendering Greek folk songs in English
John Mole weighs up the contenders for the mysterious dancers of the Tower of the Winds
Diana Bentley explores Apollo’s sacred island in the course of ten hours
Paul Watkins remembers last autumn’s BSA tour of Central Greece
Thomas W. Hodgkinson shares snapshots of the Corfu Town he knows and loves

BOOKS

A round-up of recent and forthcoming books
Paul Cartledge on Cyclops by Mercedes Aguirre and Richard Buxton
Tomos Evans on In Search of the Argonauts by Helen Lovatt
J. W. Bonner on Hearing Homer’s Song by Robert Kanigel
Leonie Breeds on Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
J. W. Bonner on A Thing of Beauty by Peter Fiennes