MUSICIANS IN ANCIENT COROPLASTIC ART: Musicians in Ancient Coroplastic Art. Iconography, Ritual Contexts, and Functions. (Telestes 2.) Pp. 216, ills. Pisa and Rome: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2016. Paper, €48. ISBN: 978-88-8147-458-5 .

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Bellia (A.), Marconi (C.) (edd.) Musicians in Ancient Coroplastic Art. Iconography, Ritual Contexts, and Functions. (Telestes 2.) Pp. 216, ills. Pisa and Rome: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2016. Paper, €48. ISBN: 978-88-8147-458-5.

This volume, the second in the TELESTES Series (Studi e ricerche di archeologia musicale nel Mediterraneo) initiated by Bellia, presents the papers of a conference on archaeomusicology held in 2015 at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. Both editors are well known at international level for their research topics related to ‘archeologia musicale’ (German Musikarchäologie), while Bellia has a particular interest in coroplastics depicting musical instruments and musicians from Sicily and Magna Graecia.

The thirteen contributions, together with the introduction by Marconi and the afterword by Bellia, are in English. The volume benefits from a list of abbreviations as well as indexes (of places and subjects). The wide geographical range of the discussed finds covers mainly the ancient Mediterranean landscapes, but also the Near East and Peru. Chronologically the focus is on the first millennium bc, with very few exceptions. It is pointed out that the selection was rather circumstantial and not intentional (p. 9). Iconography, ritual contexts and functions of the ancient coroplastics are mentioned as the foci of the general discussion, both in the volume's title and in the introduction (pp. 17–21).

The first two contributions, dedicated to the Near East, deal with examples of unclear meaning, function and archaeological provenance. R. Pruzsinszky focuses on terracotta plaques of the Old Babylonian period, the peak of clay production, and on musical scenes showing monkeys in musical contexts. Based on iconography and relevant literary sources, Pruzsinszky considers that the ambiguous figure of the monkey can be understood both as a reflection of humanity (‘Menschenbild’) and as an indicator of the lower social status of some musicians. The subsequent contribution by A. Caubet concentrates on a group of middle Elamite figurines depicting a male lute-player, presenting unnatural features and some traits of dwarfism. The conclusion is that the depicted was a dancing supra-human, a magical identity. Dance linked the lute-player to higher beings, and the figurines might have worked as intermediaries between the humans and the gods.

The main part of the volume concerns the areas around...