Gods and Robots

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 371 For example, attentive and exhaustive reading of the poems reveals that the gods sometimes appear to live on a mountain and sometimes in the sky. Since Homer is assumed to be internally consistent, some explanation is required, and this requirement motivates a striking point in Aristarchus’ view of Homeric cosmology: Homer’s Olympus is a very tall mountain reaching above the clouds into the aether or heaven (324–329). Aristarchus took little interest in how ideas like this mapped onto any reality outside the poem (how high was the mountain “really”?): his interest was in clarifying the world within the poem. Interestingly, he did consider Homer’s Olympus to have a specific geographical location (in Macedonia), but for reasons internal to the poems. Aristarchus is perhaps best known today for his use of the obelus to mark lines as suspect (“athetesis”). The art of athetesis comes up throughout the book, but especially in the chapter devoted to the judgement of poems. Schironi shows that Aristarchus regarded athetesis as a last resort, preferring to solve problems in other ways, and that even when he opted for athetesis he sometimes offered an alternative solution as well—to show that he was not just taking the easy way out because he was stuck (536). In Part 4 (“Aristarchus and His Colleagues”), Schironi considers Aristarchus’ views of other scholars; she shows how he judged them by the same standards as he set himself, and thought that Zenodotus in particular came up short. Part 5 (“Aristarchus’ Homer”) addresses Aristarchus’ views on four broader questions: the overall character of Homer’s language; the relationship between the Iliad and the Odyssey; the relationship between Homer and later poets; and Homeric characters and characterisation. Schironi notes from time to time that as modern scholars we might approach a problem differently (on the home of the gods, for example, we might see different traditions coexisting), but she resists the temptation to judge Aristarchus by modern standards. On the other hand, she brings out well some dangers inherent to his methods that he hints at himself, with his worries about taking easy ways out. The result is a welcome treatment of Aristarchus on his own terms, showing what he was trying to achieve and how he went about it. Schironi is to be congratulated on a massive scholarly achievement and thanked for making the subject so accessible. Wolfson College, Oxford Philomen Probert Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology. By Adrienne Mayor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 2018. Pp. 304. Adrienne Mayor's latest venture into the popularization of science-tinged GrecoRoman history takes her into the territory of ancient tales of artificial humans, rejuvenation treatments, and other adventures in what Mayor terms biotechnē, as well as modern analogues from cloning to military exosuits. Her tour through ancient stories of lifeforms “made, not born” revolves around the principal figures of the bronze man Talos, Medea, Daedalus, Hephaestus, and Pandora, but touches as well on tales from India and China. Drawing on a rich store of material and literary evidence, she crafts a narrative of ancient “dreams” about artificial life set against modern achievements that will no doubt appeal to a broad readership. The book consists of nine chapters and an epilogue, accompanied by explanatory notes and a glossary. Mayor begins with the story of Talos: his construction by Hephaestus, his deployment as guardian of Crete’s shores, and his demise at Medea’s hands. Medea takes 372 PHOENIX us into the next chapter, where Mayor compares her rejuvenation of Aeson and use of a lamb and a ram to trick Pelias to his death to recent experiments in cloning sheep. The theme of rejuvenation carries over to the third chapter, which treats a selection of ancient myths speaking to the blessings and curses of immortality. These include familiar Greek favorites like the tale of Tithonus as well as Chinese and Mesopotamian stories, and are compared to more recent tales of vampires and (perhaps equally fantastical) contemporary speculation about anti-aging technologies. The fourth chapter takes in a more diffuse group of themes on enhancements to human power such as the Daedalean wings

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