The Theatre at Butrint: Luigi Maria Ugolini’s Excavations at Butrint 1928–1932 ed. by O.J. Gilkes (review)

378 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS and by divorcing such objects from their comparanda in metal (whether base or noble) at the same site, St. Clair has severely diminished the usefulness of her otherwise impressive study. (I suspect, however, that the constraints under which St. Clair operated were not her own but were study and publication restrictions placed on her from elsewhere.) In short, this reviewer is a firm supporter of classification primarily by function and not by material of manufacture. Of course, I understand that these are "fighting words" and that some of my colleagues might take exception to them. Nevertheless, given the close correspondence , say, between the decoration of bone, ivory, copper alloy, and (not so commonly found) silver "hairpins," I suspect that a fuller understanding of daily life in antiquity will only be approached by studying such objects in an inclusive fashion. Such quibbles (and all the others) aside, however, I repeat my declaration that Archer St. Clair's monograph is a most welcome addition to the growing number of specialist studies of minor objects from the ancient world. C.}. SIMPSON DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY WATERLOO, ON NzL 3CS O.J. GILKES, ed. The Theatre at Butrint: Luigi Maria Ugolini 's Excavations at Butrint 1928-I932. Albania Antica IV. London: The British School at Athens, 2003. Supplementary volume, 35. Pp. 271 ; 162 figures, 2 tables. ISBN 0-904887-448 . The primary purpose of Gilkes' volume is the presentation of Luigi Maria Ugolini's unpublished manuscript and photographs of the excavations in the theater at Butrint, which took place from 1928 to 1932. The book is produced in collaboration with the Butrint Foundation, the Museo della Civilta Romana in Rome, and the Instituti i Arkeologjise in Tirana. Research on the Butrint theater since 1998 has been supported by the Butrint Foundation, the Packard Humanities Institute, and the Drue Heinz Trust. The book, which includes a forward by Lord Rothschild , presents archival sources and Ugolini's manuscript, recently discovered in the Museo Civilta Romana in Rome, written in Italian and with English translations or summaries, and is amply illustrated. Five scholars in addition to Gilkes comment on various aspects of the theater . This study follows Albania Antica III (194Z), L'Acropoli eli Butrinto, on the shrine of Aesculapius/Asclepius. The present volume is but one BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 379 indication of significantly increased interest in the archaeology of ancient Albania in recent years. I The book is organized in two parts. Part I, on Luigi Maria Ugolini and the Italian Archaeological Mission to Albania, gives the historical background for Part 2, Ugolini's excavations in the theater at Butrint, which includes his text and discussions that update it. Oliver Gilkes relates the biography of Ugolini. who was born in Bertinoro in Romagna and studied at the University of Bologna and the University of Rome. Ugolini was influenced early in his career by Pericle Ducati and Roberto Paribeni. As director of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Albania, he first worked at Phoenice and began excavations at Butrint in 1928. Gilkes reviews the development of archaeology in Italy and the work of Giacomo Boni, Rodolfo Lanciani, and Ugolini (on Malta) to set Ugolinfs work at Butrint in context. He discusses the economic and political relations between Albania and Italy, using newspaper reports and letters that cite disagreements and suspicions between the two countries. Two statues from the theater, a cuirassed warrior and the torso once connected with the "Goddess of Butrint," were sent to Naples for display in the Albanian pavilion of the "Mostra d'Oltremare" in 1940 and appear to have been destroyed during World War II. Ugolini publicized his work at Butrint through many popular articles and lectures. Lida Miraj treats "Ugolini and Aeneas: The Story of the Excavation of the Theatre at Butrint." Butrint was viewed as the" new Troy," due to the passage in Virgil (Aeneid 3.346-51) in which Aeneas visits the Trojan Helenus, son of Priam and king of Butrint. Later followers in Aeneas' footsteps include Cyriac of Ancona (in 1418) and W.M. Leake (1835). Ugolini realized the importance of the well-preserved cavea and stage building, with its sculptures and...