Zahra Newby is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. Her research focuses on how Greek culture was experienced and adapted in the period of the Roman Empire, explored through the lens of material culture. She has published books and articles on ancient athletics, festivals and mythology in Roman art, including a monograph on Greek Athletics in the Roman World: Victory and Virtue (2005). She was Principal Investigator of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Materiality and Meaning in Greek Festival Culture of the Roman Imperial Period (2017-2021).

• Contributors List of Figures Abbreviations 1: Zahra Newby: Introduction: The Material Worlds of Ancient Festivals 2: Sebastian Scharff: Establishing a Channel of Communication: Roman Emperors and the Self-presentation of Greek Athletes in the Roman East 3: Rocío Gordillo Hervás: Agonistic Legislation in Hadrian's Time 4: Dario Calomino: Greek Festival Culture and 'Political' Games at Nikaia in Bithynia 5: Mairi Gkikaki: Tokens from Roman Imperial Athens: The Power of Cultural Memory 6: Zahra Newby: Festivals and the Performance of Community and Status in the Theatres at Hierapolis and Perge 7: Naomi Carless Unwin: An Epigraphic Stage: Inscriptions and the Moulding of Festival Space at Aphrodisias 8: Paul Grigsby: The Artists of Dionysos and the Festivals of Boiotia 9: Christina G. Williamson: Sacred Circles. Enclosed Sanctuaries and their Festival Communities in the Hellenistic World 10: Angelos Chaniotis: The Materiality of Light in Religious Celebrations and Rituals in the Roman East 11: Zahra Newby: Conclusions and Future Directions

This interesting volume follows in the footsteps of several other interesting books that have refreshed ancient Greek and Roman history by placing material evidence at the centre.