Reviewed by: Sicily: Culture and Conquest by Dirk Booms and Peter Higgs Aaron Moreno Dirk Booms and Peter Higgs, Sicily: Culture and Conquest( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2016) 288 pp., ill. With the recent publications of Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean (Sarah Davis-Secord, 2017) and Sicily: Culture and Conquest, the Cornell University Press has provided some well-deserved support for the island's pre-modern history as of late. These two books are complementary. While the former work is a very accessible textbook of the Byzantine through Norman eras, the latter—which is the focus of this review—was produced as a companion for the eponymous exhibit at the British Museum in 2016. By gathering artifacts from an impressive array of European institutions, the British Museum introduced the general public to Sicily's earliest history though the Swabian era. Thanks to the work of the institution's Dirk Booms (curator of ancient Greek sculpture and architecture) and Peter Higgs (curator of Roman Mediterranean archaeology and a specialist of Norman Sicily), the aforementioned show's unparalleled collection can now be fully appreciated by a broader audience. This volume is the most comprehensive history of Sicilian material culture available and is accompanied by a mostly well-thought overview of the island's political and cultural history. It is interspersed with 229 color illustrations of the exhibit's artifacts, along with photographs of the island and helpful figures. The Introduction to Sicily: Culture and Conquest alerts the reader to the author's overall interpretive bent: Sicily's periods of "enlightenment and prosperity" occurred when its rulers were based on the island, for it was during these times that the Trinacria's material culture was specifically Sicilian. During the "dark period," when the island was ruled from afar, local art was a mere version of the cultures emanating from the metropoles (19). Accordingly, Sicily's Roman, barbarian, Byzantine, and Muslim rule receives comparably less attention (and excitement) than the ancient Greek and especially Norman eras. Peter Higgs authors the first two chapters, which span the island's earliest known human history though the period of the Greek tyrants (ca 13,000 BCE– third century BCE). Although there are some wonderful excursi into [End Page 190] "indigenous" art and culture, the emphasis is solidly Greek. The most memorable discussions involve material culture that was uniquely Sicilian. It is quite likely that even specialists will find something of interest here. For example, the unique acrolithic technique of crafting sculptures from various materials and the Agrigentine origins of the telemon (Doric temple supports in the form of male figures) are well-explained and accompanied by numerous lovely photographs of such phenomena. At times, however, perhaps too much specialist knowledge is assumed. For example, Higgs's analysis of the "Warrior of Castiglione" (ca 600 BCE) conveys much enthusiasm about the artifact's hybrid style, yet he does not fully explain why he characterizes it as such. Dirk Booms authors the final three chapters of the book, the first of which examines the Roman through the Kalbid eras (third century BCE–mid-eleventh century CE). Despite the over-brief attention paid to this history, there are some gems to be found. The period of Roman rule witnessed the rise of the island's trilinguis association, as demonstrated by a first-century Greek-Latin bilingual shop sign clearly engraved by someone who spoke Phoenician as a first language. Some of the earliest triskeles depictions of Sicily are displayed, as well, as this symbol came to regularly represent Sicily during the Roman era. The volume could have shown one or two more illustrations of the famous third-century Great Hunt mosaic, however, rather than only including the example of bikini-clad women competing in an athletic competition. The brief period of Vandal and Ostrogothic rule is cursorily addressed (with no accompanying artifacts), and Booms then provides some dazzling examples of Byzantine jewelry found in several hordes. Excerpts of the Kalbid-era Palermo Quran and especially the Book of Curiosities are examined as well, as are a coupelle oil lamps and a lapwing ceramic bowl – which the author is sure to point out were uniquely Sicilian. The final two...