Reviews

The first volume of the Panopolis Series began as a doctoral dissertation on Zosimos (Syracuse University, 2006). While some of the core material remains intact, much has been changed and expanded as Grimes's research has taken new directions over the intervening years. This current work, Becoming Gold, has benefitted from a wave of scholarship on Gr�co-Egyptian alchemy in the past decade, as well as an influx of studies on Roman Egypt from many different disciplines, including socio-economics, politics, religion, art history, and arch�ology. Exploring the Egyptian roots of Zosimos's life and work, Grimes concludes that ancient temple traditions of statue-making are absolutely critical for understanding Zosimos and the origins of alchemy.