BMCR 2008.11.15 Wine, Worship, and Sacrifice: the Golden Graves of Ancient Vani D. D. (Daredzhan Davidovna) Kacharava, G. T. (Guram Tengizovich) Kvirkvelii ︠ a ︡ , Jennifer Chi, Wine, worship, and sacrifice : the golden graves of ancient Vani. Princeton: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, in association with Princeton University Press, 2008. 215 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 28 cm. ISBN 9780691138565 Review by Eleni Konstantinidi-Syvridi, National Archaeological Muse um, Athens. ekonstant09@gmail.com [Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.] “Wine, Worship and Sacrifice”, a publication presented in the frame of the homonymous temporary exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, is much more than an exhibition catalogue. It is the long awaited publication of the archaeology of ancient “rich in gold” Colchis and the extraordinary finds of the city of Vani, a most important centre with a life span from the 8th to the 1st centuries BC. The catalogue is the first comprehensive English-language publication about ancient Colchis and Vani. Beautifully illustrated, it succeeds in giving a complete picture of the archaeology of a culture in which we can trace the roots of ancient jewellery techniques and viticulture. The authors themselves, Kacharava and Kvirkvelia, are senior researchers at the National Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the rest of the contributors are all experts in Black Sea archaeology. The book starts with introductory letters by the Directors of the organizing institutes. The main core is divided into seven chapters, focusing on the history of ancient Colchis and especially the city of Vani, as well as the importance of metalwork and wine-making, as two of the major driving forces contributing to its development. The first chapter deals with the myth of the Argonauts and seeks its traces in history. The tale of Jason’s voyage with the Argonauts from Iolc us in Thessaly in search of the Golden Fleece finds its historical base in the importance of ancient Colchis’ mines of gold, silver, iron and copper. Mines and metallurgical centres have indeed come to light in Georgia, dated from the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, contemporary with the Mycenaean period when the importance of the Black Sea to the Greeks is first recorded. Discoveries at Troy support the hypothesis that the Trojan War itself took place for the control of the Black Sea. After all, the participants of the Trojan war were the sons of the Argonauts as mentioned in Homer: they were the first to