Kov獺cs (archaeology, P獺zm獺ny P矇ter Catholic University) thoroughly examines the perplexities surrounding the "rain miracle" that occurred during the Marcomannic Wars under the emperor Marcus
Aurelius. In this miracle, or perhaps two different ones, the Romans, out of water, were saved by a providential rain. The opposing army was attacked by thunderbolts. Christian writers,
starting with Tertullian, attributed this to the prayers of Christian soldiers. Pagans debated which god answered the prayers of the emperor. Kov獺cs traces the sources of the story and the
scholarship surrounding it as well as epigraphic evidence and the scenes on the Marcus Aurelius column. He uses his research to help fix the date of the miracle thus establishing a chronology
for the war years. The scholarship is excellent but the English translation is somewhat stilted with non-English constructions that hamper reading. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland,
OR (booknews.com)
