The close relationship between the Dodecanese, the coast of Asia Minor and the wider eastern Mediterranean has been highlighted by the recent refugee crisis; the eastern Aegean islands have become the first port of call for those fleeing conflict and instability in the Middle East and beyond. This study of those same islands during the sometimes turbulent centuries of Late Antiquity emphasises their earlier role as key staging points in the movement of goods, people and ideas in the Mediterranean.

Rhodes was central to the eastern Aegean region throughout Late Antiquity, and the island's eponymous principal city formed the capital of the late Roman Province of the Islands, created under the Tetrarchic reorganisation of the provinces. In the sixth century AD, it became part of a larger grouping of five provinces administered by the quaestor exercitus based on the Black Sea. Until the early seventh century, the islands were largely immune from the instability that affected other parts of the Roman Mediterranean. Subsequently, however, they were on the front line of the Byzantine Empire's struggle against first the Persians and then the Arabs. From the latter part of the seventh century, the Aegean islands became key strongholds for the Byzantine navy.

The first part of Deligiannakis's narrative focuses on the Christianisation of the islands, reflecting the dominance of Christianity in the textual and archaeological evidence, as well as in modern scholarship on Late Antiquity. He argues that the eastern Aegean islands adopted Christianity earlier than others, and he raises interesting questions regarding the process of Christianisation in an island setting; maritime links enabled the new religion to spread, yet insularity simultaneously allowed pagan traditions to survive.

In common with much of the Mediterranean, the archaeological evidence for early Christianity is dominated by poorly excavated churches, with often doubtful chronologies based on stylistic analogy and occasional coin finds. Deligiannakis is rightly cautious about much of this evidence, although the long life of fourth- and fifth-century coins in much of the Mediterranean warranted further questioning of the earlier church dates (e.g. those at Pigadia on Karpathos discussed on pp. 189–92). The fate of the pagan sanctuaries, such as those of Athena at Lindos, and Hera on Samos, is dealt with in some detail, with epigraphic and other evidence suggesting survival until the late fourth century. Deligiannakis's own excavations at the sanctuary of Apollo and Heracles on Kos, however, suggest that cultic activity continued on a small, local scale into the early fifth century, after the cult buildings had fallen into disrepair, suggesting cultic persistence after use of these sites had ceased to be a normal aspect of elite behaviour. There is also interesting evidence of the conversion of temples into churches, including an inscription from Ikaria detailing a prophecy of Apollo that predicted the construction of a church dedicated to Mary. This section includes an interesting discussion of monasticism, including evidence from across Greece and the Balkans, in which Deligiannakis argues that, although traditionally very hard to detect archaeologically, monastic sites were present across the Aegean. He also reasonably suggests that occupation of some of the ‘islands of refuge’—the numerous tiny islets off the Greek coast that saw intensive use in Late Antiquity—may well be associated with monastic communities.

The book then embarks, with a slightly awkward jump that perhaps relates to its origins in a doctoral thesis, on a wider discussion of other aspects of Late Antique archaeology in the region. Deligiannakis presents a useful critical synthesis of a wide range of source material, interpretation of which has often previously depended on a chronological framework based on textually attested earthquakes (particularly that memorably described by Agathias as having devastated Kos in 554). Although this chapter, and the useful site gazetteer at the end of the book, would have benefited from clearer illustrations, particularly maps (which are inadequate throughout), the evidence presented underlines the rich potential of the region. Sites such as Palatia (Saria), Mesanagros (Rhodes) and Kardamaina (Kos) represent extraordinary palimpsests of Late Antique occupation with multiple churches, houses, tombs and, at the latter, evidence of amphora production. Some sites on smaller islands such as Kalymnos and Telendos also demonstrate activity in the late seventh and eighth centuries, based on coin and seal finds, suggesting significant occupation in a period that has often proved elusive in mainland Greece and elsewhere.

Blending ceramic and textual evidence, Deligiannakis argues that the Dodecanese were key stopping points on the eastern annona (state supply) route, a point reinforced by epigraphic sources recording the involvement of the islands in the provisioning of the lower Danube. Clearly, more detailed investigation of amphora production sites (such as that in the Apolakkia region of Rhodes) would advance understanding of this key aspect of maritime trade in Late Antiquity. He also suggests, in a mostly text-based analysis, that large, although fragmented, monetised estates constituted the dominant form of rural land exploitation in this period, similar to that which has been postulated for other eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

The eastern Aegean islands clearly have extraordinary potential to shed light on key aspects of the Late Antique Mediterranean. That this potential is not completely fulfilled by this important book is not Deligiannakis's fault; he does his best with often poor source material, and was clearly not helped by some elements of the Greek Archaeological Service, whose obscurantism can be glimpsed through some of the footnotes. Nonetheless, he has created a critical synthesis of the available data that will be of lasting value, and the reader is left with a clear sense of the research possibilities offered by this fascinating region.