For E.-E. the ‘kingdom of Priam’ is shorthand for the region encompassing the Troad, Lesbos and northern Aeolis – a region that was (and indeed still is) bound together by complex and overlapping networks of interaction. It is these interactions that are the primary focus of the book, in line with E.-E.'s vision of regions being defined more by ‘networks of relationships’ than by physical geography (p. 8). As a result, this book makes no attempt to provide an overarching history of the region – rather, it presents us with a rich and wide-ranging set of case studies illustrating the regional activities, structures and identities that operated in this area between the seventh century bce and the first century ce.
Developed from a 2013 doctoral dissertation, this is a book of two halves. The first three chapters focus on the Troad, with Chapter 1 considering the city of Ilion during the Hellenistic period. It begins with a critical analysis of how Strabo sought to undermine the city's Homeric heritage, citing Strabo's selective use of the available source material. It moves on to explore the regional economic networks that can be inferred from the coins minted at Ilion between the fourth and the first centuries bce. These economic networks seemed to have reached northwards and spanned the wider Dardanelles area, challenging our expectations about regional unity within the Troad. The chapter ends by pointing out that a slightly different economic network was implicated in the workings of the koinon of Athena Ilias and that this koinon served as a venue for regional rivalries and competition as well as for collaboration. This chapter establishes from the outset some of the key strengths of the book: its interdisciplinarity, moving fluently between literary, numismatic and epigraphic sources; its emphasis on economic history, an under-exploited area that has often been neglected by more culturally-focused scholars (myself included); and the high quality of its scholarship, in particular in relation to numismatic studies. These three strands can be found woven throughout the other chapters of the book.
Chapter 2 is a colourful ethnohistory of Mt Ida, establishing it as an imagined space of wilderness and epiphany over a broad span of time from Catullus’ poem 63 to folktales of the nineteenth century. This imagined remoteness, E.-E. points out, stands in stark contrast to the evidence for Mt Ida's economic integration with the more densely-populated coastal areas. Using sources as diverse as Theophrastus and the writings from Ottoman-period travellers, E.-E. identifies the production of pitch and the exploitation of timber as two key activities that would have promoted this integration. This chapter is an enjoyable romp both through the forests of Mt Ida and through centuries of history; but it would have benefited from a greater sense of chronological specificity as well as more methodological discussion to frame its use of ethnographic and comparative historical material.
Chapter 3 turns to another inland region, the Middle Scamander valley, and argues that this may have been the location of large-scale, state-imposed horse husbandry during the Achaemenid period. The argument is plausible and attractive, although based on a limited amount of evidence. This includes the questionable cavalry numbers reported by Arrian and Diodorus for a local satrap centuries after the fact, as well as descriptions in the Iliad and Nicander that suggest the suitability of this area for horse-rearing. A stronger argument might have been built from closer engagement with scholarship on Achaemenid provincial administration, making use of Achaemenid documentary sources. Particularly helpful would have been evidence for administrative networks centred on the nearby satrapal capital of Daskyleion, where significant numbers of clay bullae bear cavalry designs. While speculative in its central argument, this chapter nonetheless opens up a valuable intellectual space, stimulating the reader to think more deeply about inland areas, pastoral economies and forms of regional integration that may have been unwelcome or even actively resisted by the local population.
In the second half of the book E.-E. shifts his focus from the Troad to the island of Lesbos. Chapter 4 is concerned with the Lesbian city of Mytilene and its territories on the mainland, conventionally referred to as its peraia. The chapter turns on a single moment in time – the punishment of Mytilene for its revolt against Athens in 427 bce. E.-E. argues, based primarily on the Athenian tribute lists, that this involved the transformation of the previously-dependent communities of the Mytilenean peraia into independent poleis. Yet after this transformation, E.-E. suggests, these communities continued to operate within Mytilene-dominated economic networks, as indicated by the choice to mint coins on a Mytilenean standard in the period after 427 bce. It would have been interesting to set this numismatic data against a broader range of evidence for economic activity – for example, the circulation of Lesbian and Mytilenean amphorae. Nonetheless, in this chapter E.-E. elegantly demonstrates how networks of interaction operated on both the island and the mainland, undercutting modern expectations of insularity.
Insularity is reassessed from the opposite angle in Chapter 5, which discusses the Hellenistic refoundation of the Lesbian koinon. E.-E. argues that this did not imply movement towards a single, island-wide state. The internal structures of the koinon, including the provision for isopoliteia, suggest the maintenance rather than the blurring of polis distinctions; and signs of a collective island identity (e.g. the common sanctuary at Messon and the existence of collective foundation myths) are balanced by evidence for continued polis identities (e.g. independent traditions in numismatic iconography). E.-E. concludes that the Hellenistic koinon of the Lesbians was, like that of Athena Ilias discussed in Chapter 1, more about inter-state interactions than super-state structures. The emergence of these neighbouring koine in the same period, operating in similar ways and fulfilling similar regional functions, is intriguing. It would perhaps have been interesting to reflect on the historical specificity of these developments as well as the broader trend across the Aegean and Asia Minor (e.g. the Ionian koinon, the koinon ton nesioton) for such leagues as mediating structures between the micro-scale of the polis on the one hand and the super-scale of the Hellenistic empires on the other.
E.-E. brings us back to the Mytilenean peraia for the final chapter, this time during the Roman period. He builds an elegant and convincing case for a shift in regional identities in the first century bce. Whereas previously Mytilene's networks had been oriented northwards in the Troad, E.-E. now identifies a dramatic shift in orientation southwards towards Aeolis. Mytilene, he argues, embarked on a campaign to represent itself as the metropolis of the Aeolians through cultic and mythic means, doing so at precisely the time when it was engaged in a bitter legal dispute over the expansion of its peraia territories into Aeolia.
E.-E. has produced an erudite and elegant book that deserves to be widely read. Any readers expecting theoretical insights into the nature of regionalism, federalism or collective identities in the Greek world will be disappointed. So too will those looking for a comprehensive history of the region. But these readers would be missing the point. E.-E.'s approach is to offer his readers a thought-provoking collection of case studies – a mouth-watering, lip-smacking smorgasbord of tasty vignettes, designed to get the intellectual juices flowing. Production is of a good standard, but the index could be more comprehensive.
