Slight in appearance, but in a large-page format and closely-printed text, this volume, which arises from a conference held at the University of Oxford in 2011, taps into a considerable amount of research on archaeological sites across the ancient Near East region, ongoing or recently undertaken by a number of international scholars and institutions. As somewhat weakly stated in the introduction by C., the purpose of the volume is ‘to better grasp … the ever-changing dynamic that continued steadily from the Hellenistic period into the Roman and Late Antique periods' (p. 1) in this vast region stretching from Syria to Egypt. She rightly argues that, in tracing this dynamic, monumental space serves as one of the strongest indicators of both subtle and sudden change, be it in the social, economic, cultural, or political sphere. With more than a century of exploration, Classical archaeology certainly has done its fair share in shedding light on the poleis of antiquity and their distinct monumentality, as is amply illustrated by the variety of excavated monuments discussed in this volume, ranging from theatres to agorai and their associated buildings, to temples, to sculpture.
In an ambitious opening paper (pp. 3–10), J. Ma sets a methodological and theoretical framework for the study of space in the Hellenistic period, ultimately urging for a holistic and ‘dynamic process of collaboration and discussion’ (p. 9) between scholars and research fields. He entertains a number of varied perspectives through which space, particularly Hellenistic urban space, can be understood. In the vein of influential social theories, including those by H. Lefebvre, D. Harvey and Y.-F. Tuan, Ma argues that by viewing space as the ‘product’ of conflict between different forces operating within a society, and place as the scene of social interaction, cultural exchange and lived human experiences, thus closely tied with local identity, ‘the three great themes of Hellenistic history: power, ethnicity and wealth’ can be explored (p. 6). He chooses the Classical and Hellenistic city-state of Priene to illustrate the application of these perspectives. While Ma's conceptual discussion of space and of the instruments that help to read it is stimulating, he does not explicitly engage with the question of change. Rather, he seems to favour continuity, as implied from the outset, when he proposes to look at ‘processes akin to the violence of destruction [of space], but as constant presences in what seem to be landscapes of continuity’ (p. 3).
The other six papers appear somewhat detached from the theoretical discourse elaborated by Ma, but these, nevertheless, offer a wealth of data to inform the volume's theme. In traditional fashion, most authors analyse the archaeological record in chronological order, some directly addressing the question of continuity and/or change, and others letting ‘the material lead the discussion’ (p. 1). When demolition is discerned in the archaeological record, however, it is mainly attributed to natural phenomena such as seismic events (particularly frequent in the fourth–fifth centuries a.d.), rather than seen as deliberate act of destruction.
In his lengthy paper (pp. 11–32), R. Rens discusses the agorai of seven cities in Hellenistic and Roman Pisidia, tracing architectural and cultural trends as reflected through their physical characteristics and functions. Rens convincingly argues that acculturation (in this case referring to the monumentalisation of city centres, a hallmark of Hellenistic and Roman urban cultures) should be viewed as a dialectic process between local cultures and larger interregional or imperial trends, and that in Pisidian agorai it is observed in the combined use of Anatolian (market buildings), Hellenistic (stoai and bouleuteria) and Roman (‘closed’ squares, porticoes) elements. He emphasises (perhaps too strongly) the role of local elites in the shaping of these agorai, viewing them as expressions of the taste and needs of the elite, and of their willingness to adapt, and suggests that they were in tune with the general trends in the wider Mediterranean context. In another contribution on public squares, G. Coqueugniot (pp. 71–81) deals with the agorai at Europos in Parapotamia (Dura-Europos, Syria) and Seleucia (Iraq), where she traces the intensive building development during the Parthian and Roman eras. Coqueugniot's discussion of Dura-Europos, first uncovered in the 1930s, and revisited by a Franco–Syrian Mission, exposes the challenges of reinterpreting historical excavations.
There are also papers that explore change and transformation in civic and religious life around theatre and temple complexes from the conquest of Alexander to the dawn of the Dark Ages (seventh–ninth centuries a.d.). C. Barker examines the theatre precinct at Nea Paphos in Cyprus (pp. 33–48), presenting preliminary results of the ongoing investigations by the Australian Archaeological Mission and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. Based on a diachronic analysis of the excavation findings, he reconstructs a narrative of change and adaptation of the city's huge theatre (and the associated urban quarter), from its construction around 300 b.c. to its destruction by the major earthquake of a.d. 365, and concludes with the evidence on the complete transformation of this public space into a quarry and industrial area by the eighth century, a widely attested phenomenon across the Mediterranean world at this time. Similarly, C. Bührig's well-illustrated study (pp. 83–100) discusses the continued transformation of the Theatre-Temple Area at Gadara in Jordan, based on investigations conducted by the German Archaeological Institute and National Museum in Berlin.
I. Csepregi looks at the Christianisation of the practice of incubation associated with pagan healing deities (pp. 49–57), particularly with Asclepius, and closely linked with place, i.e. the deities' cult sites. Her analysis of Early Christian scripture, including lives and miracles of local saints in the towns of Seleucia and Aegae in the region of ancient Cilicia, sheds light on the process and mechanisms through which the Church created its own healing saints. Her study highlights the fact that although destruction of pagan temples occurred, it was not frequent, and that the Christian Church came to realise fairly quickly that gradually adopting the practice of healing and adapting associated sites was a far more effective converting measure than abolishing it or actively destroying the temples where it was practised.
E. Brophy surveys the style and distribution of royal statues of known provenance in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (pp. 59–69). Aware of the skewed nature of the data, particularly owing to some regions (Alexandria and Lower Egypt) being far more excavated and researched than others, she nevertheless provides insightful observations on social and cultural regional differences as reflected in the choice of Egyptian, Greek, Roman or ‘mixed’ (Egyptian–Greek and Egyptian–Roman) sculpture styles. Her conclusion on the existence of links between sculptural style and site type, with Greek and Roman style statues deriving from metropoleis and Egyptian style statues from Egyptian temple sites, hints at a more ‘resistant’, traditionalist nature of the religious sphere, as opposed to the civic one, which appears more open and receptive to external influences.
The volume demonstrates effectively that change and transformation in the Greek (and Roman) Near East were constant, and that they were often the result of subtle interactive forces, and rarely of sudden deliberate destruction. In a short concluding section, K. proposes a series of valid questions as avenues for future research and remarks that the Near East ‘was and continues to be a hotspot of radical change which can be observed in the treatment (or mistreatment) of monumental space’ (p. 101). This is, to state the obvious, unfortunate, for we have recently witnessed unparalleled violent destruction of ancient archaeological sites in large parts of the Near East. It is in view of such unsparing, tragic ‘mistreatment’ of this region's heritage that its thorough analytical documentation through projects like those discussed in this volume provides/gains irreplaceable value.
