R.’s book marks a significant moment in the study of Early Christianity, Late Antiquity and Hagiography, producing the new authoritative collection of early Christian narratives about martyrs in English, nearly half a century after H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (1972), was first published.

R. starts with an introduction, followed by the Greek and Latin texts about the martyrs with facing-page annotated English translation. The narrative(s) about each martyr or group of martyrs is preceded by an introductory section containing information about the relevant hagiographical dossier, the different Greek and/or Latin texts that relate the story of the martyr(s) (for exceptions to this pattern, see below). The book is rounded off by a bibliography, a general index and an index of ancient sources.

In the first part of the introduction (pp. 2–14) R. offers an overview of collections of martyr narratives, from Eusebius of Caesarea's lost collection through to T. Ruinart and his Nachleben. In this overview, R. surveys the diverse criteria that have been adopted for compiling collections of martyr narratives throughout this long period. R. then sheds some sceptical light on the notion of authenticity, a feature that has often been used as a principle for inclusion in the compilation of martyr narrative collections (pp. 14–21). R. argues against the traditional notion that the authenticity of a martyr narrative can be measured against a model text written at or close to the time that the martyrdom took place by someone who was present or someone who based his account on the trial proceedings. The evidence indicates that the practice of using court records for the composition of martyr narratives does not apply to ancient martyrs (i.e. according to the criteria set in this collection, martyrs executed before 260, see below), but dates from the beginning of the fifth century.

Against this backdrop, R. sets the criteria for inclusion in the present collection (pp. 21–2). First, R. includes only ‘isolated, or stand-alone narratives’ about early Christian martyrs, thus excluding accounts that form part of other genres and literary traditions such as historiographical works, sermons and poems. Furthermore, R. includes narratives about martyrs executed before 260 ce as, first, after this point trial records become available and, second, because by 300 there emerges a ‘genre that both authors and readers identify as martyr narrative’. R. focuses on the ‘ancient martyrs’ before this genre became identifiable. In order to select narratives about the ancient martyrs, the ‘objective’ criterion that R. uses is to include martyrs about whom external evidence attests the existence of a narrative. This external attestation is provided by Eusebius or Augustine. Further, ‘if a martyr narrative was known to Eusebius and Augustine’, R. considers ‘all extant narratives associated with the martyr in question and include[s] any that were likely composed before the middle of the fifth century’ (p. 27). This accounts for the inclusion of the narrative about Montanus, Lucius and their companions (pp. 268–93), as scholarship generally dates it to the first half of the fourth century (p. 266). However, R. does not ‘include texts that are undoubtedly written after the fifth century or texts that represent a tradition other than the one known to Eusebius and Augustine and for which there is no terminus ante quem’ (p. 27). This accounts for the absence of a text for Apollonius, although an introductory section is given (p. 31). In accordance with R.’s criteria, the present collection contains fifteen narratives about the following martyrs: Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice; Pionius of Smyrna; Polycarp of Smyrna; the martyrs of Lyon and Vienne; Marian and James; Cyprian of Carthage; Fructuosus of Tarragona and his companions; Montanus, Lucius and their companions; Perpetua, Felicity and their companions; and the Scilitan martyrs.

R.’s translations are faithful to the original text and can be read and appreciated in their own right. R. often supplies the name of a character, which in the original text is rendered through a pronoun, in order to avoid ambiguity (e.g. pp. 282–3, where ille is rendered as Montanus in the translation). In addition, his translation frequently improves on earlier renderings of a passage at points where the meaning is elusive. For example, on pp. 62–3, where the translation of the word paideia as ‘discipline’ (following L. Robert 1994) in the respective context from the narrative about Pionius fits well and is certainly preferable to Musurillo's ‘punishment’.

The translations are accompanied by annotations that provide useful information about variants (followed by their respective translations), parallel texts and explanation of the administrative apparatus mentioned in the text. Thus R. makes the present study easily accessible to students and a wider audience more generally: it will surely be valuable for undergraduate courses. Although some of the narratives included have recent English translations together with a commentary (see e.g. T.J. Heffernan 2012 for Perpetua and P. Hartog 2013 for Polycarp), there are obvious advantages in having such a variety of early martyr narratives in one volume.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, R.’s book is the first collection of early Christian narratives about martyrs in English since the long criticised Musurillo. The aemulatio with Musurillo's collection is advertised on the first page of R.’s work, who states about his collection that ‘Conceived and commissioned originally as a “new Musurillo,” this project quickly evolved into something quite different’. The quality of R.’s translations and the fact that he has taken into account developments in scholarship will undoubtedly make this collection an excellent replacement for Musurillo for the cases in which the texts included in both collections overlap. However, Musurillo's collection will not be rendered useless, as R.’s criteria (see above) leave out many martyr narratives included in Musurillo. That notwithstanding, the scholarly and literary qualities of R.’s collection make it an indispensable reference work.