S.'s edition of Megasthenes’ Indica is a very welcome addition to the scholarly material on this text. The book provides a new translation and commentary on the fragments of the Indica. It is part of a Routledge series that provides translations of texts that ‘are relevant for the study of the classical world but which remain inaccessible’. S.'s work fulfils this brief well. Until the publication of the new edition, we have been reliant on some rather dated works when researching Megasthenes or teaching on his work. A collection of the Greek fragments was produced by E.A. Schwanbeck in 1846, which included a broad range of fragments that might have referred to parts of the Indica; in 1958 F. Jacoby attributed a more limited number of fragments to Megasthenes. An English translation of the fragments was produced by J.W. McCrindle in 1877. The dates of these publications demonstrate the need for a more up-to-date set of materials. I suspect there has been a lack of urgency in developing new work on this text as a result of the perception of the Indica as an ethnographic text with little value because it includes quite a few fantastical elements. In this respect it has received the same sort of criticism levelled at Herodotus and the earlier Indica written by Ctesias. However, as has been demonstrated by S.'s work, Megasthenes provides us with a fascinating look at Greek perceptions of India, and what this tells us about both ancient India and contemporary Greek ideas.

A significant effort has been put into making sure this volume is as usable as possible. Each fragment has been given a clear title that reflects the subject of the text, and these titles are given in full in the table of contents, making it easy to find the relevant sections of the text. There is a detailed index and a broad bibliography. There is also a concordance early in the book, which lays out the fragments as numbered by Stoneman, Jacoby and Schwanbeck, making the use of the fragments substantially more accessible (although some minor formatting issues could make the table easier to read). Additionally, in the body of the text, the fragments are provided with the fragment numbers given by each of these scholars, allowing easy cross-referencing between the different editions. The inclusion of maps with both ancient and modern place names allows the locations referenced in the text to be situated in a tangible way by modern readers. The only significant thing that would make the book more useful as a reference text would be the inclusion of the Greek and Latin text of the fragments in addition to the translations. However, this is a result of the format of the book series and the publisher's choices, rather than that of the author.

The introduction provides a good deal of contextual material. There is a significant section on the structure S. has given to the fragments based on his reading of the ancient evidence, and on his justification for his choice of fragments. His policy of including as many fragments as possible, with discussion of the issues relating to the more tenuous ones, is beneficial for a book that is aiming to provide a key reference text for the author. There is also some information on working with fragments, which would be especially useful for undergraduates who are less familiar with this type of source. The introduction also includes a substantial amount of discussion on Megasthenes’ predecessors and the use of his work by later authors, situating the text within the historical and ethnographic traditions, and on Greek writings about India. S. particularly emphasises the impact that Megasthenes had on later Greek and Roman ideas about India, giving details of Greek and Latin texts up to the third century ce that were impacted by his work.

The translations are clear and readable, while effectively reflecting the qualities of the Greek and Latin texts. The modern style of the English feels much more natural than the, now very dated, work of McCrindle. The commentary, which is underpinned by S.'s research for his previous book, The Greek Experience of India (2019), focuses on placing the material in its cultural context and scholarly discourse, rather than on linguistic details. S. has taken the practical stance of not assuming that readers have diligently read through the introduction and ensures that the important points are also available at relevant places within the commentary, adding to its usefulness when setting reading for a class.

The particular strength of the commentary is S.'s knowledge of the ancient Indian sources. As part of the Routledge Classical Translation series, the book is clearly aimed at academics working primarily on the ancient Mediterranean. However, the commentary consistently addresses the connections between Megasthenes’ text and ancient Indian sources, the Indian cultural context and possible connections between the Greek text and Indian linguistic elements. For readers not familiar with the relevant Indian history and literature, this helps illuminate areas of the text that would otherwise be inaccessible for those coming to the work with a primary knowledge of Greek and Roman sources.

There is one area that could have been more fully addressed. In addition to discussing the way in which Megasthenes’ text relates to earlier and later sources in terms of the transmission of the content, S. notes the generic context of the work and the complexities of treating ancient sources as ethnographies. However, despite the constraints of space, more could have been said on how far we can use the fragments of the Indica as historical or ethnographic evidence. There could have been more direct recognition of the fact that the Indica is not purely a record of things seen and heard in India, but is also shaped by literary precedents in terms of its content. This is noted in some parts of the commentary; for example, there are references to Homer within the section on the Pygmies’ inclusion among the ‘monstrous races’. But the introduction appears to present the text as an account from a writer attempting to record faithfully what he saw and heard, even if he did not understand the society he was observing enough to be completely accurate. Indeed, in the section on Megasthenes’ reliability, S. states that ‘Megasthenes needs to be treated as a responsible witness’ (p. 11). Megasthenes is absolved of the inclusion of more fantastical elements in the Indica by the suggestion that much of his material probably came from Brahmans (pp. 8–9) and that his information is the result of both autopsy and informants. I believe Megasthenes’ work could have been placed more fully within the discourse about genre and authenticity that exists around Megasthenes and his predecessors, Herodotus and Ctesias.

I was very glad to see the publication of this book. The dated nature of the previously available sources signalled a strong need for such a work. Not only does it make the research of Megasthenes easier for those of us with a particular interest in the Indica, but it makes the text significantly more accessible for researchers who are less singularly focused on this author. Additionally, it makes it much easier to include Megasthenes’ work within teaching materials. As a result of this, the book has the potential to expand the number of people reading and working on the Indica.