This book (based on Péchoux's doctoral thesis) focuses exclusively on one category of Gallo-Roman ritual site: the suburban sanctuary. Only those sites located on the periphery of civitas capitals are considered. It is divided into two parts: a discussion section followed by a catalogue of 75 sites arranged alphabetically by civitas capital. The format of the catalogue, which includes basic chronological, topographical and archaeological details and plans of each site, is one that is familiar from other such studies, but the level of detail makes it a useful introduction to the sites. Architectural evidence, important finds and inscriptions are listed, with comprehensive references.

The volume provides useful comparative material for the sanctuaries around each civitas capital but its restriction to suburban sites means that it cannot provide a comprehensive overview of the town's religious life. However, this is not its aim, which is to address questions of the functions of and community served by this particular type of site. The focus on this category also cuts across the separation of ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ sanctuaries that persists in current scholarship (12).

P. is clear about the subjectivity involved in the selection of sites and the limitations in our knowledge of, for example, the extent of towns. A radius of within about 6 km outside the town is used to define a ‘suburban’ location. As different models of frequentation (from regular visits to occasional pilgrimage) are considered, this limit is perhaps arbitrary. Otherwise eligible sanctuaries that are clearly associated with villas or ‘small towns’ are excluded.

The study includes thoughtful discussion of the role of suburban sanctuaries in classical Greek and Roman contexts, demonstrating considerable differences in attitudes to the suburb. The conceptual demarcation of urban space deriving from the foundation ceremony of a Roman colony is given particular significance.

P. investigates commonly held assumptions about the reasons for locating sanctuaries on the periphery of towns (continuity of Iron Age sites or the exclusion of indigenous deities from civic religion). The rupture with the past that the creation of the civitas system represented is rightly emphasised and the idea of existing sanctuaries as influential in the foundation of new towns is dismissed, even where there is evidence of earlier occupation. In fact, the presence of a suburban sanctuary at a civitas capital is here seen as an index of Romanisation rather than a survival (53). The question of indigenous deities is more complex: it is not always possible to identify the ‘tutelary’ deity of a sanctuary (and what comes out of this analysis is the variety of deities invoked at such sites). The importance given to water deities at some sites is seen as one way of creating attachment to place for towns created ex nihilo (83).

The arguments P. presents instead are much more nuanced, considering each sanctuary in terms of the topographical, epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Although significance is still placed on temple ground-plans, she is aware of the limitations of this traditional approach to architecture, considering decoration, materials, use of space and an awareness of the way in which the architecture is integrated into the surrounding landscape. One consequence of the subtlety of the analysis is that it renders the category of the suburban sanctuary problematic. The narrative however seeks to maintain the validity of this category and the possibility of its further subdivision.

P.'s analysis of the relative chronology of civitas capitals and their sanctuaries is useful. She focuses on the role of the sites in the community, asking which communities they served and to what extent they were integrated into the urban network. In particular, some sanctuaries are seen as serving the civic population and others, in an ostensibly similar location, as looking outwards to the rural population. Another category of sites is identified as having importance on the level of the civitas rather than the town. Some were integrated into the wider road network and probably served travellers. Others are designated public cult centres, able to accommodate large numbers of people and serving a regional population. An attempt is also made to look at the spatial and chronological distribution of all sanctuaries in selected civitates.

Suburban sanctuaries are above all seen as places where communal identities are expressed and reinforced (on the level of, for example, a district within a town, the urban population or the wider region) in a way that would not be possible in the context of a forum temple dedicated to the imperial cult. This goes some way to explaining the existence of contemporary but spatially separate sanctuaries around some civitas capitals and the diversity of these sites. Overall, this book represents a considerable achievement in the bringing together of a large and disparate set of data about the sites and a thought-provoking study of their significance.