This bilingual book (English and modern Greek) represents a substantial contribution to archaeological research in Arcadia. Drawing on his long-term archaeological engagement with Arcadia, F. offers a comprehensive yet nuanced discussion of the ancient Mainalia. F. builds on current archaeological findings to create a work that is both rigorous and informative.

Functioning as an exemplary case study, the book illuminates how sustained archaeological engagement can deepen the knowledge of a specific region. Framed by a lucid preface and an insightful conclusion, the volume is divided into nine substantive chapters: ‘Research History’; ‘Tribal Topography’; ‘Towns and other Settlements’; ‘Sanctuaries’; ‘Farmers, Herdsmen and Merchants’; ‘Craftsmen and Artists’; ‘Athletes and Games’; ‘Mercenaries’; ‘Fading Away’. In an accessible and informative way the chapter on ‘Research History’, for instance, smoothly introduces readers to the volume’s main topic.

Based on the latest archaeological research, the book is both well researched and highly accessible. It not only sheds light on neglected evidence but also clarifies and corrects past scholarship. The following remarks will draw attention to some of the book’s key findings. First, the entire area of Mainalia, which in some way belongs to the present-day municipality of Tripoli and perhaps part of the municipality of Megalopolis, is identified with the territory of the ancient Mainalians. Ancient Mainalia consisted of many small independent cities, which, at the end of the sixth century bce, cooperated in a kind of koinon, i.e. constituting a separate political entity. Second, the ancient Μt Mainalo has now been securely identified with the Mt of Profitis Ilias (p. 32). This is the core of the book and the point around which its argument is organised. This central argument relies on the long-term experience of F. with the area, in particularly with the site of Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai, a place that has been excavated under his directorship. As F. explains, it was the ancient altar near Agia Paraskevi (p. 63) that settled the question: the discovery of the inscribed roof tiles pointed directly to the shrine of Artemis Lykoatis – just as Pausanias recounts (8.36.7). In antiquity this mountain was regarded as the sacred seat of the god Pan and as the burial place of Arkas, the ancestral hero of the Arcadians. In a sense Mt Mainalo represented the territorial identity of all the Arcadians. The delineation of the region becomes clearer, since the mountain functions as the guiding landmark. With this groundbreaking find, earlier theories – built on older readings (e.g. W.M. Leake’s identification of the ancient Mainalon with Apano Chrepa) – are no longer valid. Further, the discussion in the chapter ‘Sanctuaries’ brings into view evidence that tends to receive limited attention, such as that ‘the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods’ remains unlocalised. One item that needs to be treated with caution is the comparative discussion of population density (p. 57) between the classical period and the nineteenth century ce.

F. provides a vivid picture of the sanctuaries of Arcadia. In the account of the temple of Athena above the temple of Agios Elias, of which only the foundations survive, F. underlines its importance and the scale implied by the import of marble from the stone quarries of Doliana, a remote village. He concludes that a peak sanctuary is unlikely to have been the work of just one small community; rather, it reveals cooperation among the Mainalians and local-level coordination already in the early Archaic period. This building project must have been a special one for the ancient local community. As F. emphasises, this is further evidenced by the Doric capital, an exact replica – at reduced scale – of that in the late archaic Temple of Apollo at the Panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi (p. 60). Other well-researched and informative chapters are ‘Craftsmen and Artists’ and ‘Athletes and Games’.

The volume is well produced, and it includes archaeological drawings and abundant colour and black-and-white images of very high quality. These media help readers visualise the archaeological material and its context. From an epigraphic perspective there is mention of an important epigraphic decree (p. 31), dated to the first half of the fourth century bce, which was found in secondary use in a Roman bath at Mantineia. Its discussion would have benefited from a photograph alongside the transcription of the inscription.

One limitation, recurring throughout the book, is the inconsistent translation of the English word ‘tribe’ into modern Greek. To give a few examples, the English phrase ‘The Arcadian Tribe’ (on the cover page of the book) is translated into modern Greek as ‘Αρκαδικού Έθνους’. Inside the book, the phrase ‘the Mainalian tribe’ (p. 46) is translated as ‘Η Μαινάλια’ (p. 47), whereas the more accurate translation would have been ‘H φυλή των Μαιναλίων’, based on the epigraphic attestation of the phrase ‘φυλὴ Μαιναλίων’ on the proedria blocks of the theatre of Megalopolis (IG V.2 452). Nevertheless, these linguistic infelicities do not detract from the comprehensibility of the text.

This book is geared to the needs of experts as well as students of Greek archaeology, who will surely appreciate the quality of knowledge condensed into concise and informative chapters. At the same time it is written in a manner accessible to a general readership, without sacrificing scholarly rigour. For both intended audience groups a set of drawings as well as the black-and-white and colour illustrations add to the accessibility of the text. Also, each chapter works relatively well when considered independently. F.’s book advances a new reading of the ancient Mainalia by presenting a wealth of archaeological data and insights in an accessible manner, based on the most recent archaeological evidence.