Originating as a Hans Lietzmann lecture delivered in 2012, this compact volume offers a long-awaited and much-needed re-evaluation of the archaeological history of the city of Antioch in its late antique phase. While its brevity – and Brands himself describes the volume as an introduction – means that it cannot completely replace Glanville Downey's now dated and sometimes erroneous account (A history of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab conquest, 1961), in many respects it supersedes Downey as the best starting point for any scholar interested in the city. This is in large part due to a fresh geodetic and archaeological survey of the city, which Brands conducted from 2004 to 2009 in conjunction with Hatice Pamir from Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya, and to phase two of the Orontes Delta Archaeological Survey which Hatice Pamir and her team initiated in 2003 and which is still in progress. Phase two focuses on both Antioch and its port city, Seleucia Pieria, and includes a significant, small-scale rescue excavation conducted in 2010 on the site of a new hotel located in the heart of the Hellenistic city. Parallel to that project is Brands's own interest in renewing analysis of the finds and records from the twentieth-century excavations (1932–9), now housed at Princeton University. Many of the coins and ceramics that were shipped out of Syria in haste when it was annexed by Turkey in 1939 remain un- or under-studied. There is significant material in the field diaries that was never published. All of this activity is supplying fresh information that informs every page of this volume. For instance, on the basis of his survey work and archaeological research Brands has been able to correct errors in the influential map published by Downey (fig. 1) and to produce and publish for the first time a topographic plan of the late antique city, with the finds of the Princeton expedition accurately located (fig. 2). Three close-up views of sectors of the map are included (fig. 4 – the revised palace complex on the Orontes island; fig. 11 – layout of the Forum of Valens in relation to the mountains; fig. 17 – aqueducts and walls in relation to Mts Silpios and Staurin). This map alone makes the volume a valuable addition to university and private libraries.

At the same time as Brands and Pamir have been renewing archaeological analysis of the city, in France Catherine Saliou has been leading a team working to produce a topographic lexicon of Antioch (the Lexicon Topographicum Antiochenum). Her own focus within that project has been a deep analysis of the biases of the late antique literary sources. Brands has integrated much of Saliou's revisionary work into his own account to considerable benefit. Results from my own attempt, with Pauline Allen, to integrate the archaeological and literary evidence for the churches of the city in late antiquity (The Churches of Syrian Antioch [300–638 CE], 2012) are also frequently referenced. All of this is to say that small as this volume is, the introduction that it offers is state of the art, embellished by a large number of illustrations.

Discussion of the city's archaeology is divided into seven brief sections that begin with Antioch as myth and problem and end with an account of the material finds and the city's ornamentation. In between are outlined five iterations of the city in late antiquity: the period from the tetrarchs to Constantine; the reigns of Julian, Valens and Theodosius ii; and the reconstruction undertaken under Justinian. Brands's particular emphasis is that more than any other metropolis of the Roman empire Antioch was subject to constant reconstruction and reconfiguration in late antiquity as a result of epidemics, war and natural disasters. As he points out (p. 6), we cannot speak of a single late antique Antioch, but of a city manifested in multiple states. This reflects a key emphasis emerging from both Brands's own research and the Lexicon project – that the city contracted and expanded back and forth as the centuries progressed, with residential, commercial and civic activity moving around within and outside the walls. What Brands attempts to present is thus a time and motion capture of Antioch over the course of three and a half centuries – except not in video but in words. This is no easy task, given the huge gaps in the archaeological record with which Brands is required to deal and the peculiar context and constraints that circumscribed the finds of the earlier Princeton excavations.

Intertwined in this dynamic view is the provision of new information concerning key locations. Section ii (pp. 7–15) focuses on misconceptions about the Orontes island and palace complex. Section iv (pp. 19–30) elucidates Valens's building programme in the aftermath of Julian and incorporates unpublished data about the centrally-located – central, that is, to the Hellenistic layout of the city – Forum of Valens. The first half of the fifth century (pp. 30–7) Brands characterises as a period of expansion to the south amid economic prosperity, with emphasis here on new construction, which included in addition to housing expanded walls, and water remediation and supply systems. His discussion (pp. 37–58) of the significant construction as well as shrinkage of the city in the sixth century raises important questions about whether Justinian's activity should be considered reconstruction or a new build. This section is particularly rich in re-evaluations based on recent survey work and on unpublished material, although, as he notes, the implications of some of these finds is still up in the air. Here, at its clearest, is the status of the conclusions presented in this book as prolegomena that will alter as additional finds come to light and as further analysis occurs. The final section (pp. 58–72), in which domestic and ecclesiastical building ornamentation and statuary are discussed, is handled with equal caution and care.

There is little to criticise and much to be praised, especially since the original lecture has been updated carefully to include the latest research and literature up to the year of publication.