A volume in Key Themes in Ancient History, Richard Finn's work aims to offer an overview of the phenomenon of asceticism in Graeco-Roman society. Familiar to many in its Christian guise asceticism – the renunciation of food, drink, sexual activity, sleep (or all of the above) – nevertheless has roots in both pagan and Judaic philosophies. In taking the thematic approach, Finn is able to show common strands across differing creeds, regions and time periods, providing a very useful overarching picture that can sometimes be missed by scholars of specific periods or persons. He reviews various theories and practices of abstention among pagan philosophers and their schools such as the Cynics, Stoics and Pythagoreans, coming to the conclusion that while ascetic deeds may have been considered ‘good’ by the pagan philosophers, they were never elevated to the level of a moral system of living in any consistent way. Similarly Judaic abstinence was practised either as a sign of mourning or to bolster a petition to God rather than on any long-term basis. Finn makes the point that the Christians were the first group to integrate sexual abstinence with fasting from food and drink in a systemic manner. While practices of fasting on particular days can be seen to be derived from Jewish antecedents, the addition of sexual self-denial seems to have been a uniquely Christian development. Finn traces the progression of this particular strand through the writings of Justin, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, before turning to Origen whose influence in subsequent monastic and individual systems of asceticism he describes as ‘all-pervasive’. From here Finn continues with a review of communal asceticism, or monasticism, in both the eastern and western Roman empires and also the rise of the cult of the holy person who attracted notice and admiration through particular striking examples of self-denial, such as standing on a pillar for forty years like Simeon Stylites. He raises the interesting point that the links between Christian asceticism and Jewish or pagan abstinence facilitated more extensive integration of Christians in Graeco-Roman society in the Church's early period of growth, in particular among the elite. In offering this thematic survey of a particular phenomenon, Finn's work is extremely useful as an introduction to the key figures and philosophies of abstinence, while pointing the way towards more detailed scholarship should the reader's interest by awoken by some aspect in particular. While many scholars allude to pagan and Jewish antecedents of asceticism, or take it for granted that their readership is aware of them, this work is invaluable in actually specifying these origins and similarities and demonstrating the mobility of ideas in ancient society.