As Le Bohec notes in his introductory remarks, the province of Lugdunensis has not been the subject of a single monograph encompassing the whole of this 1,000 km-long croissant. In his view this is partly because of its topographical variability, partly the marked disparities in its Roman archaeology, and partly the suspicion that it was defined negatively as the bits left over from the creation of Aquitania and Belgica, its identity thus lacking their ethnic cores. In this book he sets out to present the history and archaeology of the province between two covers and thus to reclaim the province’s unity.

The book is targeted very much at a popular market, written in a simple, direct style and with numerous illustrations (all good, some excellent, such as the text of Claudius’ speech from Lyon). As such, it is not directed at the specialist readership of this journal that works on Roman Gaul, but for non-specialists it is a good, clear introduction with enough of a bibliography to direct them to the more specialist literature.

Its target audience does mean that it is very traditional in its choice and order of subjects: the Caesarian conquest, provincial administration, towns and urbanisation, villas and the countryside, manufacture and trade, religion, with a concluding chapter on the late empire (all walls and Christians). But its target audience also conditions its real strength, which is the presentation of the relevant evidence from Lugdunensis. This is particularly noticeable in the chapter on towns, where almost all the major towns of the province receive at least a thumb-nail sketch. Lyon itself, as its importance demands, receives considerably more than that, and these sections constitute an excellent introduction to the city. The other chapters are equally well-grounded in the evidence from the province for such things as villas, religious buildings and sculpture, manufacture and trade. All this is greatly helped by the number and quality of the illustrations, in particular the photographs. These latter also give a very good idea of what there is that is worth visiting in the area of the former province, so though it is not a guide-book as such it certainly helps the tourist construct their itineraries.

So though it may not put forward any particularly novel points of view or revolutionary interpretations, this is a very accessible introduction to a province whose sheer variability makes it difficult to grasp easily. As such, it should help in the rehabilitation of this province as more than the bits left over.