This volume comprises five case studies of archaic and classical emporia settlements of the Mediterranean based on the role these played in the negotiation and formulation of diverse types of identities of their multi-ethnic population, an elaboration of D.'s Ph.D. thesis of 2009. D.'s success lies in the fruitful combination of both textual and archaeological material and the creation of a comprehensive and eloquent narrative, in semi-autonomous chapters/case studies, underlining the common ways in which diverse populations within the emporia developed their identities relative to themselves and the others and through cultural phenomena such as law, political institutions and religion.
The book begins with a relatively long but essential and interesting introduction. D. sets and clarifies the multiple questions which her study aspires to answer, which can be summarised as follows: how did different groups of people negotiate their emerging ethnic, social, linguistic and religious identities within the framework of the interaction of different groups of people in the archaic and classical Mediterranean emporia? A bold task, which requires an interdisciplinary approach that involves and connects literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources in a multi-levelled study. D. discusses and elaborates on issues such as the limits of the ancient Mediterranean world and its cultural and religious koine; and the existence of multiple and multi-levelled identities which stretch over the traditional dichotomy of Greek/Barbarian, an issue which D. strongly criticises, as well as J. Hall's rigid division between ‘aggregative’ and ‘oppositional’ Greek identities before and after the Persian Wars (J. Hall, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity [1997], pp. 47–8). A note on methodology follows. The approach is quite straightforward: D. chooses five examples (Emporion in Spain, Gravisca in Italy, Naucratis in Egypt, Pistiros in Thrace and Piraeus in Greece), which cover different areas of the Mediterranean and provide an opportunity to compare diverse ethnic groups, both immigrants as well as locals. The period which she focuses on stretches from the end of the seventh to the middle of the fourth century b.c., a period of intense expansion, interaction and population movement. In practical terms her methodology consists of an interdisciplinary examination of both material culture (archaeology) and texts (literal sources and inscriptions). The introduction ends with the necessary working definition of emporia, a problem which is due to the lack of a proper definition by ancient authors and the difficulty faced by modern scholars of providing one. D. presents the different previous approaches (including K. Polanyi's definition of ‘port-of-trade’ in ‘Ports of Trade in Early Societies’, Journal of Economic History 23 [1963], 30–45), eventually accepting M. Hansen's definition as the best (M.H. Hansen, ‘Emporion. A Study of the Use and Meaning of the Term in the Archaic and Classical Periods’, in G. Tsetskhladze [ed.], Greek Colonisation: an Account of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas. Vol. 1 [2006], pp. 1–39), but not without some criticism: the overseas, dependent, multi-ethnic commercial settlement Hansen describes does not cover sites like Piraeus' emporion, thus the original Greek term is preferred to other denominations in English. Another issue is the categorisation of apoikiai and emporia according to the existence or not of an agricultural hinterland, but D. quickly dismisses the argument by following Hansen's non-distinction position.
The main body of the book consists of five case studies/chapters. Each chapter includes the presentation and discussion of the evidence and a short conclusion. This configuration allows each chapter to be read independently, notwithstanding some inevitable repetitions through the text. The sources examined stretch from pottery to lead tablets and from historical texts to inscriptions. The material available is extensive and diverse, but D. maintains an overview based on an exhaustive study of previous work, indicated by the rich list of references which, however, lacks some more recent publications. D. thoroughly scrutinises her sources and eloquently formulates her conclusions, deliberately privileging issues of religious identities as expressed through the sanctuaries excavated in the emporia. D. examines certain important epigraphic sources and in the case of Pistiros (the Vetren inscription) they are the only surviving evidence for the settlement. D. not only transcribes and translates them but also includes and criticises previous transcripts. Similarities in the emporia organisation are underlined and an effort is made to examine each of them in a similar manner: multi-ethnicity, dependence on the mother-cities and the local authorities when outside Greece, common religious practices and hybridism are key factors in helping D. draw her conclusions. No unjustified speculations are offered nor is any evidence given without scrutiny and detailed reference to the scholarly sources.
As already noted, however, the task is a difficult and ambitious one and a one-person interdisciplinary study is bound to have problems. D. has an excellent classicist's background which enables her to tackle written sources, but any approach to such a vast range of archaeological material is beyond the potential of any single scholar. Thus, archaeological finds are dealt with briefly and rather taken for granted, an oddity in a book of thorough examination and re-evaluation. Some sectors of material culture directly related to the study of emporia are left practically untouched: ship technology and maritime trade, harbours, anchorages and naval installations, the ancient coastline, etc. The approach is that of a classicist where archaeology is used mostly as an aid for the analysis of the textual sources, if used at all. In the case of Pistiros, where the emporion has not yet been physically identified, the whole study is based on the Vetren inscription and in the case of Piraeus, a site largely known through ongoing excavations, the approach is based almost exclusively on the tombstone and decree inscriptions of Athens.
The book lacks sufficient illustrations. A few simple but not easily legible maps of the Mediterranean are placed at the beginning, whereas the sites themselves are presented with small plans, reproduced from previous publications which do not help the reader understand their actual topography. A good example is the Emporion fortifications, where the various shades of grey indicating four different phases seem to make no sense. The Gravisca case is better illustrated with two plans which cover the area of religious interest, which is what D. wishes to underline. There are a few photographs of finds and, as expected, D. privileges images of the inscriptions she studies, which is natural since the archaeological material is, as noted, vast.
The book ends with D.'s conclusions. She focuses on the sophistication of the emporia's administration to fit the special needs of multinational settlements, the emergence of a middle ground for different, and at the same time so similar, religions within emporia and finally the negotiation of civic identities (through the polis denomination), religious identities (through sanctuaries and koina) and eventually the emergence of an ethnic identity, larger than the civic one, which gradually led to the new self-identification of Greeks and non-Greeks within the framework of emporia. Her arguments are well organised and she conveys her ideas persuasively and clearly. What D. creates, however, is a rather rigid model which she attempts to apply to every emporion she studies, eclectically using evidence to support her argument and leaving little space for alternative approaches. The extremely complex issue of the emporia cannot be fully explored within a monograph, no matter how good D.'s book is, and requires a project of much larger dimensions and more participants. D. has made an excellent start and hopefully the future will be more fruitful.
