This volume developed from the 21st Annual Egyptology Colloquium at the British Museum in 2012. It was the first such colloquium dedicated to post-pharaonic Egypt, and the organizers sought to focus discussion on the cultural shifts that occurred in Egypt throughout Late Antiquity. Dominic Rathbone begins the volume with a preface outlining the scholarly development of the field, arguing that Late Antiquity was not simply a deterioration of Classical culture, but a ‘distinctive world of its own’ (xiii). Elisabeth O'Connell's introduction further clarifies the scope and structure of the book, which is organized into four categories.

Section I, ‘Settlements’, begins with Anna Boozer's detailed analysis of late Roman Trimithis, noting the many ‘divergent developmental histories’ (23) that can be found in a single settlement. Following is Penelope Wilson's contribution on extensive regional survey of the Nile Delta. She introduces a new typology for settlements of the Delta based largely on their topographic features and proximity to water, and discusses the distinct social and economic characteristics of each. In comparison to these two recent field projects, Wolfgang Müller's article on Syene (ancient Aswan) combines multiple historic excavations as well as textual accounts in order to examine the development of the city from the late Persian period to medieval times. Finally, John and Felicity Wild offer an analysis of textiles from Qasr Ibrim. As the site is located on the border with Nubia, the article serves to highlight late antique Egypt's ties to Africa in a way that is often overlooked in favour of more Mediterranean and Near Eastern studies.

Section II of the book, ‘Cemeteries’, is largely concentrated on the idea of a necropolis as a spatial and architectural landscape. Katja Lembke analyses tomb superstructures at Tuna el-Gebel, observing that the distinction between stone ‘temple tombs’ and mud-brick ‘house tombs’ is likely a socio-economic distinction rather than a strictly temporal stylistic shift. Peter Grossmann focuses on the creation of chapels and churches within necropoleis, and how living congregations interacted with mortuary landscapes. Finally, there is Cäcilia Fluck's contribution on textiles excavated from the burial of a woman and her newborn child in the area of Antinoupolis.

Section III, ‘Rock-cut Tombs and Quarries’, focuses on the creation of settlements out of pre-existing mortuary and economic spaces. Jochem Kahl and Gillian Pyke both give papers highlighting the adaptation of pharaonic tombs to late antique settlement spaces, noting that the Christianization of such spaces often lacked truly aggressive, iconoclastic tendencies. If Christian reuse of tombs was indeed largely a practical matter, then ascetic concerns with combating paganism may have been more internal rather than outwardly destructive (150). Gertrud Van Loon and Véronique De Laet's paper on late antique settlements in the quarries at Dayr Abu Hinnis shows a very similar approach to the studies of tomb reuse: quarries were practical choices for conversion, and the results created interconnected sites that the authors study as a complete settlement landscape. Finally, Jane Faeirs’ work on the ceramic assemblages from Wadi Sarga further demonstrates the interconnectivity of such settlements with the larger socio-economic culture of Egypt's towns and countryside through food production and the trade of commodities.

The fourth and final section of the book, ‘Temple-Church-Mosque’, begins with Andreas Effland's examination of Abydos as a continuous landscape for late antique cultic performance, tracing the routes between sacred spaces and structures as indicative of their relationships in use. He characterizes much of the use of the site as continuous regardless of the specific religion being practised, concluding that the site remained a location for informal cult practices into the eighteenth century among practitioners of ‘local popular Islam’ (204). Mansour Boraik's report of recent excavations in Luxor along the Avenue of the Sphinxes shows late antique reuse of the pharaonic structures. Old temple blocks were found in Ptolemaic and Roman baths, wine production installations and even in Islamic structures such as the Abu el-Hagg mosque, begun in 1244. The final entry in the volume by Helen Fragaki discusses the potential ramifications of architectural reuse in late antique Alexandria. Fragaki determines that there was a differential reuse of spolia, dependent on the pieces’ new architectural setting and the relative likelihood of them being viewed.

There is no denying the importance of this volume, combining so many excellent studies of Late Antiquity. However, the book is not a comprehensive study of the first millennium a.d. in its entirety: contributions to studies of Islamic Egypt and the cultural shifts following the Arab conquest are slim, despite the inclusion of Section IV ‘Temple-Church-Mosque’. While the entries that do touch upon shifts that occurred under Islam are strong, they are too few to balance out the sheer weight of pages devoted to Christianization. This oversight would not be so disappointing if the title itself had not suggested more: the repeated emphasis on the first millennium is therefore misleading, as it does not adequately reflect the scope of this project. In contrast, Rathbone's introduction and his repeated use of the term ‘Late Antiquity’ more accurately defines the book, which at its core is a thorough and carefully-researched collection of papers focusing on late antique Egypt.