Ekaterina Nechaeva's monograph surveys East Roman diplomatic procedure in Late Antiquity. This topic has been neglected by modern scholarship compared with the Late Roman army and warfare, the other major theme of classicizing political histories. N.'s aim is to identify and categorize structures of diplomatic interaction between the East Roman Empire and its neighbours, as well as analyse the symbolic meaning behind the rituals involved in these exchanges, in particular gift-exchange and the distribution of insignia by the Romans to the rulers of client states. The result is a useful synthesis of bibliographic material on, and contemporary historical accounts of, ambassadorial exchanges. The book is carefully structured with numerous sub-sections on the various facets of diplomacy in Late Antiquity.

The introductory chapter on the ‘Mechanisms of Diplomacy’ examines the various individuals and administrative departments involved in diplomatic receptions at Constantinople. N. highlights, in particular, the rôle of the magister officiorum whose department included a corps of interpreters, along with a myriad of other officials involved in diplomacy (especially 26–9). The chapter also surveys various forms of diplomatic exchange and their function, including embassies, letters and speeches. Ch. 2 homes in on diplomatic negotiation — the form and nature of embassies and their exchange. One of N.'s key conclusions is that diplomacy consisted of ‘blocks’ of embassies, or ‘shuttle diplomacy’, with a series of ambassadorial exchanges between the East Roman Empire and its neighbours, usually the Persian Empire, culminating in some sort of treaty or agreement (79–93). This was partly a corollary of the lack of face-to-face diplomacy between the rulers of the two superpowers of Late Antiquity, owing, in turn, to the desire of each of these leaders to maintain an image of superiority and distance. The third chapter explores embassy structure and personnel — the qualities required of these individuals and their experiences on diplomatic missions beyond the frontiers of the empire. N. makes the important point that while there was no official Roman diplomatic corps per se, the period witnessed the increasing tendency of individuals to serve as envoys on multiple occasions, resulting in a degree of professionalization (127–31). The discussion of the logistics involved in transporting ambassadorial teams up to twenty-strong across geographically inhospitable and politically dangerous areas is also interesting (141–52).

The final two chapters focus in greater detail on gift giving and the distribution of insignia to the rulers of client states. The lack of evidence for the symbolic meanings behind gift-exchanges between the East Romans and their neighbours means that ch. 4 tends to be either speculative or vague. Perhaps its best argument is that the significance of particular gifts could be interpreted in different ways by the giving and receiving parties (170–4). Ch. 5 is much stronger; a fascinating discussion of the significance of ‘official’ insignia (clothing and dress accessories) given by the East Roman emperors to the rulers of client states in the Transcaucasus and North Africa. This is the most interesting material in the book, casting light on the comparatively high status accorded by the East Roman emperors to the ‘kings’ of the Armenian satrapies and Lazica (208–25).

N.'s overall conclusion — that East Roman diplomatic machinery became more hierarchical, choreographed and reliant on mediators (rather than on ruler-to-ruler negotiation) — is convincing, as is the idea that new and more troublesome northern neighbours, such as Attila's Huns, demanded that the East Romans adapted their existing diplomatic protocols (designed largely with the Sasanid Persian Empire in mind) to the northern world. Nevertheless, more could have been done to explain what made diplomacy in the late antique Near East distinctive — much of what N. discusses could apply to diplomatic exchanges in any period (for example, shuttle diplomacy, the potential mistreatment of and attempts by rulers to intimidate and impress envoys). Another reservation is that N. overestimates the symbolic importance of mediated rather than ruler-to-ruler diplomacy: was this really related to changing conceptions of imperial ideology or merely to the fact that emperors were now based at Constantinople and no longer campaigning in frontier regions? N. is also overly keen to categorize different types of embassy and diplomatic exchange. Bearing in mind the paucity and vagueness of our textual sources, these divisions are to an extent artificial (a fact that N. herself admits at 110).

Finally, it is a shame that the book is not longer: there are a number of areas which are explored in limited detail or omitted altogether. Tributary payments to northern neighbours are discussed only briefly compared to gift-exchange. N. explains that she decided not to focus more on the payment of subsidies because of their lack of symbolic significance (16). However, it might be argued that the payment of different types of subsidy had an equally diverse range of symbolic meanings as the distribution of gifts and insignia (as N. starts to suggest at 51–4). The missionary activity of envoys, especially in the northern world, and the related tendency of East Roman emperors to baptize barbarian leaders at Constantinople as part of diplomatic negotiations could also have been discussed in greater detail, as could three-way diplomatic exchanges, such as the one between the East Romans, Gepids and Lombards at Constantinople in 548.