This volume, a socio-cultural and political study of the Ptolemaic occupation of Cyprus, is based on M.'s doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Aix-Marseille in December 2017. M. draws on epigraphic testimonies dated to the Ptolemaic period to show how and how far Cypriot society and its institutions changed from pre-Hellenistic times to the period of the unified administration of Cypriot cities imposed by the Ptolemies after they annexed the island. The consequences of the Ptolemaic occupation were not limited to politics or administration. M. throws light on local identity, on the cultural dialogue between Cypriot and Hellenistic culture and on the promotion of Ptolemaic ideology.

In the introduction M. gives a brief overview of the previous scholarship on Hellenistic Cyprus and lays out the aims and chronological limits of her research. She deals with the methodology she intends to use, the use of primary and secondary sources, and the various research problems that she faced. Two maps, one of the East Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period and one of Cyprus showing the most important cities of the island, complete the introduction.

This well-produced volume falls into three parts. The first part, comprising three chapters, consists of a political and administrative history of Cyprus from the pre-Hellenistic to the Ptolemaic period. M. begins the first chapter with a historical account of the political situation in the Cypriot city-kingdoms, the main events that marked the Ptolemaic occupation of the island and the nature of the Cypriot city-kingdoms when compared with polis-states. In the next chapter M. deals with Cyprus in the context of the internal and external policy of the Ptolemaic kingdom and examines the epigraphic evidence regarding the administration of the Ptolemies. This, far from being limited to military affairs alone, involves aspects of economic and commercial activity. She also examines the relations between Ptolemaic personnel and the indigenous population. In the third chapter M. deals with the gradual change undergone by the Cypriot city and its institutions as it moved from the pre-Hellenistic period to the Hellenistic period. She examines the activities of Cypriots outside the island during the Hellenistic period and the relations between Cypriot cities and areas of insular and mainland Greece. M. then returns to examining the civic habits and practices of Cypriot cities, to consider how far civic life and in particular the world of civic and religious officials changed. She notes that the nature of the evidence is such that it does not offer a complete picture of civic institutions in every Cypriot city over time.

The second part of M.'s work is also divided into three chapters and deals with how Cypriot identity emerged and evolved in the Hellenistic world. In the first chapter M. defines the term Kyprios charaktèr and the particularities that derive from it. She then goes on to focus on how Cypriot identities were integrated in the Hellenistic world especially in matters of linguistics and onomatology. The next chapter focuses mainly on Cypriot society and the changes that the Ptolemaic occupation wrought in it. The creation of koina, politeumata and associations of athletic, artistic, military and religious character appear after the Ptolemaic occupation of the island and the spread of Hellenistic culture in the eastern Mediterranean. M. concludes that in the atmosphere of cultural unity promoted by the Ptolemies, the attachment of Cypriots to the preservation and execution of traditional cultic practices is apparently an important aspect of their local identity. The third chapter of this second section is devoted to the royal and local elite. M. first deals with the officials of the Ptolemaic court, their close relations with the kings, the offices that they held in the administration of Cyprus and their attitudes. She then examines various eminent members of the Cypriot community that conferred benefits on their cities, held civic office with great success and were honoured by their fellow citizens. M. also deals with some eminent Cypriot holders of various religious offices. The evidence suggests that the Ptolemies tolerated the existence of a powerful civic elite and particularly the high social status of local priests, although this attitude probably derives from Ptolemaic fears that not allowing such an elite might provoke local reaction and resistance. Nevertheless, this policy seems to have facilitated the unified administration of the Ptolemies, tolerance for their presence on the island and the preservation of local tradition. Gradually, some members of the local elite entered politics and the royal administration and enjoyed friendly relations with kings and royal representatives, such as Potamon, son of Aigyptos, Stasikarates, son of Stasikarates, and Onesandros, son of Nausikrates. Royal women and women of the local elite occupied a special place in Cypriot society, as honorific and funerary inscriptions attest.

The third part of the work is divided into two chapters and deals with the transmission of a royal ideology to Hellenistic Cyprus, whose aim was to establish and confirm royal power over the island. The first chapter deals with the royal cult and in particular the dedications made to the Ptolemies by Ptolemaic officials, mercenaries, citizens, priests or members of the gymnasion. These dedications reveal the public relationship of royal personnel and other eminent citizens with the royal cult, although the individual personal motives behind these actions remain a matter for speculation. M. stresses the importance of the gymnasion in the royal cult and the spread of Ptolemaic ideology. Cypriot priests and gymnasiarchs indeed played an important role in negotiating the balance of power between Cypriot cities and the Ptolemaic administration. The second chapter in this part deals with royal ideology and especially how two eminent royal women, Arsinoe II Philadelphus, wife of Ptolemy II, and Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last queen of the Ptolemies, were honoured in Cyprus and elsewhere and how their image and cult, propagated on the island, reflected Ptolemaic policy and ideology.

After the three main parts M. gives a helpful and detailed presentation of a selection of Cypriot inscriptions. This is divided into three broad categories: the first covers the Ptolemaic administration and army, the second deals with the Cypriot Hellenistic polis (civic institutions and officials, economic activities, local elite, cultural and religious life), and the third involves the honours offered the Ptolemies and the establishment of the royal cult on the island. In addition to giving details on the nature, dating and location of each inscription, M. includes a bibliography of previous editions, transcription of the texts, a French translation of the inscriptions and an epigraphic and historical commentary on most of the inscriptions.

At the end of the volume come abbreviations and bibliography, together with three appendices concerning the Ptolemaic dynasty (a chronological list of important events, the prosopography of the Ptolemaic dynasty and a table of the priestesses of the royal cult and their connection to the strategoi of Cyprus). In the last part of this final section, there are several indexes, which include tables of inscriptions, a concordance to previous epigraphic editions and indexes of literary, epigraphic and papyrological sources cited in this volume.

The marshalling and presentation of the epigraphic evidence in the volume fills an important scholarly gap and clearly makes it an indispensable and up-to-date tool for the study of many aspects of Hellenistic Cyprus and especially of the changes that Cypriot society underwent as it moved from pre-Hellenistic times into the Hellenistic world. M. vividly and accurately describes these changes, but certainly offers material for further work on Hellenistic Cypriot society.