The editors offer this collection of papers in celebration of M. Jost on the occasion of her retirement. This distinguished and international group of contributors embodies the broad influence of Jost's scholarship; their respect and affection for her is apparent throughout the volume. The papers are arranged into three parts that reflect some of Jost's perennial interests: Arcadia, Greek religion and Pausanias.

Each of the 24 papers (four in English, one in Italian, with the remainder in French) is followed by its own bibliography and prefaced by abstracts and key words in both French and English; while those in English are riddled with errors, the general sense is typically clear. Introductory materials include: J. Marcadé's brief scholarly biography of Jost up to 1994, when she succeeded O. Picard as professor of Greek history at the University of Paris X – Nanterre; and the editors' brief introduction, which covers her years at Nanterre.

Part 1, dedicated to Arcadia, begins with C.'s critique of Pausanias' presentation of Arcadian royal genealogy. While the formalisation of the Arcadian koinon in 370 b.c.e. doubtless had an impact on this tradition of descent, C. argues for the historicity of an Arcadian ethnos with kings in the Archaic period. M. Casevitz observes that Pausanias thematises the colour black in his description of Arcadia, which accurately describes salient features of the region's inhabitants and vegetation, while drawing a pointed contrast with ‘white’ Cyllene. L. Dubois offers incisive linguistic commentary on several problematic forms in dialectal inscriptions from Arcadia; much of the discussion is inspired by the critical editions with commentary in IPArk, especially nos 2–3, 17.

Of Arcadian Lousoi, Pausanias famously wrote at 8.18.8 that not even ruins were to be seen there; in a valuable review of recent Austrian fieldwork at Lousoi, V. Mitsopoulos-Leon demonstrates that, while the three major centres within the settlement excavated to date, namely the sanctuary of Artemis Hemeresia, the so-called residential quarter and Lousoi's ‘centre politique’, were all inoperative or functioning in a greatly reduced capacity at the time of Pausanias' putative visit, the fact that ruins and residents were likely to be seen in second-century c.e. Lousoi raises questions as to whether Pausanias actually visited the settlement. Y. Pikoulas discusses the location of the komai of Melaineai, Bouphagion and Brenthi, which Pausanias encountered en route from Heraia to Megalopolis. D.G. Romano and M.E. Voyatzis offer a précis of a proposal to develop a heritage park in ancient Parrhasia, a region which straddles the borders of the modern Greek administrative districts of Arcadia, Elis and Messenia, followed by a gazetteer of the many ancient sites within the borders of this region. J. Roy discusses a sanctuary of Pan (and Hermes) at Berekla, on the south slope of Mt Lycaeus near the ancient frontier between Arcadia and Messenia, that may have attracted both Arcadian and Messenian votaries.

Part 2 contains papers on Greek religion. M.-F. Boussac presents a new edition of a dedication to Sarapis and probably Isis, described as ‘Nikephoroi’, from late third- or second-century b.c.e. Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria in the Maerotis. P. Brulé offers a complex reading of the marriage of Pelops and Hippodameia and its implication for structures of power in the Peloponnese. J. Christien reviews the curious series of ‘hero-reliefs’ in the Sparta Museum, and associates them with cults of Zeus Lacedaemonius and the mediation between Sparta and the divine offered by Sparta's kings. In an exploration of Pausanias' peculiar account of the career and afterlife of hero-athlete Oebotas of Palea, V. Cuche persuasively suggests that Oebotas' relevance in the mid-fifth century may be linked to the putative formalisation of the Achaean League at approximately this time.

In K. Karile-Cohen's useful lexical study, the terms enthumios and enthumistos are found to describe a feeling of fear of divine retribution experienced by those who violate sanctuary or cult regulations. D. Knoepfler rescues the (Boeotian) Theban river god/hero Calynthus from oblivion and accords him his proper position in the city's Archaic pantheon. To the question ‘Did the Greeks ever eat unsacrificed meat?’, R. Parker answers with an emphatic, if nuanced, yes; but ‘though sacrificial killing was not invariable, it was none the less the dominant, the ideal mode, the one applied in formal contexts to the foods eaten by Greeks with greatest relish’ (p. 143). On the basis of a close reading of Pausanias 1.26.5, V. Pirenne-Delforge argues that Pausanias identified what we know as the Erechtheum with the temple of Athena Polias and that Pausanias' Erechtheum is to be sought elsewhere on the Acropolis.

F. de Polignac reviews the itinerant careers of Alcmaeon and Amphilochus and how their wanderings could be reinterpreted to different cultural ends. G. Rougemont offers a brief meditation on the difficulty of bringing ancient literary and material evidence into productive relationship with one another in the study of Greek religion; in answering questions concerning the collective or individual belief or mindset that lay behind phenomena of Greek religion, like the Delphic oracle, textual evidence is to be preferred. P. Schmitt Pantel discusses passages in Plutarch's Mulierum virtutes that depict women in confrontation with tyrants. For Plutarch, the arete of these women consists in their defence of the city from tyrannical excess while simultaneously maintaining their traditional marginal political status.

In a preliminary study of the architectural development of the sanctuary at Ai Khanoum, L. Martinez-Sève revises the chronology of the building phases of the temple. The initial construction, belonging to a Mesopotamian rather than Greek architectural tradition, is to be dated to the reign of Antiochus I rather than, as previously thought, Seleucus I; its successor, on a similar plan and now associated with a god sharing attributes with Zeus, has a construction terminus post quem during the reign of Diodotus II; additional modifications to the temple took place during the reign of Eucratides I. After Eucratides, Greek aspects of the cult were suppressed, although cult continued.

Part 3 is devoted to Pausanias. A. Jacquemin reviews Pausanias' scattered comments on the west and reveals the author's coherent conception of this region and its inhabitants, which helps to define further the cultural identity of ‘old Greece’ in his work. L.-C. places Pausanias' interest in non-Greek populations within its second-century c.e. context of composition, when the Roman empire was both challenged by a number of barbarian populations and at the same time increasingly home to hellenised or hellenising populations. M. Moggi reads Pausanias' fulsome account of Epaminondas against Xenophon's suppression of the general's accomplishments. A. Rouveret comments on Cicero's use of ekphrasis of works of art in the De Signis to evoke the greatness of Sicily's past and to entwine such history with that of Rome; Rouveret concludes with a brief comparison of Pausanias' use of a similar literary technique in the Periegesis. In the final essay, S. Saïd discusses Pausanias' attitude towards myth in Book 8; where others have found evidence for Pausanias' departure from his characteristic rationalist interpretation of myth, Saïd finds Book 8 consonant in tone and outlook with the rest of the Periegesis.

The volume concludes with a complete bibliography of M. Jost's publications. The absence of indexes of subjects or ancient sources cited renders the riches of the volume less accessible. Although some papers resemble parerga in scope, the quality is uniformly high. The volume is warmly recommended to all who share Jost's interests in Greek religion, Arcadia and Pausanias.