I have very mixed feelings about this book; let's start with the positive. The book is a superb piece of scholarship and is in most respects very well written. A reader who wishes to follow this book will have plethora of well-referenced latest scholarly sources. The book gives a clear indication of the political chaos in which the Greek city-states lived in the Hellenistic era. It was business as usual as they participated in the ancient petty bickerings that had already lasted seven hundred years. They existed in an almost constant state of internecine warfare as they continued their traditional struggles for land, rights, prestige and control of religious sanctuaries.
There are however serious negatives. More attention is given to the small city-states than to the large Hellenistic kingdoms. In fact, Mr. Chaniotis, an expert on the history of Crete spends far more time on conditions in Crete than in ANY of the Hellenistic successor kingdoms. While his knowledge of epigraphical information is amazing (at least for sites on Crete) he gives short shrift to the traditional historians, and mentions coins hardly at all. The author also seems to hold American sources in low esteem, ignoring most works within the last decade. This book presupposes an enormous knowledge of the history of the period (i.e. Third Macedonian War, campaigns of Antiochus III, the Sixth Syrian War and so forth). Now this, most students of the period can understand as a background; but what about the constant wars of the tiny Cretan city-states??? Have many experts in the period have ever heard of the War of Lyttos in Crete??? The author also quotes at length a propagandistic inscription of Ptolemy II about the Third Syrian War that is so historically inaccurate that it is dangerously misleading to the casual reader. The author has also made numerous references to contemporary political events; he supports the Palestinians against Israel; and spends four pages on trying to explain why women didn't take their place in the line of battle! Finally, many chapters are repetitive in content and show poor editing; a good editor would have noted subsequent refences to information and not have treated them as new references. What we have here are trees, but no paths through the forests, and a guide who would much rather take you to his favorite olive grove than the deep woods.
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