This book best stands comparison with Alan Cameron's Circus Factions , which must almost be read along with it, in view of the constant cross references. But it fills in the chronological area which Cameron had to pass over quickly, and which will be of interest to most classicists, viz. I am not aware that these issues have ever been treated with such clarity in such a brief compass as here. Saints' lives, papyri, inscriptions from all over the empire are assembled on almost every page, for though the impetus for the publication comes from the inscriptions of Aphrodisias, the importance of the book lies in the extensive commentary, which surrounds them. Particularly to be praised are the brevity and precision of reference.
Footnotes remain footnotes, referring to primary sources.
The text itself is written in a lively style and in beautifully clear English. Considering that the subject matter is often illiterate graffiti, it is paradoxical that the material is so fascinating that it is difficult to put this book down. It would have been easy simply to have published these texts with the usual brief technical notes. An important conclusion deals with the growth of the factions. In lengthy appendices we find published and republished most of the agonistic inscriptions from Aphrodisias, and inscriptions about the artists' guilds, again with an important survey of the material.