C. Riggs (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, Oxford Handbooks in Archaeology, Oxford, 2012, xii, 816 pp., illustrations. Cased. ISBN 978‐0‐ 957145‐1 Roman Egypt (ca 30 BC – AD 300 for this volume) has been situated at the fringes of scholarship on both Egypt and the Roman Empire for far to long. For scholars of Egypt, Roman rule suggested that the region was too heavily influenced by foreign powers to be considered properly Egyptian. Meanwhile, scholars of the Roman Empire traditionally viewed Egypt as too singular for evidence to be extrapolated to other areas of the empire. Thankfully, both disciplines have undergone substantial changes from within and have grown more accepting of previously unpopular time periods and regions. In recent years, Roman Egypt has emerged as a vibrant area of study, particularly among papyrologists and historians, but also among archaeologists and art historians. Riggs’s edited volume brings together 45 papers covering seven themes: “Land and State,” “Town and chora,” “People,” “Religion,” “Texts and Languages,” “Images and Objects,” “Borders, Trade and Tourism.” Additional themes, such as personal and communal identity, social mobility, religious development, and continuity and change also weave through the various contributions, even though they are not addressed specifically ({Riggs, 2012 #14736:5}). Riggs anticipates developing some of these themes in her current role as editor of Oxford Handbooks Online, which would complement the present work for readers interested in pursuing additional, specialized topic. The volume as a whole explores both traditional and provocative themes within Roman Egypt. Regardless of the author’s approach, each chapter provides a comprehensive background on the subject matter explored at the beginning of the chapter and ends with a suggested reading guide and comprehensive bibliographies. This approach, clearly steered carefully by the editor, guarantees that the volume will fulfill Riggs’ hope that students of Roman Egypt will now have a single volume to aid their studies of this complex, multi‐cultural, multi‐lingual and multi‐ disciplinary area of study. The present review discusses each of the seven themes and selects specific papers for particular mention since comprehensive review of each paper would not be possible here. Part I, ‘Land and State’ draws primarily from historical and papyrological data to introduce the political, economic and administrative organization of Roman Egypt. The chapter by Gibbs, “Manufacture, Trade and Economy” provides a particularly adept overview of both the issues and prejudices long associated with the economy of Roman Egypt. The sub‐theme of tradition and change also appears strongly in this contribution and Gibbs carefully balances between these two positions as he explains both constants in agricultural practice, the cornerstone of Egypt’s economy, and substantial changes in economic relationships and transactions. Part II, ‘City, Town, and Chora’ benefits from recent archaeological research to discuss Alexandria, the Delta, the Fayyum, and Thebes. Paired with these are focused contributions on Classical Architecture and Wilfong’s glimpse into the Kelsey Museum archives for excavations at Karanis (1924‐1935). The contribution by Wilfong is essential reading for those who rely too heavily upon standard published accounts. He cautions us to be aware of selective bias in publication, particularly among older excavation reports, and indicates new ways we can understand the Karanis material. Although his focus upon the Kelsey Museum archives appears to be narrow, the lessons learned from this contribution are universal. Part III, ‘People’ describes issues of status and citizenship, ethnicity, family and identity. Jördens explains the tripartite citizenship structure imposed by the Romans upon Egypt as well as the options for social advancement. Vandorpe explores these three groups once again, but through the vantage of intersecting identities. Malouta takes on the enormous topic of “Families, Households, and Children,” relying primarily upon documentary sources. Although Malouta makes excellent work of a difficult and unwieldy topic, this author can see advantages in a complementary chapter on domestic archaeology. Finally, Scheidel examines disease and health in Roman Egypt from a documentary standpoint. Once again, an archaeological partner to this chapter would provide welcome evidence to substantiate some of Scheidel’s argument. Part IV, ‘Religion’, is the largest theme covered by the volume and contains 9 papers on various aspects of religion. It is not surprising that this topic is so well‐explored since religion has long been the topic drawing most academic and public interest in Egypt. It is also appropriate to provide room for this topic since the religious landscape of Roman Egypt experienced major changes and transitions during this period, while also retaining traditional practices for a long period of time. This complexity is revealed elegantly in these contributions. Part V, ‘Texts and Language’ provides insights into the complex spoken and written landscape of Roman Egypt as well as the archaeological contexts of the languages discussed in this section. Depauw provides a helpful introduction to both the wide range of languages present as well as the changing phases of language uses. Meanwhile, Verhoogt’s contribution urges an intertwined approach to the archaeology of papyrological finds. Such arguments have appeared before, namely by van Minnen ({van Minnen, 1994 #2101}), but they are worth repeating as the discipline begins to honour the archaeological contributions to data more intently. Part VI, ‘Images and Objects’ covers a disparate range of artworks and objects produced in Egypt. This section is somewhat weaker than other sections in this volume. This weakness is not due to the contributions, as each is clearly written and the contributors are experts in the field, but due to the selection of only 6 articles on this vast subject does. So few contributions cannot do justice to such a broad subject. Even so, it seems unreasonable to complain to earnestly about this brevity as Riggs had an unwieldy editing project before her. Gates‐Foster’s contribution, in particular provides some helpful suggestions for future areas of study in ceramic analysis as well as a comprehensive review of the state of study today. Finally, Part VII, ‘Borders, Trade, and Tourism’ pushes beyond the Nile Valley to explore the fringes of Egypt itself. This part is a surprising and welcome component to the volume as Egypt’s frontiers have experienced significant new research in recent years, notably in the Western and Eastern Deserts, as discussed by Kaper and Gates‐Foser respectively. New research in Sudan has also been brought to bear when exploring Egypt’s southern frontier and the little‐considered relationship between Roman Egypt and Meroe (Török). As a whole, this volume is remarkable in the quality of writing, images, bibliography, and the considerable copy editing which must have taken place. Students and specialists alike will benefit from this volume. One can anticipate that it would be useful for upper‐level undergraduate teaching, graduate teaching, as well as research projects. It is tempting to demand too much from long‐awaited volumes such as this one. For this author, it would be appealing to find the chronological breadth extending beyond 300 AD, deeper explorations of social questions that appear only as threads throughout the work, and more archaeologically‐focused articles on the houses, settlements, cities, and health of the population of Roman Egypt. These cravings will differ from reader‐to‐reader. Rather than serving as a clear weakness in Rigg’s volume, the desire for additional articles points towards the new vitality within studies in Roman Egypt. It is fortunate that Riggs will pursue additional articles in the Oxford Handbooks Online as the pace of new research will continually demand more from the scholar of Roman Egypt. Baruch College ANNA LUCILLE BOOZER