Olivier Mariaud reviews, for the Bryn Mawr Classical Review:
- Eretria: A Guide to the Ancient City, translated from French by Steven Rendall, Fribourg: 2004, ISBN 2-88474-112-7.
Mariaud writes:
Eretria [BAtlas 59 C1, (TE)] is, in the current scholarship, one of the main archaeological sites of the Greek world in general, and of the Greek Early Iron Age in particular. ... Thanks to the Swiss team, this site now has the archaeological guide it needs. This guide represents the synthesis of all the results we can rely on today to understand the life of this site, from the earlier times, the Late Neolithic (ca. 3500-3000 BC) and Early Helladic (ca. 3000-2000 BC) periods, to the present day, as some chapters are devoted to the modern days of Eretria (and the involvement of the Swiss mission at the site). ... its illustrations ... were obviously the priority given to the book by the editors, and they are well done. The photographs are numerous and of good quality (often in colour even for the 1960s diggings ... Everything is aimed at making make the site accessible and ‘readable’. This is a good book, but it should not be taken for what it is not: a complete scientific synthesis on Eretria. Intended mainly for a wide audience, it is a compromise, responding to modern requirements of presenting exact information in a pleasant and practical way.
You can read the entire review online.
