For budding archaeologists, gap year excavation squaddies, cultural tourists with or without archaeological and architectural pretensions, and for practical reference library staff, this information‐packed historical guide would appear to be well nigh impossible to do without. Ageing and ocularly challenged readers might find it a wee bit difficult but, if you are going to cram in as much information and advice as this in 300 or so 15cm × 21cm pages, in a format “redesigned to a more convenient size for travellers”, then something has to give, and in this instance it is the type size. Extremely well received when first published in 1992, this new paperback edition includes a number of textual changes and some updating of the bibliography, reflecting advances in knowledge resulting form extensive research and publication.
The guide primarily takes the form of a descriptive gazetteer of all Syria′s historical sites giving first its name and variant names, the period, location directions, and references to numbered maps in the text and to one of the 14 itineraries outlined. These basic facts are followed by paragraphs of varying length which include a full description incorporating previous comments from expert researchers and advice on what especially to look out for. Some of the longer A‐Z entries also provide a history of the site or monument in question and detailed suggestions as to the order in which it might be convenient and appropriate to inspect the site on a single visit. All entries end with abbreviated references to items listed in the Works cited in REFS and footnotes section preceding “Books and articles for further reading in the bibliography” (pp. 276‐86). Access hours are noted in some entries. Each site is rated in five categories coded by the number of asterisks attached to it and other symbols: essential, well worthwhile, worth a detour if time allows, limited or specialised interest, and of interest for historical topography of site.
But the guide is not simply a gazetteer of sites and monuments. It is genuinely enhanced first by a historical sketch of Syria, distinguishing 17 historical periods, mostly it has to be said, by the people or nation that conquered it, including fact boxes on Roman Provincial Divisions, Roman Syria ‐ Routes and Lines, and Saladin’s Campaign of 1188. There follows a section, “Development of architectural forms in Syria” similarly arranged with factboxes on Syro‐Phoenician Temples, Roman Theatres, Roman City Plans, Centralised Churches, Syro‐Byzantine Church Plans, and The Madrosa (Sunni schools‐cum‐mosques). After the gazetteer, the itineraries include both quick and detailed walking or more ambitious tours, all furnished with informative maps. There are also three Thematic Maps, Hellenistic, and Roman Syria, and Crusaders in Syria after 1144.
Other complementary sections include a “Glossary of architectural and other terms” (double‐columns to pp. 263‐8); a “Chronology of main events” (likewise, pp. 269‐74); and an “Index to places and people” (pp. 288‐302) which ends with a “Quick index of gazetteer sites by period and rating”. And, for this edition, 24 colour pages illustrating points of interest at different sites and buildings. Call it an historical guide, a descriptive gazetteer or, perhaps most accurately, a handbook, it is hard to see how it could be improved.
