The Zagros Mountains have long been an integral part of Near Eastern history. The present volume is a corrected and “slightly revised” (p. xxiii) version of Balatti's 2014 doctoral dissertation from the University of Kiel, addressing the social organization, the “life-ways” and the adaptive socio-political and economic strategies of the Zagros peoples in relation to their mountainous environment and the surrounding states. Chapter 1 briefly surveys Zagros' history and archaeology from prehistory until the late second millennium BC. The genres of the texts studied are then introduced, followed by descriptions of the pertinent archaeological and palynological records. The period covered by the texts is reportedly from the first Assyrian campaigns into the Zagros c. 1100 bc up to Seleucid domination of the entire Zagros Mountains until c. 150 bc. However, the earliest such Assyrian campaigns can be taken back to the periods of Adad-nirari I (1307–1275 bc) and Shalmaneser I (1274–1245 bc) (A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia BC (to 1115) (Toronto, Buffalo and London, 1987), 131, 179, 206, 207). A review of the secondary literature (which should include more of the work of I.N. Medvedskaya) concerning the Zagros concludes chapter 1. Chapter 2 elucidates the concepts of pastoralism, pastoral nomadism, transhumance, tribalism and post-nomadism with the difficulties applying them in ancient history and archaeology due to the state of the evidence and the complexity of the concerned phenomena. Balatti retains the notions of semi-nomadic pastoralism, transhumance and sedentary animal husbandry as well as a fluid (but not strict) separation between pastoralist societies and the state.

The following three chapters concern the interactions of the Zagros peoples with the Assyrians (chapter 3 and pp. 151–3), the Urartians (chapter 4), the Elamites, the Babylonians, and the Achaemenids (chapter 5). The varying historical backgrounds of the texts are discussed. Included are royal inscriptions, prayers, eponyms, letters, divination reports (mainly extispicy, astrology), and treaties from the Neo-Assyrian period as well as Urartian royal inscriptions, a selection of Elamite texts from Susa, Kalmakarra, Persepolis and Kul-e Farah, and chronicles, royal inscriptions, legal and administrative documents from the Neo-Babylonian period, and finally administrative texts from the Persepolis Fortification Archive and Achaemenid royal inscriptions. Chapter 6 discusses most Graeco-Roman sources with references to the Zagros peoples; Xenophon's Anabasis, Polybius, Livy, Diodurus, Curtius Rufus, Arrian, Plutarch's biography of Alexander, and Strabo. Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon's Cyropedia are “only indirectly dealt with” on the grounds that their historical accuracy and reliability have been questioned in certain studies (p. xxv). Chapters 3–6 each conclude with sections on the socio-political organization and the “way of life” of the Zagros peoples, references to the environment, natural resources and climate in the Zagros, as well as the textual representation of the Zagros people as mountain dwellers. The author relies on “the most influential and/or recent philological editions” for the translations of texts (p. xxvii).

Chapter 7 builds on earlier textual analysis, distinguishing between different polities and their varying complexity in the northern, central and southern parts of the Zagros. The archaeological evidence complements well the discussions. A periodization and systematic presentation of the archaeological sites, artefacts and other material are not available as they are for the textual evidence, but the material is summarized in portions throughout the book. This and comparisons particularly made with the Greek sources underscore the role of local leaders and the role of the intermontane valleys and plains in the forms of pastoralism and agriculture, livestock trade, hunting, robbery, craft production and weaponry. Chapter 8 further complements the picture by looking at the palaeoecological data, e.g. changes in the vegetation cover, by comparing the modern state of the vegetation in the Taurus and Zagros with data available to discern what was available in the past. Balatti identifies textual references correlating with some palaeobotanical finds. The author posits certain anthropogenic interventions (e.g. canals, cultivations, deforestations) in parts of the Zagros, especially by the states surrounding the Zagros, as one of the causes for variations in Zagros's vegetation. It is likely that they were not the only cause. Chapter 9 argues that texts from different periods recognized the different “ways of life” in the Zagros and expressed this with negative terms, especially in Akkadian and Greek texts. The author provides brief summaries of these terms and points to the difference in their representation in contrast to the reality that states had to collaborate with the local leaders in the Zagros.

Recognizing that the data, as it is currently available, is unevenly distributed and with several gaps, Balatti posits in chapter 10 that the Assyrian presence in the region may have provided local rulers with privileges and conditions they lost in part by the time Greek and Roman sources took notice of the region. The author also notes that there are several microclimates and zones in the Zagros and that the semi-nomadic lifestyle should not be universally assumed. The volume ends with tables of titles attributed to Zagros rulers in Assyrian texts (pp. 353–9), a large bibliography and useful indexes. The plates accompany the text well, except for Plate 2:1 (rock-relief of Anubanini) and Plate 6 (Kul-e Farah) which would have benefitted from drawings.

Balatti's book is a serious step forward in Zagros studies as it collects most of the pertinent data, especially the texts. The author is to be congratulated for providing this very useful contribution. My impression is that studies focusing on specific and narrower zones of the Zagros and making diachronic use of all pertinent data from all available periods therein can provide further concrete advancements.