This book investigates how the inhabitants of the Greek island of Rhodes utilized historical memory and myth to construct their cultural identity during the first century BC. Carolyn Higbie, a scholar of classical antiquity, employs a multidisciplinary framework that integrates epigraphic evidence from the Lindian Temple Chronicle with broader archaeological and literary sources. By analyzing these records, she argues that the Greeks did not view the past as a static record, but as a malleable resource used to navigate contemporary political and social realities.

Experts in classical studies recognize this work as a significant contribution to the understanding of ancient historiography and the social function of memory. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the author's rigorous application of epigraphic analysis to broader cultural questions.