Product Description

From the Bronze Age and Mycenaean culture to the final collapse of ancient Greek civilization, the history of the Greek world with its language, culture, political systems, philosophy, art and architecture has fascinated countless generations. From the acts of citizen soldiers who safeguarded Greek civilization when it was threatened by the Persians to the Greek writers, poets, architects, politicians, and philosophers on whose foundations Western culture has been built, the Greek influence endures. Even their mythology, which relates everything from the origins of the gods to the heroic exploits of Greek warriors, and the ruins of their once thriving, cosmopolitan cities continue to captivate the imaginations of students, scholars, and general readers of all ages. Lavishly illustrated, with specially designed maps that complement the text and highlight the evolution of the civilization, "Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece" traces the entire historical, cultural, and political progress of the Greeks. In clear and eloquent prose, all aspects of Greek culture are covered in this refreshingly informative, single-volume survey of the Greek world. Coverage includes: Mycenae and the Homeric Period; the Grecian Dark Ages; Greek Mythology; the rise of the City States; the Persian War; the Greek Heroic Age; Greek against Greek - the Peloponnesian War; Philip of Macedon; Alexander the Great; the Greek Successor States; the Coming of the Romans; Greece as a Roman Province; Greece Resurgent - the Roman and Byzantine Empires; and, the glory that was Greece: the Archaeological Legacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #941407 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 189 pages

About the Author
Angus Konstam is a writer and renowned museum professional with an intimate knowledge of the antiquities collections of museums around the world. He holds degrees in both history and archaeology, and has written more than 20 books, including Facts On File's Historical Atlas of the Crusades, Atlas of Medieval Europe, Historical Atlas of the Celtic World, Historical Atlas of the Viking World, and Historical Atlas of Exploration. He lives in England.

Customer Reviews

Lots of Misinformation
I bought this book, sight unseen, as a way of developing my knowledge of the geography of Ancient Greece. I was not unhappy with the maps, although it would be nice to have more of them. But it is clear that the author and the editor have combined to make this a coffeetable book of little real use to anyone interested in expanding his or her understanding of the subject beyond the obvious. Each subtopic takes up about two pages, including illustrations. It's not enough for any real depth or even the inclusion of many pertinant facts.

Konstam has little apparent background in ancient Greek, although he seems to imply that he has by his use of italicized, transliterated words--erroneously as it turns out; for example, "basileios," meaning war lord(?)with a plural form of "basilei." He also mistranslates words ("anarchia" translated as no-archon, rather than no-government). In addition, as well as factual errors,there are numerous typographical errors throughout.

He states other things that are just plain wrong. For example, he maintains that the wooden horse of the Trojan war must be a post-Homeric addition to the myth because it doesn't appear in the Illiad. He fails to recognize that the wooden horse is at least referred to in the Odyssey. There are two places, one on a map and one in the main text, where the poet Pindar is described as having been "active" from 550-445 BC, a good trick--we should all be so lucky. There are also occasional grammatical howlers, which one would hope an editor would catch, if not the author himself. A good, professional editing job and a thorough overview by a real scholar of ancient Greece would have made this a more reliable book, one that would instill confidence in the reader.

Excellent atlas to accompany historical study
I found this atlas very helpful as a companion to studying Greek history. It has detailed maps of Greece and surrounding area at different times in history such as the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. These are all amplified by commentary.