Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World

by Richard J.A. Talbert (Editor)

In 102 full-color maps spread over 175 pages, the Barrington Atlas re-creates the entire world of the Greeks and Romans from the British Isles to the Indian subcontinent and deep into North Africa. It spans the territory of more than 75 modern countries. Its large format (13 1/4 x 18 in. or 33.7 x 46.4 cm) has been custom-designed by the leading cartographic supplier, MapQuest.com, Inc., and is unrivaled for range, clarity, and detail. Over 70 experts, aided by an equal number of consultants, have worked from satellite-generated aeronautical charts to return the modern landscape to its ancient appearance, and to mark ancient names and features in accordance with the most up-to-date historical scholarship and archaeological discoveries. Chronologically, the Barrington Atlas spans archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire, and no more than two standard scales (1:500,000 and 1:1,000,000) are used to represent most regions.

Since the 1870s, all attempts to map the classical world comprehensively have failed. The Barrington Atlas has finally achieved that elusive and challenging goal. It began in 1988 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, under the direction of the distinguished ancient historian Richard Talbert, and has been developed with approximately $4.5 million in funding support.

The resulting Barrington Atlas is a reference work of permanent value. It has an exceptionally broad appeal to everyone worldwide with an interest in the ancient Greeks and Romans, the lands they penetrated, and the peoples and cultures they encountered in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Scholars and libraries should find it essential. It is also for students, travelers, lovers of fine cartography, and anyone eager to retrace Alexander's eastward marches, cross the Alps with Hannibal, traverse the Eastern Mediterranean with St. Paul, or ponder the roads, aqueducts, and defense works of the Roman Empire. For the new millennium the Barrington Atlas brings the ancient past back to life in an unforgettably vivid and inspiring way.

Map-by-Map Directory

A Map-by-Map Directory to the Barrington Atlas is available online ( and in a separate two-volume print edition of close to 1,500 pages. The Directory is designed to provide information about every place or feature in the Barrington Atlas. The section for each map
The Map-by-Map Directory is an essential accompaniment to the Barrington Atlas . As a uniquely rich, comprehensive, up-to-date distillation of evidence and scholarship, it has no match elsewhere and opens the way to an immense variety of further research initiatives.

Genres: History, Atlases, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Classical Studies

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2000

Reviews

[Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the greatest contemporary cartographic achievements and the most comprehensive classical atlas there is. Its inclusion of details and exhaustive list of references have greatly helped me both in working on my personal academic project and exploring just for interest and fun. The atlas is, of course, not perfect, especially as new archaeological findings routinely rewrite our previous understandings of a site or even an entire region. Yet Barrington Atlas has undoubtedly served as the best companion to thousands of scholars and students working in the fields of classical archaeology; furthermore, the possibility of incorporating the Atlas into more compatible online databases and/or visual tools remain open. I would recommend this volume to anyone who's interested in the geographical perspective of ancient history, as well as novelists who are building their stories in a classical setting -- this book will become one of your best friends.

[Tim Baldini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a great interest in the ancient Greek and Roman world and I don't know what I would do without this volume. One of the fundamental ways of understanding the ancient world is to know the geography - this atlas greatly facilitates that understanding. Essential in everyway and worth every penny!