The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece

by Robert Morkot

Charting topics as diverse as Minoan civilization, the Persian Wars, the Golden Age of Athens, and the conquests of Alexander the Great, the atlas traces the development of this creative and restless people and assesses their impact not only on the ancient world but also on our own attitudes and environment today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Reference, Ancient History, Greece, Geography

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Gil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chronological maps are a huge help in reading Herodotus and Thucydides

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the relative brevity of the book compared to larger studies and published materials on the subject of ancient Greece, for any student beginning their studies in the field of classics (or even for the casual reader) this atlas provides a very sturdy introduction and summary of the major events, people and cultural traditions of ancient Greece. The plentiful maps showing the progression of certain military campaigns and settlement patterns I found particularly useful.

[Max D'onofrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Same as the Ancient Rome book, but maybe not quite as captivating. Maps gave great context. I read it while playing Assasin's Creed: Odyssey, and it was fun to learn more about the history while playing a game in the same context.

[Vincent T. Ciaramella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the history of ancient Greece, especially the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. This is a great book for anyone that wants a survey of what ancient Greece has to offer. Or this book can substitute for many books if shelf space is limited.

While it's not a page turner by any means the content inside is accurate and mostly up-to-date. For the price it's a good buy.

[Steve Groves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall summary of the era.

[Cheryll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference while reading Alexander the Great by Freeman.

[Abbigale Kernya]

Fuck you and especially fuck my professor for assigning this, but most of all fuck me for taking this class

[Korrey Housel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disorientated in terms of history but the maps are extremely useful for references

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of maps. Text is very focused on wars and rulers.

[Jeroen Van de Crommenacker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing on content. Visually it looks good, but the text is disjointed and skims over everything so quickly, it is difficult to make sense of it sometimes. I realise this is just meant to be a high level introduction, but unfortunately it doesn’t flow well and is a struggle to read.

[Tacitus Kilgore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is somehow odd that Morkot, who is an Egyptologist and an archaeologist, was chosen to write a history of Ancient Greece. Each section reads more like an archaeology textbook than a more prosaic history, in contrast to the other Penguin atlases I have been reading.

Morkot tends to relate the academic debates and explains how we know things; that is, how archaeology supports or contradicts other evidence. I found this interesting, but it may not be the straightforward history some readers will be looking for.

Even so, there is a history here, and it is amply conveyed by the maps. These are the showcase of any atlas, and they work with the prose to admirable effect. However, there are some maps that span two pages, which in itself seems like a good thing, except that some central aspect of what’s depicted is impossible to read due to the fact that it falls right on the binding.

Some of the prose needed editing, which also detracts from the overall effort. As a narrative it is uneven, as some sections are excellent and informative, others less so.

Still, I am glad I own this to consult while reading other works, to learn ancient geography, and to review key events whenever I come back to this period.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually an atlas that one reads. Excellent introduction to the study of Ancient Greece at about one page for every ten years. Divided into five chronological sections with each section having a few pages of text introduction followed by more indepth looks at specific times -- this is where the maps in this atlas are found. I'll use the maps as reference in the future.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tiny atlas with short write-ups of the eras and activities within each epoch. Exellent illustrations that add a visual cue to other books on Antiquity. An excellent resource to have when reading any books on ancient/archaic Greece or pre-Helenic civilizations.

[David Withun · Rating 3 out of 5]

-

[StrangeBedfellows · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good resource for those studying (or just interested in) ancient history. There's lots of good information here represented in easy to interpret maps.

[Jossalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

picks selected times and events in history and does good, big maps showing political distribution across the known world,

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

many maps of dynamic processes, reducing their dialectical tensions to static snapshots divorced from context--completely fascinating but also needlessly simplifying.

[Belle Meade School]

912.4

[RandomAnthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

An atlas of ancient Greece? This is crack for nerds like me.