Customer Reviews

The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must have for anybody visiting Magna Graecia area in Italy. Major excavation sites are well described and richly illustrated with perfect photos.
Discussed archeological sites of Greek settlements are as follows:
Gulf of Naples (Ischia, Pithekoussai,Cumae, Partenope and Naples),
Poseidonia/Paestum,
Velia,
Lokroi Epizephyrioi,
Kroton,
Sybaris and Thurii,
Siris and Herakleia,
Metapontion,
Taranto,
Naxos,
Taormina (Tauromenion),
Lentini and Catania,
Zankle/Messina Milazzo (Mylai),
Lipari,
Tindari,
Himera,
Megara Hyblaia,
Syracuse,
Eloro, Acre and Kasmenai,
Gela,
Kamarina,
Morgantina,
Agrigento (Akragas),
Selinunte,
Herakleia Minoa,
Segesta.

For the average tourist visiting these sites it is minor pity that modern communications- approaching roads connecting these sites are not discussed in this book.
(For example navigating to Paestum it is good to know that it is located in a community called Capaccio).
But in a Summary: job well done.

This book is a needed work on the Greek colonies in Italy and Sicily. Not only does it provide detailed histories and layouts of each of the included cities, but the pictures are stunning and plentiful. Highly recommended on the pics alone, and to anyone interested in Ancient Greek History

This was my favorite book when I was planning a trip to Sicily. It is a large book with beautiful photos, organized by site. Each site has a short 1-4 page explanation of its history, archaeology findings, maps, etc. Each day, I would read about what we were seeing, and it really helped me to appreciate these amazing sites.

The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily is very much the sort of book the directors of a major museum might be proud to display on the shelves of their bookstore. If you bought it to put on the coffee table and flick through for a few months, you have done well. If you are interested in the Greek cities, you will be disappointed.
This book is an instance of a collaborative effort gone wrong for want of an editor. The maps and plans are quite good, the text translation is clearly expressed, and the pictures are all one would expect from a museum bookstore. Yet coordinating the text with the maps is left to the reader who will find that variant spellings are used between the two and that some of the cities discussed may not be on the map. The text would inspire more confidence if it had been sourced. The illustrations must have been chosen from a catalogue of Greece's best known pictures; the knowledgeable reader will not see many images he has not seen many times before. There is a thin bibliography, the ever present glossary and an index; all pro-forma.

This is a great book. If you're interested in the ancient Greeks, southern Italy and Sicily, or Mediterranean ancient history, this is great addition.