The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization [Hardcover]

Simon Hornblower (Editor), Antony Spawforth (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198601654 | ISBN-13: 978-0198601654 | Publication Date: February 4, 1999

Unrivaled in scope and scholarship, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization is an indispensable guide to the richly textured history of ancient Greece and Rome. From military history to architecture, ancient law to mythology, the sciences to the arts, these meticulously detailed entries breathe life into the people, places and events that shaped the development of classical civilization. Filled with both essay length articles and short quick reference entries, this extraordinarily thorough yet accessibly written book is a treasury of information on classical civilization. Arranged alphabetically, fully cross-referenced, and graced with a beautiful selection of full color plates, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization will certainly become an essential resource for anyone interested in learning more about the cradle of western civilization.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In 1996, Oxford published the third edition of its excellent resource, The Oxford Classical Dictionary. The goal of this new volume is to appeal to a wider audience by making some changes in the way the material from that dictionary is presented. While no entries have been shortened, some that were considered too recondite or technical for the nonspecialist have been omitted. Bibliographies attached to entries in the dictionary have been replaced by a general bibliography at the back of the book, and color and black-and-white illustrations illuminate some of the entries. Entries are now grouped under the following broad subject areas: History, Law & Society, Literature & Scholarship, Philosophy & Religion, and Science, Technology, & Material Culture. Highly recommended, even for libraries that already have copies of the dictionary.?Robert Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The editors are right to boast that 'all the expert material from OCD3 ... is undiluted and unabridged.' This is a serious book as well as an attrative one; / The maps are superb, and it was a wise decision to include from OCD3 the list fo standard abbreviations for classical texts./ T. P. Wiseman, TLS, 05/02/99.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 828 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198601654
• ISBN-13: 978-0198601654
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Literature

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good starting place, February 26, 2000

By 

Mike Galer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Hardcover)

As a standard introductory reference text, I found the Oxford Companion invaluable as a good beginning point to pursue any line of inquiry regarding the classical age. Weighing in at nearly 800 pages, this book is a weighty tome, not something to carry around lightly. Navigation within the book is easy with appropriate cross referencing, such as pointing you at GAIUS when you look up Caligula and warning you of other articles relating to the same subject. Also classical sources are clearly cited and I have followed a number of these up in standard translations to check their opinion. Spread throughout the book are numerous colour and black & white photographs of archaeological evidence and other artefacts. Also throughout the volume and are a number of special reference entries of extended length discussing in more detail important people, places or themes. Such as sections on: Homer, painting and slavery. As in any extended encyclopaedia project, the number of contributors is huge. Inevitably, given the small amount of space available for each section, each item is unlikely to offer a full range of scholarly thought, opinion and research. As with any reference text, it should be used as a starting point for research, not as a substitute.

You cannot please everybody all the time. On balance I think you have to accept that a work of this nature is going to throw up anomalies or controversial entries which not all readers will agree with. It is the nature of academic pursuit of knowledge to encounter disagreements or views which do not match your own. I very much doubt if hardly any of the contributors listed, would completely agree with each other on the articles which they have written. This is the nature of encyclopedias.

Particularly the arena of classical history, is prone to heated debate over the most simplest of issues, due to the lack of evidence or the interpretation of what exists, such as it is. In short there are no `facts' only interpretation.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Condensed" version still weighy volume, August 31, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Hardcover)

The publication of The Oxford Classical Dictionary, weighing in at 1,640 pages and $99.95 price tag may have told many people more about the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds more than they wanted to know. To them, this companion will be of prime interest.

To pare down the selections, the same editors who updated the dictionary relied on an all or nothing rule: either an entry would be reproduced in its entirety, or it would be dropped. Of the 40 Claudius in the original dictionary, only the Roman emperor popularized in "I, Claudius" made the cut. In addition, the editors kicked the type size up a point or two and recast the longer essays into a one-column layout with the background lightly shaded. Even at half the price, it still offers nearly 800 pages and contains a selection of maps and color photographs not found in its larger brethern. For those who were reluctant to shell out a C-note, this is an appealing alternative.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A necessary resource for the student of early christianity, April 8, 2001

By 

George A Sherman - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Hardcover)

This book is indispendable for a person like myself who got a degree in world religions in general, and early christianity in particular, and who, therefore, lacks an in-depth background in the secular history of Greece and Rome. I hesitated a while before writing a review because I had not read a sufficient number of articles. However, the time has come for comment. I find the shorter articles informative, but at times leaving me waanting more. The longer ones are more satisfying. I was tempted to buy the longer version of The Companion (The Oxford Classical Dictionary), but decided against it after reading the reviews. I am happy with my decision. If I want more information on a topic, I can find it elsewhere. I find that The Companion covers more topics than I need, but I enjoy randomingly paging through the book, selecting what strikes my fancy before going to sleep at night. This is a treasured resource that enhances my understanding of the milieu of early christianity.