Customer Reviews

The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Hist Atlas)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you are already familiar with the broad outlines of Roman history and are looking for a visual reference to further your explorations, keep looking. This volume appears to be the outcome of an effort guided primarily by concern for today's short attention spans and budget limitations. The text is adequate enough as the briefest of introductions to its subject, but in fact this is an ATLAS, not a history per se, and its usefulness as such depends on the quality of its maps, which I found sadly disappointing. For one thing, there are surprisingly few maps in this volume. If you are interested in the growth of the city itself, if you hope to trace the movements of particular military campaigns, or if you seek a better understanding of trade routes, you will not find this volume helpful. Only the tired highlights (which can be found in any number of books) are covered. Furthermore, the maps are small--to the point of silliness--and the editors have in a number of instances alluded to events separated by a wide gulf of years on the same map. This renders even the few maps in the atlas muddled and is sure to confuse rather than inform neophytes, though these would seem to be the primary target audience. On the plus side, the book contains a number of interesting photographs, and the captions to these are surprisingly informative--the best thing about the book. All in all, a great disappointment and a surprising one as I remember Penguin's excellent pocketbook atlases of world history. Unfortunately, the narrowed focus of this Roman atlas was not matched by a corresponding increase in the quality of information offered.

I don't know where these folks got their information, but it is certainly not based in reality.

I found a tremendous amount of the information in this book to be downright erroneous. At one point, the book claims that the Emperor Tiberius restored the Temples of Castor and Pollux between the years 6 B.C and 7 A.D. Sad to say, Penguin, but Augustus was Emperor during those years and was responsible for the restoration of the Temple.

Bad information, bad typesetting (yes, they've actually used cut and paste - the old fashioned form - in areas to correct mistakes before press time), and sadly inaccurate maps are the highlights of this book.

On the plus side ... pretty colors.

With several dozen books on my shelf regarding Ancient Rome, I often need something akin to an index for all of their combined knowledge: a few paragraphs, a map, or a photo will have me scurrying to the appropriate text (or, of late, an internet link).

Of note are the numerous Roman city maps, showing walls, aqueducts, forts, temples, etc. relative to the natural geography.

I would like to second the comments of Jacques P. Talbot. I bought this book expecting an atlas, that is a book of maps. There are some maps in this book, but they are small and cluttered and I don't really find them useful. The book is mostly pictures and text. It reminds me of that Time-Life series, that is aimed at young people, although this book is not as good as any in that series. The publishers must have changed their mind about what they wanted to do with this book. They should not have put the word "Atlas" on this confused mess. It might be OK as an introduction for people about 14-16 years old, but if you want an atlas with useful maps in it, don't buy this.

This book permits to follow the history of Rome through colorful maps. Visual learner will find great advantage out of this approach. However, this is only an overview and does not add more than that compared to any other book of ancient Roman history. As a previous reviewer has noticed, the battle of Pharsalus was in Thessaly and not in Thrace as mistakenly placed by the author at page 32. Thrace is mainly in today Bulgaria, but overlaps also Turkey and Greece. Thessaly is in central Greece. However, to give Caesar what is Caesar's, another reviewer allegedly claimed to have discovered a mistake at page 16 related to the Temples of Castor and Pollux. In fact, the Penguin's text is correct: the temples were rebuilt by Tiberius (before he became emperor), under Augustus. Augustus adopted Tiberius, who later became Emperor. The practice of adopting would-be emperors was a pragmatic way to ensure a suitable persona for Rome, instead of a inept natural son.

However, the book does not cover the Eastern Roman Empire (lasting for further more centuries) after the fall of the western part. Moreover, the author does not provide useful maps concerning the pressure from barbarians on the borders. Goths were Germanic tribes that moved from the Baltic sea to the Black sea, but this Atlas does not mention it. Why and where the pressure along the borders was mounting is not satisfactorily mentioned either. It is a shame for an historical atlas.

An excellent little booklet on ancient Rome starting from the initial stages as a city state right up to the decline and fall after 378 AD or so. A superb reference book simply because of its small size and quick clear illustrations with maps and diagrams which display important information extremely well, even the little known fact that Chinese ambassadors visited Rome in the age of Marcus Aurelius is fascinating. The book is full of gems like this. It outlines the trade that took place including the silk route to China and India, the major figures including not only the emperors but also the major proponents of art, history and rhetoric such as Cicero and Tacitus. This is a book intended for a quick summary not an in depth detailed look at a topic as such it does this very well indeed.

Highly recommended for a concise history of Rome

In the space of 137 pages, Scarre gives the reader a good understanding of the ebb and flow of the Roman experience from the late Republic to the fall of the Western Empire. The maps are colorful and include a lot of information. But, there is only so much an author can do with 137 pages. A more expansive work with the same presentation would rate more stars.

Perhaps it should be called, "Penguin's Lavishly Illustrated but Brief History of Ancient Rome With a Bunch of Maps." As some reviewers have mentioned, it's really too small -- both in map quantity and size -- to earn the name of an atlas.

Despite that, and the errors mentioned above, there is a lot of info in this book that can be useful -- and some of it is hard to find in other places. The map of sailing times across the Mediterranean, for example, presents information I've only found in Lionel Casson's excellent books -- and presents it in a form much easier to use.

As others have mentioned, the pictures are nice, and the captions are informative. While it falls somewhat short of an atlas, I use it as a quick supplement to other references -- but now I'll be careful to verify what I find here.

What I'm really looking for is a book of large-scale maps of the city and environs of Rome itself from say, 400 BC to 400 AD -- now that would be useful!

The atlas is not that large. I bought four similar atlases all from Penguin and they are all thin books (< 150 pages) and small in size (10" x 7").
Atlases are supposed to be hugh.
However this (and the other 3 books) do contain loads of information.
The book skims over the Republican era. The first map at page 22 and by page 32 the Republic is over.
The book has only a few maps of the expansion of Rome within Italy (hardly a mention of the Samnites, or Sabines; and one small blip on the map for Sparticus)
It has a few maps of Asia Minor at this time. With Carthage and the Punic wars taking up most of these few pre-Empire maps.
Maybe 10 maps to cover 600 years.

We then have many maps to cover the next three hundred years.

Then the book ends abruptly. Shows Constantine's Empire and then quickly shows the Germanic kingdoms and the new Byzantine Empire. And it is over. No maps of Parthia or the neo Persian empires. No maps of the distribution of Germanic tribes outside of Roman areas.

I would have liked to have a bigger book with larger maps. Too many maps cover two pages, so the book binding obscures some information and making a scan of a map is very hard.

On the plus it has many other types of information (unfortunately sometimes repeated by the author in the start of a chapter and later in some specific article).
The types of info include the economy, currency (25 silver Denarius = 1 gold Aureus), the legions (names and numbers at different times), how mines work, the olive oil industry, and of course articles on emperors, politics and religion. A good dozen examples of city maps and a legion camp are shown.

On the whole a good reference and a good read on the history of Rome. But of course a real book with 1000+ pages is required to cover all aspects of the Roman empire. So this is a great companion atlas to that other book. I also got Penguin's Ancient & Medieval Histories (2xMcEvedy) and Ancient Civilizations (Haywood). Together all four give you the info to cover Rome very well.

...which is not all that far, really. This is some pretty basic information on Rome, and boy do events go quickly! If basics are what you're looking for, plus lots of great maps and some cool pictures (everything is full color), then this slim volume is perfect for you. I bought this book as a supplement (recommended by the professor) to a course I was taking in Roman History, and I never read it -- at least not for the course. It's fun to flip through, though, and honestly I would recommend it for younger readers.