Customer Reviews

Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient Greek World

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This book was intended as an introduction to the study of Greek temples and their archaeology, as well as their function in Greek religion for serious students. It fills this role rather well.

The book is divided into four basic sections covering (in order) Greek religion, development of Greek temples and temple architecture, history behind various sanctuaries, and the history of Greek sanctuaries after the fall of the Greek world (under Rome, Turks, and others).

As an introduction goes, I think it is pretty good. However it is fairly limited in most topics and I felt some of the discussions lacked any real depth. While it is a good first book on the subject, I would recommend students also pick up works like "Greek Religion" by Walter Burkert.

One area the book does fairly well, however, is with diagrams, maps, and photographs. These add an element to the work that complements other works with more depth.

On the whole, I would recommend this book.

I am planning a trip to Greece (it will be my first time) and was thrilled with this book. Although it doesn't go as in-depth as others, it is a great introduction to major sites. I also bought The Complete Greek Temples which is another survey book. The latter is more encyclopedia but does not give as much in depth info on these five sites. I recommend both of these books for those planning a trip.