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The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Hist Atlas)User Review: - Simple and attractive bird's eye view of the rise and fall of RomeThis 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. User Review:  - Historical Atlas of Where?!?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. User Review: - Needed better proofingA nice looking book, but as I get into it the need for better editorial work is showing. The battle of Pharsalus is mistakenly placed in Thrace instead of in Thessaly, and two pages later the battle of Philippi is called the battle of Pharsalus! Another reviewer noted that Tacitus is misspelled in the Foreword. This book was published in 1995, so things like this should have been fixed by now. Maybe the rest will be acccurate, but so far it does not inspire confidence. User Review: - Not bad, as far as it goes......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. User Review:  - A great aid for people learning about RomeMy young son and I are planning a trip to Italy this summer, so we've been learning what we can about Roman history. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to visualize how the empire expanded and contracted, and how the various military campaigns came about, on the basis of text alone. This book of maps is a good way to get a mental picture of what you are learning. The text is OK but cursory and does not add as much to the pictures. However, if you would like to have a good set of Roman maps in a single, portable, location, this is an excellent choice. |
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