ABSTRACT

Not only are the book’s fourteen items – presented in three groups – introduced individually, but each group’s distinctive contributions are also outlined. The first group (items 1–7) assembles investigations into the neglected topic of how, and with what success, the classical world was mapped between the mid-nineteenth century and 1990. The second group (items 8–11) opens with the previously unpublished initial plans (1990) and subsequent progress reports of the project to produce what became the Barrington Atlas (2000), the first major classical atlas completed since 1874. Post-publication reflections on the project’s map-making dimension follow. In the third group (items 12–14) are first the call made in 1997 for a ‘center’ to enlarge the achievement of the Barrington Atlas by exploiting digital technology, and then a demonstration of the new Ancient World Mapping Center’s redeployment of Barrington Atlas data for use in historical Geographical Information Systems projects. Last comes a test-case of the repeated concern for how effectively the unavoidable dilemmas confronting all atlas-makers are tackled: a 2007 classical atlas for a German encyclopedia which furnishes a cautionary tale of broad significance.