ABSTRACT
After publication of the Barrington Atlas in 2000, a cartographic journal invited these reflections on the multiple interlocking choices made for the maps, illustrated here in color (see further items 1 and 9): their size, coverage, scales, timespan, base materials, colors, presentation, compilation by dozens of scholars (most without previous experience of cartography), layout, production during a decade when digital methods became sufficiently robust to supersede film-based ones, and finally publication. The influence, both positive and negative, exerted by the nature of comparable projects to map the classical world during the past century and more is outlined (see further items 7 and 8). There is also comparison with the Historical Atlas of Canada (1987-1993), a recent major work with different aims and character; its makers nonetheless had to confront many similar dilemmas and addressed them in surprisingly similar ways.
