Lost Cities from the Ancient World

This beautiful book about the cities of the ancient world is published by White Star, an Italian publishing house that specialises in picture books. It is edited by two Italian archaeologists, Maria Teresa Guaitoli and Simone Rambaldi. The text on the inside of the jacket explains the purpose of the book in this way:

“This book is a tribute to the great cities of the past, masterpieces of urban construction, treasure chests of art and history and, not least, the places where human kind cultivated the social roots and developed the multiethnic and cosmopolitan societies that today govern the destiny of our planet.”

The main text is divided into five sections. Each section covers a region of the world and presents a number of ancient cities. The total number of cities is 29. Here is a brief overview of the contents:

EUROPE

Knossos, Mycenae, Athens, Rome, and Pompeii

AFRICA

Thebes, Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Thugga, and Volubilis

THE MIDDLE EAST

Ur, Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Ephesus, Gerasa, Palmyra, and Baalbek
 
THE FAR EAST
Hampi, Angkor, Pagan, and Ayutthaya

THE AMERICAS

Teotihuacán, Palenque, Tikal, Chichén Itzá, Tiahuanaco, Chan Chan, and Machu Picchu

The book concludes with a reference section where we find an index, biographies of the authors and a bibliography that is divided into 29 sections, one for each of the 29 ancient cities.

The book is fully illustrated with photos, drawings and maps that show the layout of each of the 29 ancient cities. All illustrations are in colour, except for the maps and a few old photos which are black-and-white.

In a picture book the quality of the illustrations should be high. It is. And many illustrations should be published in a large size. They are.

Over the years I have visited 15 of the 29 cities that are presented here. Using my personal experience as a guideline I will say that each of the 29 cities gets a fair presentation.

White Star has published another book that gives a global view of the ancient world: Hidden Treasures of Antiquity edited by Alberto Siliotti.

At first glance the two books seem to cover the same topic, but in fact they do not. The first one - Lost Cities - is about life, while the second one - Hidden Treasures - is about death. The focus is on ancient tombs and the treasures that were discovered inside them. Moreover, the locations are not the same. Only a few - like Angkor, Palmyra and Teotihuacán - appear in both books. They complement each other.

Since this book presents 29 cities, we cannot expect to find a large number of details about each city. What we can expect is that every detail that is included is correct. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are flaws, not only misprints, but factual mistakes. For some reason most of them are in the first part of the book, and in many cases they are to be found in the captions, not the main text. Here are some examples:

* Page 12 (the caption for a picture on pages 14-15): “View of the Forum, Leptis Magna.” This picture does not show the Forum, it shows the Marketplace (macellum).

* Page 27: “… with Adriane’s help…” Who is this person? It must be Ariadne, the daughter of king Minos.

* Page 29 (the caption): “… what the palace must have looked like around 400 B.C.” It should be 1400 BC.

* Page 44 (the caption): “At the lower right is Pericles’ Odeion with a pointed roof much like a Persian tent.” This monument is not visible, because it is hidden behind another illustration, the calf bearer!

* Page 46: “… built during the time of Peisostratis around 529-520 B.C.” Who is this person? It must be Peisistratos, who died in 527 or 528 BC. The name is wrong, and so are the dates given with the name.

* Page 52 (the caption): “This view of the west façade of the Parthenon…” This picture does not show the Parthenon, it shows the entrance to the Acropolis, the Propylaea. Moreover, it is not seen from the west, but from the east.

* Page 59 (the caption): “… at left is the Arch of Titus…” The Arch of Titus is on the right, and only a small part is visible in this photo.

* Page 63: “Basilica Fulvia-Emilia.” The correct Latin name is Fulvia-Aemilia.

* Page 63: “… a long economic recession that was largely responsible for the conflict between the patricians and the plebs.” The author seems to confuse cause and effect. It would be more accurate to say the long economic recession was caused by the conflict between the patricians and the plebs.

* Page 67: “the Claudian emperors 14-54 A.D.” There is no Claudian dynasty; there is a Julio-Claudian dynasty, which ruled from 27 BC until AD 68, i.e. from Augustus to Nero.

* Page 71 (the caption): “The Theatre of Marcellus was named after Augustus’ grandson, who died at an early age.” Marcellus was not Augustus’ grandson, he was his son-in-law. He was married to Augustus’ daughter Julia.

* Page 116: “Sabartha.” This is merely a misprint. The correct name Sabratha is used in all other cases.

* Page 224: “… over a surface area of 9,800 achers.” It should be acres.

* Page 234 (the caption): “Ratchabaurana.” This is merely a misprint. The correct name Ratchaburana is used in all other cases.

* Page 266 (the caption): “266 - The Pyramid of the Lost World…” The picture of this pyramid is on page 267.

Misprints and mistakes like these are unfortunate. But in spite of these flaws I have to say this is a great book with informative text and splendid illustrations.

The text on the inside of the jacket says this book follows “a fascinating trail to some of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world.” I have to agree.

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Maria Teresa Guaitoli and Simone Rambaldi,

Lost Cities from the Ancient World,

White Star Books, 2002, 2006,

Format 26 x 36 cm, 312 pages

 

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