The Art & Architecture of Ancient Greece: An illustrated account of classical Greek buildings, sculptures and paintings, shown in 200 glorious photographs and drawings Paperback – March 16, 2012

Plenty of pictures. Detailed information about things in Greece. Held my attention. Makes a great coffee table book.

My professor taught about Greek architecture history, saw this and excited to read little more in depth of what she taught us.

There are no footnotes for this book and therefore no obvious sources for the opinions expressed. On the other hand, all of the pictures are referenced to: The Art Archive, The Ancient Art & Architecture Collection, The Bridgeman Art Library, Corbis, Photo12·com, and Werner Forman Archive. The illustrations were selected by Peter Bull Art Studio.As seems to be often the case, the author may not have had much to do with the actual production.There was an editor presumably able to correct syntax but unable to recognise obvious mistakes of fact.The architectural explanations are definitely dated and sometimes confused. Take, for example, the understanding of entasis. This is correctly described with regard to the columns of the Temple of Aphaea on the island of Aegina but wrongly applied to the stylobate of the Temple of Apollo at Corinth which is described as having ‘the first example of entasis, the device to correct the illusion of drooping in the middle that would arise if the base was really level.’Most of the photos are good but some decidedly washed-out.There are two small photos of the Charioteer of Delphi, neither showing his full height, which is strange since the text draws attention to his long robe.There’s a very small photo of part of the Altar of Zeus (from Pergamum but now in Berlin) when it really deserves at least a half-page photo.There’s a half-page photo of the Alexander Mosaic (from Pompeii) when it deserves a double-page photo. A separate small close-up of King Darius is horribly miscoloured and therefore pointless.There’s a close-up photo from the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus (looted from Lebanon by the Ottoman Turks and now in Istanbul). A photo of the whole sarcophagus would have been useful.The book is well bound in quires with thread. The glossy pages are quite thick and therefore non see-through. I bought this book from The Book Depository (which is owned by Amazon). I could have done without it.

this large format outline of greek art, architecture, sculpture and pottery was, for me, the complete range of knowledge i was after - not endless technical stuff and side issues, just a splendidly illustrated and adequately detailed look at this wonderful culture which has had such an impact on everything that followed - definitely recommended.

73歳になって、もはや特定の目的やテーマで調べたり書いたりすることがなくなったのを幸いとしてアマゾンで入手したＴＡＳＣＨＥＮのMichelanjero, Da Vinciと読み（見て）、次にゲーテやヘーゲルが最高の芸術として讃えていたギリシャ美術についてまとまった知識を得ようと、再びアマゾンで調べて最新刊のこの本を求めて予想以上の図版の多さ、美しさ、説明の詳しさ、新しさに夢中になって読み（見）進めた。若いころからドイツ語の概説書を持ってはいたのだが学校で、そのずば抜けた偉大さを説いたりしていたのだが単独の本をもとに研究したのは老後になってからで感慨深い。死まで時折手にして慰めとしたい。　さてイギリスの本らしく非常に行き届いた編集なのだが、ギリシャや地中海周辺を文中の古典的地名で表わした地図がなく現代のイギリス製地図で探しても、それらは現地語表記なので苦労した。この点でも「ランダムハウス大英和」（初版）は助けになった。　もうひとつ、同書の年表（13ページ）で、わたしも名前だけ知っている、あのインド最高の哲人王で仏教を国教にたアソカ（アショカ）王（治世274-232ＢＣ）の一部先祖がギリシャ人である、とあるので驚いた。アレキサンダー大王のインド遠征（326ＢＣ）のとき残ったギリシャ兵の子孫でもあるのか。手元の日英の事典をみても書いていないことである。アマゾンのユーザーの方々にも研究してもらいたいことである。　みかけは大きく美しいこともあり入門書の感じだが内容は日本はもちろん欧米でも概説書であろう。日本で類書は存在しないと思う。

Ideal gift

thanx