Re: Needed: a new atlas of the ancient world. (off topic)

Bart Ehrman (behrman@email.unc.edu)
Wed, 22 Jan 1997 23:14:47 -0500 (EST)

Jonathan is referring to the ancient atlas project headed by Richard
Talbert in classics/history at UNC Chapel Hill. It's an immense project,
3.5 million dollars and 75 eminent international scholars. Actually, it
may seem "funny" (to quote Jonathan) at first; but the reality is that all
of the atlases currently available utilize the standard atlas that was
done some time in the 1870s (forget the precise date) -- obviously long
before all the major archaeological work that has been so revolutionary in
some areas. One might ask the question, how *do* I know where such or
such a place really was? (We generally *think* we know cause we all rely
on the completely dated information that hasn't been revised for over a
century!)

I don't think this baby will be out in paperback. But libraries
everywhere are sure to get it, and future "Bible Atlases" and the like
will certainly be dependent on it, some of the completely, for many many
years.

-- Bart D. Ehrman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Jonathan Robie wrote:

>
> Hi, Tim!
>
> I saw a web site for a new atlas of the ancient world that won't be done
> until the end of this century. It looks like it will cover what you are
> asking for, including at least northern Africa. I'm not sure exactly what
> the geographical coverage will be.
>
> Here is the URL:
>
> http://www.unc.edu/depts/cl_atlas/
>
> I *do* find it amusing that we need the latest atlas of the ancient world!
> (Yes, yes, I understand the serious need, but I *still* think it's funny.)
>
> Jonathan
>
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