A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans from, the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roman Empire

Abstract

THIS is one of that class of monumental and scholarly works which have almost died out in these days of multitudinous magazines and rapid publication, when authors have not patience to wait the completion of a work before they begin to publish. Mr. Bunbury's work is the task of a lifetime, and he well deserves the laurels bestowed upon him by the Geographical Society. It is both scholarly and scientific, the product of patient, wide, and thorough research, and treats a complicated subject with such completeness, clearness, and sound sense, that it is difficult to see how it can be supplemented or superseded. Much has been written on the subject of ancient, and especially classical geography, in Germany and France, and with all that has been written Mr. Bunbury is evidently familiar; his work, however, is in some respects superior to anything that has preceded it. His method is thoroughly scientific; he wastes but little space in endeavouring to extract a grain of sound geography from a bushel of legendary chaff, as so many of his pedantic predecessors have done. He weighs his evidence with rigid impartiality, is never content with second-hand authorities when the originals are attainable, and accepts no conclusions of previous writers unless led thereto by his own researches. He is thus compelled to reject much that has been hitherto accepted by those who have written on the subject.

A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans from, the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roman Empire.

By E. H. Bunbury. With Twenty Illustrative Maps. Two Vols. (London: John Murray, 1879.)