Now in a completely revised edition, this bestselling historical atlas has long been established as one of the most clear and comprehensive guides to the evolution of ancient cultures. In a chronological series of maps and accompanying text it traces the movements of races in Europe, the Mediterranean area and the Near East from 50,000 BC to the fourth century AD, including Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Indians, Greeks, Celts and Romans among many other peoples. This is a companion volume to The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, The Penguin Atlas of Modern History (to 1815) and The New Penguin Atlas of Recent History.

The period from the reign of Constantine to the great voyages of discovery--or from the fourth to the fifteenth century--was once seen merely as the long, slow decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Yet, for Europeans, it is also a "supreme story of defeat turned into victory."

Colin McEvedy's pioneering atlas, revised and expanded for this new edition, treats as one unit the Mediterranean, Europe and the nomads' steppeland to the East (the habitat of Huns, Turks and Mongols). Illuminating maps and lively commentaries present the towns and trade routes, the changing population patterns, the boundaries of Christendom (and later Islam) and the ever-shifting political units. The result is a wonderfully eloquent picture, as Dr. McEvedy puts it, "of how old empires fell and new ones rose, and how, in Europe, a new society emerged which had the energy to break free from the geographical, intellectual and technical limitations that defined the medieval world."

'This book will delight any historian. It's a superb gazetteer of 120 centres of ancient civilization' (Daily Telegraph) From Alexandria to York, this unique illustrated guide allows us to see the great centres of classical civilization afresh. The key feature of Cities of the Classical World is 120 specially drawn maps tracing each city's thoroughfares and defences, monuments and places of worship. Every map is to the same scale, allowing readers for the first time to appreciate visually the relative sizes of Babylon and Paris, London and Constantinople. There is also a clear, incisive commentary on each city's development, strategic importance, rulers and ordinary inhabitants. This compelling and elegant atlas opens a new window on to the ancient world, and will transform the way we see it.