Recent decades have seen a flurry of specialised studies on classical geography, new editions of ancient geographers and a newfound appreciation for pre-modern conceptualisation and occupation of space. Curriculums have changed as well, and teachers no longer gloss over Herodotus' geographical chapters and indeed have begun introducing online mapping tools in ancient history assignments. However, surprisingly little has been published in the way of introductory guides to ancient geography to help students and non-specialists find their way around the many texts and concepts of this vast field of study. The volume under review aims to fill this gap by offering in a little more than one hundred pages an overview of the surviving literature in order ‘to present the extent of ancient geographical knowledge’ as well as ‘the original contexts and formats of geographical records and presentation’ (p. 3). The focus, then, is on the texts themselves. Questions of historical geography are only occasionally addressed. This volume will therefore be of interest to those seeking a guide to approaching ancient geographical texts rather than to the historical experience of geography.

As may be inevitable with this kind of book, D. aligns her subject matter to the conservative way Classics is still taught in some circles. First, this means that the familiar distinction between Greeks and Romans is given more importance than it should. D.'s effort to outline typically Greek and Roman approaches to geography and geographical writing is simplistic and achieved only by reducing ‘Greek’ to the archaic and classical era and ‘Roman’ to the early imperial period (pp. 16–19). Second, late antiquity is largely ignored (the book's coverage stops nominally in 400 a.d.), despite offering several texts worthy of note. Ammianus, Avienus, Theophanes and the Peutinger Map earn quick mentions, but the geography-heavy histories of Orosius, Procopius and Agathias as well as the geographical contributions of Julius Honorius, Martianus Capella and Priscian are presumably left to Byzantinists and Medievalists despite their classical bent. Nevertheless, D.'s choice of limiting her coverage to Classical Antiquity has the advantage of offering students and teachers a cohesive account of scientific and literary trends and will be reassuringly familiar within the usual Classics curriculum.

To help readers navigate ancient geographical literature, the subject matter is wisely divided thematically rather than chronologically. D.'s two main chapters distinguish descriptive geography, the description of places in literature, from mathematical geography, the scientific measurement and division of the earth. The chapter on descriptive geography is an ambitious attempt to synthesise trends in literary representations of places and spaces, from myth and poetry to historiography and travelogues. This is a tall order and the treatment is somewhat uneven: D.'s account of geography in poetry, for example, amounts to little more than a catalogue of myths conveying geographical notions (the Trojan War and Odysseus' wanderings, Heracles, the Argonauts, Perseus), followed by a short overview of didactic poetry and examples of poets integrating new geographical data as ornament in their poetry. Many issues are left untouched, most notably questions of readership and of the transmission of knowledge. D.'s treatment of historians' use of geography is also something of a catalogue, albeit a stronger one, which should be useful as a guide to students reading ancient histories as geographical texts. Also strong is D.'s chapter on mathematical geography, arguably the best and most useful section, presenting in an accessible manner concepts of ancient science both familiar and obscure. These two chapters should suffice to initiate unfamiliar readers into the trends and ideas found in ancient geographical texts, although they should be urged to follow the footnotes and the bibliography to get a more complete picture of certain issues.

One chapter on ancient cartography by K. Brodersen is short and tantalising, as is the evidence itself. The piece is something of an argument against the optimistic conclusions of O.A.W. Dilke's influential book on ancient maps (1985) and successfully argues that maps were not widely used in their time, and that textual descriptions remained always the main vehicle for geographical information. Far less successful is D.'s last chapter on ‘geography in practice’, which explores the place of geographical concepts in everyday life, but in a very limited manner. A few pages on ancient travel barely scratch the surface of this rich topic, and the limited discussion of popular geographical notions offers some disjointed thoughts on the matter. This is a shame, for the topic is important for classicists and ancient historians alike: some geographical notions were handed down in ancient schools, cities used mythological geography to champion alliances, awareness of certain places changed over time according to the rhythms of politics and culture. As noted above, D.'s interest lies with texts rather than with history, and this may explain this chapter's failure to grapple successfully with historical questions and the historical reality.

The volume includes a list of authors and works, which will help those unfamiliar with ancient scientific literature locate more primary sources. There is unfortunately no attempt to introduce readers to the history of scholarship on ancient geography, nor to theoretical or methodological trends within it (aside from a mention of Felix Jacoby), and curious readers will need to rely for this on the otherwise excellent and up-to-date bibliography.

These criticisms should not indicate that this is an unwelcome book. On the contrary, it is a pleasure finally to have an introduction to ancient geography and geographical concepts to put in the hands of students or to recommend to classicists wanting to know more about this important topic. It should, however, be considered a bare-bones introduction, with some topics treated more in depth. Readers will find this book a useful introduction to ancient geographical literature, but only by reading more will they learn about what is becoming a rich and varied field of inquiry.