Hist Topography Antiquities

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Excerpt from Aetolia: Its Geography, Topography, and Antiquities Topography is the foundation of history. No one who has familiarized himself with Attic history in books, and has afterwards ascended Pente licus and seen that history spread forth before him in the valleys and mountains and sea that have moulded it, will ever disbelieve in the value of topography as an aid to history. Yet few that study Greek history, and play the part of examiner or examinee in it, realize what we owe to the greatest of modern topographers, Leake. Who, that goes through the usual course of highest honours in ancient history and literature, ever hears the fame of Leake, or knows that he has done more to make a real understanding of Greek life possible than any other Englishman of this century? We all know Curtius' History of Greece how many of us know a finer and greater work, Curtius' Peloponnesos? Some of us are even so narrow as to imagine that the reading of some modern books, supplemented by a little study of Thucydides, Herodotus, and Xenophon (a few reach Polybius - how very few go deeper I), will enable us to understand ancient history. If we want to understand the ancients, and especially the Greeks, we must breathe the same air that they did, and saturate ourselves with the same scenery and the same nature that wrought upon them. For this end correct topography is a necessary, though a humble, servant.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.