Zabern's illustrated books on archeology
Zabern's illustrated books on archeology is a popular scientific archaeological-cultural-historical series of non-fiction books published by Philipp von Zabern .
After Zabern-Verlag took over the magazine Antike Welt in 1990 , the illustrated books were initially published as hardcover editions of the paperback special issues of Antiken Welt . In terms of content, both series were identical, with a massive price advantage for the special editions and a sometimes significant delay between the appearance of the paperback and hardcover editions. The first volume was Leo Trümpelmann's Between Persepolis and Firuzabad in 1992 . Tombs, palaces and rock reliefs in ancient Persia , which appeared about a year after the special issue. Initially the volumes were numbered consecutively, but the numbering was quickly dispensed with completely. In the meantime (beginning of 2019) more than 180 illustrated books have been published, including the special issues since 1973 even more than 200.
From the mid-1990s, the separation between special issues and illustrated books was increasingly abandoned. The special issues have now also been published as hardcover. For a while, the publisher retained a small difference in that the more expensive illustrated books were provided with a dust jacket, while the special issues only had the design of the dust jacket printed on them. In the meantime there is no longer any distinction; Since 1999, the series volumes have also had the note "Special volumes of the ANCIENT WORLD" in the title. In addition, since 2015 there has been a new series of special editions of the Antiken Welt , whose book publications appear outside the series of illustrated books.
The illustrated books cover all areas of archeology , but also cultural history . Books can portray individual cities or landscapes ( Petra , Garamanten , Latmos , Troia , at least a third of the booklets and volumes published since 1973), individual archaeological monuments ( Artemision of Ephesus , Colossus of Rhodes ), museums and collections ( Albertinum , Saalburg Museum , Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum ) or dedicate oneself to a certain topic (ointments and make-up in antiquity, eroticism in ancient art, mass entertainment in ancient Rome, the archaic aqueduct network for Athens, underwater archeology ). In addition, biographically oriented works by certain ancient people are also occasionally published ( Nefertari , Hannibal , Trajan , Hadrian ). Volumes on the anniversaries of the German Archaeological Institute and the German Orient Society also appeared in the series. From 1999 to 2009 the sub-series Orbis Provinciarum appeared , which dealt with the individual provinces of the Roman Empire .
The books are mostly written in a generally understandable manner and are aimed at students and laypeople. Scientists used to be part of the target group; some volumes are still the only processing of certain archaeological subject areas in the German-speaking area. Most of the authors are still recognized experts in their subject area. With the optical revision of the series in the mid-2000s, however, the scientific claim was largely set aside in favor of a popular scientific orientation. The omission of supporting documents by footnotes can serve as an indication of this ; In more recent volumes, however, there are also extensive footnotes available again.