Nineteen Bible Atlases Compared

The map illustrations with this atlas review are reproduced exactly the same size as they appear on the atlas pages. In most instances we have chosen comparable map sections so that readers may easily compare type and line quality, topographical rendering, and historical, Biblical and geographical information.

The Historical Geography of the Holy Land

By George Adam Smith

(Collins: London, 1966) 512 pp., 10 black-and-white maps, no photos

Still one of the best Biblical geographies in print, this work is also one of the earliest (first edition: 1894). George Adam Smith combined the site identification research of Edward Robinson and other early explorers with thorough descriptions of the various geographical regions that comprise the lands of the Bible. Smith’s descriptions of the land are both accurate and poetic. He did not hesitate to comment on the theological significance of Biblical historical geography. Though the maps are out of date and many of the site identifications are now known to be incorrect, the theological and literary contributions of this work are timeless.

The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible

Edited by George Ernest Wright and Floyd V. Filson

(Westminster Press: Philadelphia, 1945, revised 1956) 130 pp., 34 maps (33 in color), 87 black-and-white photos, $18.95

Westminster was the first major publisher to incorporate the results of archaeological excavations and explorations in its atlas maps. The authoritative text and many high-quality photographs in this atlas set a standard from which few authors of subsequent atlases dared to depart. The site identifications and dating reflect the conclusions of W. F. Albright, who died in 1971. Since this volume was published, archaeological “surface surveys” and excavations conducted by Israeli and other archaeologists have shown many of Albright’s site identifications to be untenable.

The hand-drawn map shading reproduced by halftone engraving in this volume was innovative for 1945, but the shading in many places is incorrect; for example, a large nonexistent mountain appears in the Wilderness of Paran in the map on p. 66. On the other hand, the shading for the Jerusalem topographical map on p. 108 is excellent, making it even today the best topographical map of Jerusalem. Though the work is only 130 pages long, its large format makes its text equivalent to almost 200 pages. The index of place names at the end of the book was the most complete listing available when the book was published, but the index lacks many entries included in later gazetteers.

George Ernest Wright was Professor of Old Testament History and Theology and Floyd V. Filson was Professor of New Testament Literature and History at McCormick Theological Seminary.

Rand McNally Bible Atlas

By Emil G. Kraeling

(Rand McNally: New York, 1956) 487 pp., 61 maps (22 in color), 173 black-and-white photos

Translating the technical jargon of Biblical criticism into non-technical language in order to convey Biblical history to the layperson is one of the goals of this atlas. For example, the Pentateuchal narratives are spoken of as being written by an earlier author, a younger author, a youngest author and an editor instead of as coming from a J (Yahwist) source, an E (Elohist) source, a P (Priestly) source and a D (Deuteronomic) source. The text is thorough, commenting on most Biblical passages that lend themselves to geographical interpretation. The work fairly consistently follows W. F. Albright’s dating and site identifications and consequently does not reflect the correction of Albright’s work by later scholars.

The political maps have sawtooth lines where boundaries are not definitely known. The overlapping colors in these areas are distracting. Another weakness of the color maps is that shading to show elevations was added in a very imprecise way; specific features cannot be identified. The smaller black-and-white maps are not more accurate than the color ones. They do not indicate elevations by contour lines. The maps fail to achieve the author’s stated goal for them: to “take the reader back to those ancient times and places.”

Historical Atlas of the Holy Land

Edited by Emil G. Kraeling

(Rand McNally: New York, 1959) 88 pp., 48 maps (22 in color), 38 black-and-white photos

A shorter version of the Rand McNally Bible Atlas, this volume retains 22 color maps and 26 black-and-white maps from the longer volume but sacrifices all but about 30 pages of text. But the maps in the Rand McNally Atlas were not creatively done; the text was that volume’s strongest point!

Atlas of the Bible

By Lucas H. Grollenberg

(Thomas Nelson and Sons: London, 1959) 166 pp., 37 color maps, 408 black-and-white photos

The most impressive feature of this richly illustrated work is its 37 maps printed in eight colors. For the first time in a historical atlas, overprinted legends on maps locate Biblical events, and arrows indicate the movements of various peoples. These techniques have great teaching value and were adopted by National Geographic in their “Map of Bible Lands” by W. Chamberlin, printed in 1966. The Grollenberg atlas also contains 408 unusual and beautiful photographs.

The text, introduced in a foreword written by W. F. Albright, treats the historical geography of Israel critically and theologically. A 26-page index assigns a “degree of probability” to the suggested identifications of problematic sites.

Grollenberg sometimes describes events from a theological viewpoint that many readers will find offensive. For example, in describing the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. (p. 139), Grollenberg makes a highly questionable historical statement: “But for the Christians [the destruction of the Temple] was a material confirmation of a spiritual certainty. For them, the glory of Yahweh no longer dwelt in the Temple in Jerusalem, but in the glorified body of Jesus … The building destroyed by the Roman legions had lost all meaning and purpose with the glorification of Jesus.”

When he wrote this atlas, Grollenberg was a lecturer at the Albertinum Theological Seminary in Holland. He also worked at the excavations at Tell el-Farah.

The Penguin Shorter Atlas of the Bible

By Lucas H. Grollenberg

(Penguin Books: London, 1978) 265 pp., 10 color maps, 199 black-and-white photos, $6.95

This inexpensive paperback edition is a condensed version of Grollenberg’s larger work. The text is briefer and more readable than the text in the larger Atlas of the Bible. The Shorter Atlas includes background chapters, chapters on Old and New Testament history, and many good aerial photographs of archaeological sites. Only ten maps—seven Old Testament, one Inter-Testamental, and two New Testament—appear in the Penguin edition. The small size of the maps eliminates most of the useful features included in the larger atlas. Understanding these small maps is hindered by the absence of regional maps that would clarify their context.

The section dealing with the destruction of the Temple does not appear in the Shorter Atlas.

Baker’s Bible Atlas

By Charles F. Pfeiffer

(Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, 1961, revised 1973, 1979) 340 pp., 38 maps (19 in color), 86 black-and-white photos, $15.95

This atlas features 19 color maps (prepared by the famous mapmakers, the C. S. Hammond Company) illustrating the Old and New Testaments. The color and black-and-white maps in the original edition do not show the topography of the Bible lands, but the color maps in the latest edition show topographical features in extensive detail. (The black-and-white maps still lack detailed topographical shading.)

The text of this atlas is divided into sections corresponding to chronological periods in the Biblical narrative. One chapter discusses Biblical archaeology in the 20th century. A good gazetteer (index) gives ancient names of sites, descriptions of their locations Biblical references, and numbers of the maps on which the sites appear in the atlas.

Macmillan Bible Atlas

By Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi Yonah

(Macmillan: New York, 1968, revised 1977) 184 pp., 264 two-color maps, $25.95

Every episode in the Bible that can be mapped has been mapped here, from the campaigns of the kings of the north during Abraham’s time (recorded in Genesis 14) to the battle of the pool of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2) to Paul’s voyage to Rome (Acts 27–28). Never has a Bible atlas been produced with more maps. This is partly due to the cartographic skills of Carta, the well-known Jerusalem mapmakers, as well as to the general Israeli approach to Biblical studies, which tends to view the Bible more historically than theologically. The work has been well received and has undergone a number of reprintings and a revision.

This excellent atlas was prepared by the two leading Israeli scholars in the historical geography of the Old and New Testament periods, Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah. Maps 1 to 171 were edited by Aharoni and are full of information to aid in the interpretation of the Old Testament. Maps 172 to 264 were edited by Avi-Yonah and provide a rich background for understanding the history of the Inter-Testamental and New Testament periods. These maps are weak for illustrating the Gospel narratives, however. Few maps deal directly with the Gospels, and some of the locations on the maps are based upon unreliable church traditions.

Aside from map 60 (one of 25 maps illustrating the period of the Judges!), most of the maps have poor shading and do not give much of a feel for the land. Not one of the maps has multiple colors. The work has an index of geographical names that appear on the maps, but the index does not give descriptions of the various sites.

The most important contribution of this volume is its provision of so many maps illustrating the influence of geography on the Biblical narrative and its interpretation.

The Zondervan Pictoral Bible Atlas

Edited by E. M. Blaiklock

(Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1969 revised 1978) 540 pp., 63 two-color maps, 6 black-and-white maps, 33 color maps, 227 black-and-white photos, $19.95

This almost-550-page book contains 200 pages of text covering the Inter-Testamental and New Testament periods. In the first edition the maps were poorly executed with practically no indication of topography. The latest edition contains a new section with 33 historical maps in color by Carta. Although this atlas was first published in 1969 and revised in 1978, many of the photographs in it are the old releases by Matson and Levant Photo Services from the early decades of the 20th century—often charming and useful for showing details no longer visible, but lacking recent exposures of archaeological remains. Four appendixes include a gazetteer of the cities of the Bible and a discussion of Biblical archaeology and the languages and geology of Bible lands.

Jewish History Atlas

By Martin Gilbert

(Macmillan: New York, 1969, revised 1977) 128 pp., 112 black-and-white maps, $14.95

Martin Gilbert’s atlas surveys 4,000 years of Jewish history in 112 maps. The maps contain brief historical notes and descriptions in boxes; the atlas has no separate text section. The major contribution of this atlas is the number of maps illustrating the post-Biblical periods. Old and New Testament periods are covered in 20 maps. The maps do not show topographical features; their intent is to illustrate geopolitical areas. Many maps have site locations carelessly placed (e.g. the Hasmonian map on p. 11 misplaces Gamala, Gadara, Amathus, Pella and Gerasa).

Atlas of Israel

Edited by Joseph Elster

(Elsevier: Amsterdam, 1970) 294 pp., 368 maps (354 in color), no photos, $276.75

The subtitle of this massive atlas produced by Israeli cartographers working on a survey of Israel indicates the broad scope of the subject matter the atlas treats: “Cartography, Physical, Geography, Human and Economic Geography, and History.” World powers that ruled Israel from ancient times to the 20th century are shown on 16 historical maps. Included in the relatively small number of geographical maps is a large 1:250,000 scale map of the entire country. Most of these materials have been published elsewhere, but the atlas also includes a rich variety of other maps in beautiful colors illustrating human and economic geography.

The statistics used to compile the maps were gathered before the inclusion of the West Bank of Jordan under Israeli administration in 1967. This area, important to Biblical history, is consequently left blank on most of the maps. This atlas has no page numbers.

Atlas of the Biblical World

By Denis Baly and A. D. Tushingham

(World: New York, 1971) 208 pp., 49 maps (14 in color), 69 photos (16 in color)

The maps in this volume are the most detailed topographical maps available. Not only do they illustrate land elevations, but they also show geology, vegetation and land forms. Unfortunately, the Jerusalem maps have a number of elevation mistakes. It is too bad that the historical maps in this volume are not of the same generally high quality as the topographical maps. These historical maps are black-and-white, the site identifications are not up-to-date, and there are no political boundary lines or arrows to help the student understand the Biblical narrative.

The text of this atlas relates specific Biblical narratives to the larger Biblical world. The 69 photographs by Baly beautifully illustrate geographical features. The work features a thorough map index.

Baly is a geographer and Biblical scholar who has lived and done research in the Middle East for 16 years. Tushingham was chief archaeologist of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, when this volume was written. The color maps were developed by Baly and drawn by Hal Skelton of Jeppesen and Company.

The Geography of the Bible

By Denis Baly

(Harper and Row: New York, 1957, revised 1974) 288 pp., 62 maps (6 in color) 61 black-and-white photos, $16.95

In a sense, this atlas is a modern version of George Adam Smith’s earlier work on Biblical historical geography. Baly uses Biblical terminology whenever possible to explain such things as geology, climate and vegetation. Baly’s major addition to the extensive geographical contributions of Israeli scholars is his thorough coverage of Jordan and, to some extent, of other Arab countries on the fringes of Bible lands.

The maps in this volume are too general for the serious student to glean much specific information from them, but the Biblical index is very useful. Many of the photographs are Baly’s and beautifully illustrate the features of the land.

Macmillan Atlas History of Christianity

By Franklin H. Litell

(Macmillan: New York, 1974) 176 pp., 196 two-color maps, no photos, $24.95

The history of the Christian movement can be surveyed in many ways. Littell concentrates on times and places of crisis and decision; for example, some of the maps illustrate Christological debates and early councils, teachers and persecutions, and Christianity and Gnosticism. One of the most refreshing characteristics of the work is that Littell recognizes the importance of the role of the Jewish people and Islam in the definition and development of Christianity. The following quote illustrates the approach taken by the author: “Wholesale murder of Jews by ‘Christians’ is a matter as serious for the salvation of the baptized as it has been for the survival of the circumcised.”

Only the first dozen maps in this volume relate to the New Testament period. The others cover the history of the Christian Church from the first to the 20th century. They do not overlap with the New Testament section of the Macmillan Bible Atlas but deal with such subjects as Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, Jewish settlement in the Mediterranean, the Greek and Roman worlds, and traditions concerning the travels of the Apostles.

Franklin Hamlin Littell studied at Union Theological Seminary and Yale University. When this atlas was written, he taught at Temple University, Philadelphia. The maps were prepared under the direction of Emanuel Hausman of Carta in Jerusalem and follow the same format as those in the Macmillan Bible Atlas.

Oxford Bible Atlas

By Herbert G. May

(Oxford University Press: London and New York, 1974) 144 pp., 26 color maps, 89 black-and-white photos, $14.95

Three features of this atlas merit special mention: (1) May has included a long introductory chapter on geographical and historical backgrounds with relevant chronological charts; (2) R. W. Hamilton has written a concluding chapter on archaeology and the Bible with excellent archaeological photographs; (3) pages 121 to 143 contain a thorough gazetteer of Biblical sites with brief summaries of archaeological periods represented, archaeological remains, and important Biblical references (for example, “Affuleh—site inhabited since prehistoric times, sometimes identified with Ophrah of Judges 6:11”; “Ain ed-Duyuk—site of ancient cemetery and ruined synagogue”).

On the sample map from the period of the Judges, note how the colors and shading help show the mountains and the dry Jordan Valley. Tribal and geopolitical lines are not included, but the red cities of refuge and Philistine cities are helpful. Because this atlas was published in 1974, it was surprising to see the older (now rejected) locations for Gath and Debir (in area W-6). However, the map does follow recent archaeological conclusions for the location of Arad (in area X-6).

This atlas is intended to be brief. It is not an oversize volume, which makes it convenient to use. May has provided a full page of textual background (including the most important Biblical and extra-Biblical materials relevant to the map) opposite each of the 26 maps in this volume.

The Holman Bible Atlas

Edited by Jerry L. Hooper

(Holman: Nashville, 1978) 115 pp., 88 color maps, 58 color photos, $6.95

This small atlas does not attempt to give much historical background to the 38 Biblical events it illustrates on its maps. Each map has a summary paragraph that points out important sites, routes and dates. The Biblical text relevant to the map is also printed. A major weakness of the work is that no attempt is made to develop a flow of history. Each Biblical event is treated in isolation, as though the atlas is a collection of notes from separate lectures. Page 65 illustrates Old Testament sites in Ammon, Moab and Edom; page 66 deals with the ministry of Jesus.

A unique contribution of the maps is that they view the land from an angle, in the direction of the movement of the characters in the Biblical narrative. This approach would be an excellent way to help the reader identify with the influence of geography on the movement of the Biblical characters, but because the shading on the maps is not carefully done, many valleys appear to be mountains, and a number of large mountains are missing. Mount Moreh is missing from the map on page 66 and incorrectly located in the map on page 33. Also, on this latter map the Valley of Jezreel, which is flat, is shaded to look hilly and shading for the 1,731-foot elevation of Mt. Gilboa does not appear. These misrepresentations diminish our understanding of the Biblical narrative illustrated on p. 33.

Student Map Manual

Chief consultant: James Monson

(Pictorial Archive: Jerusalem, 1979) 168 pp., 109 color maps, no photos, $30.00 (Distributed by Zondervan Publishing House)

This work is designed as a detailed regional study of the historical geography of Israel. The work serves as a supplement to the Macmillan Bible Atlas by Aharoni and Avi-Yonah, whose site identifications are generally followed. The maps provide a detail not available in the Macmillan maps. The shading by Mrs. M. Karmon of the Hebrew University Department of Geography is extremely accurate—every hill 100 meters high is shown! Instead of contour lines, beautifully blended contour color accents elevations, adding further realism to the natural appearance of the map.

Cities referred to in historical texts are marked in red rather than in black. A good index provides Biblical and extra-Biblical sources for each historical map. The maps do not contain boundaries of political regions. An unusual feature of these maps is that they are oriented with east at the top, as were ancient maps. Independently of Pictorial Archive James Monson has produced a supplementary volume for teachers, which is available through the Institute of Holy Land Studies, P. O. Box 1276, Jerusalem, Israel.

Bible History Atlas

By F. F. Bruce

(Crossroad: New York, 1982) 93 pp., 99 color maps, no photos, $14.95

The text of this atlas summarizes key Biblical events in their geographical contexts. The work is geared to the layperson. The maps, though beautiful, do not help us to understand the effect of geography and topography on Biblical events. The map pictured above is one of the more realistic representations of Bible lands. Most of the maps are so abstract one wonders for what purpose the designers felt anyone might have wished to consult them.

F. F. Bruce held the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at Manchester University until his retirement in 1978.

Atlas of the Roman World

By Tim Cornell and John Matthews

(Facts on File: New York, 1982) 240 pp., 93 color maps, 216 color photos, 144 black-and-white photos, $35.00

This book could really be called a “cultural atlas” because it deals with many aspects of Roman civilization, for example, religion, the Roman army, archaeological sites, technology, and public shows. (See BAR’s review, Books in Brief, BAR 09:05.) The book covers the growth of Rome from about 800 B.C. when it was a small village to about 500 A.D. when Rome had declined from its zenith as an empire. This atlas also includes chronological tables, a bibliography and a gazetteer.

The strength of the work is that it is an atlas of the entire Roman world. The reader interested only in Palestine will find that discussion of this area is limited to pages 160–163. The beauty and precision of the maps illustrations (257 in color!), and printing in this volume are amazing.

Tim Cornell currently is Lecturer in Ancient History at University College, London. John Matthews is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at the Queen’s College, Oxford.

The map illustrations with this atlas review are reproduced exactly the same size as they appear on the atlas pages. In most instances we have chosen comparable map sections so that readers may easily compare type and line quality, topographical rendering, and historical, Biblical and geographical information.

The Historical Geography of the Holy Land