CD-ROM Review

Ode to a Grecian Disc

Tom Thompson

Perseus 2.0, an industrial-strength interactive guide to ancient Greek culture -- from its archaic period to the era of Alexander the Great -- lives up to its title of Comprehensive Edition. The CD-ROM offers four discs, containing 25,000 images of vases, sculpture, architecture, and sites. It also contains a hypertext chronological history, an encyclopedia of historical and mythological characters and places, the complete works of 31 ancient Greek authors (displayed in both English and Greek), and other resources. By using the included maps, encyclopedia, and history references, you can completely immerse yourself in the era.

But while you shouldn't judge a CD solely by its interface, Perseus's leaves you with a poor impression of the work. The encyclopedia, along with most of the navig ational aids, collected texts, and catalogs, and are in black and white. Fortunately, other parts of the CD-ROM support color, such as the scanned images of vases and sculptures.

However, Perseus also has the annoying habit of making windows disappear: Clicking on the Tools and References icon makes the Gateway window (whose icons steer you to texts, maps, and other source material) vanish, making it difficult to pick up information from the encyclopedia and use it to locate a passage in the text. Persesus offers a treasure trove of information, but its clumsy interface makes you feel like Indiana Jones on a dig, looking for clues among the rubble.

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Product Information

Perseus 2.0...................$350 Comprehensive Edition
..............................$150 Concise Edition

Yale University Press
New Haven, CT
Phone:    (203) 432-0960
Fax:      (203) 432-0948

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Odely Yours

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Perseus's interface combines black and white with color.