A survey of the various ways in which the extensive remains of ancient architecture were reused or destroyed in the crescent from Greece and Turkey through Syria, Palestine, North Africa to Islamic Spain. The book complements and echoes some of the themes in the author's "Marble Past, Monumental Present" (2009). Offering a large number of varied examples, it examines how the ancient landscape was transformed - towns, roads and ports, fountains and waterways, tombs, palaces, villas and inscriptions. It then addresses reuse in churches, mosques and other structures, dealing also with collectors and museum-builders. Also considered are the dismantling and transport of the often massive blocks, and the superstitions surrounding antiquities which contributed to their continuing renown or to their destruction.

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