John Boardman explores how the ancient Greeks reconstructed their own past - in fact, how they invented it - through objects and images that have either survived to this day, are referenced in texts, or whose existence we can infer.

He also gathers a series of references to ancient authors, which compose a very interesting read in their own right, apart from serving as research material for scholars.

The "Archaeology of Nostalgia" sheds new light on the processes of myth formation and comments on the limitless imagination of a race that created the first modern civilization from the remnants of its past.