HANDS up everyone who gets frustrated with foreign guidebooks. You know, the type filled with casual references to local historical figures you have never heard of, such as King Otho of Greece.

Never fear. With the Olympics returning home this summer, Athens: A Traveller's History is just the book you need if you are planning to visit the cradle of civilisation and want to leaven your sport with a dash of accessible culture.

The book sets out the city's history in easy-to-read detail with enough panhellenic background to put it in context. It has everything from the first settlers right up to 2004 and devotes plenty of space to the less well-known periods of medieval, Ottoman and 19th century Athens, which are usually just what the traveller knows least about.

Naturally, there is plenty on pre-Roman times - six chapters - which is useful to those like myself who didn't have a classical education and can be confused by the Peloponnesian Wars (Sparta v Athens).

Richard Stoneman has written an academically sound book which is readable and does not dumb down for the layman. Anyone visiting Athens for the Olympics (or otherwise) should read this before setting off and take it along to answer all those tricky questions once in Greece. Such as, who was King Otho? Answer, first King of modern Greece, see Chapter 11.

Updated: 09:10 Wednesday, July 21, 2004