Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 416
ISBN-13:
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Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia
Author: Svetlana Pankova
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Published: 2021-01-21
Total Pages: 802
ISBN-13: 1789696488
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book presents 45 papers presented at a major international conference held at the British Museum during the 2017 BP exhibition 'Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia'. Papers include new archaeological discoveries, results of scientific research and studies of museum collections, most presented in English for the first time.
The Scythians
Author: Barry Cunliffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-09-26
Total Pages: 352
ISBN-13: 0192551868
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBrilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved. Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.
Scythians and Greeks
Author: Ellis H. Minns
Publisher:
Published: 1913
Total Pages: 820
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the Land of a Thousand Gods
Author: Christian Marek
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2018-12-18
Total Pages: 820
ISBN-13: 0691182906
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis monumental book provides the first comprehensive history of Asia Minor from prehistory to the Roman imperial period. In this English-language edition of the critically acclaimed German book, Christian Marek masterfully employs ancient sources to illuminate civic institutions, urban and rural society, agriculture, trade and money, the influential Greek writers of the Second Sophistic, the notoriously bloody exhibitions of the gladiatorial arena, and more.
An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis
Author: Mogens Herman Hansen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2004-11-11
Total Pages: 1413
ISBN-13: 0198140991
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the first ever documented study of the 1,035 identifiable Greek city states (poleis) of the Archaic and Classical periods (c.650-325 BC). Previous studies of the Greek polis have focused on Athens and Sparta, and the result has been a view of Greek society dominated by Sophokles', Plato's, and Demosthenes' view of what the polis was. This study includes descriptions of Athens and Sparta, but its main purpose is to explore the history andorganization of the thousand other city states.The main part of the book is a regionally organized inventory of all identifiable poleis covering the Greek world from Spain to the Caucasus and from the Crimea to Libya. This inventory is the work of 47 specialists, and is divided into 46 chapters, each covering a region. Each chapter contains an account of the region, a list of second-order settlements, and an alphabetically ordered description of the poleis. This description covers such topics as polis status,territory, settlement pattern, urban centre, city walls and monumental architecture, population, military strength, constitution, alliance membership, colonization, coinage, and Panhellenic victors.The first part of the book is a description of the method and principles applied in the construction of the inventory and an analysis of some of the results to be obtained by a comparative study of the 1,035 poleis included in it. The ancient Greek concept of polis is distinguished from the modern term `city state', which historians use to cover many other historic civilizations, from ancient Sumeria to the West African cultures absorbed by the nineteenth-century colonializingpowers. The focus of this project is what the Greeks themselves considered a polis to be.
Gandharan Buddhism
Author: Kurt Behrendt
Publisher: UBC Press
Published: 2011-11-01
Total Pages: 329
ISBN-13: 0774841281
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe ancient region of Gandhara, with its prominent Buddhist heritage, has long fascinated scholars of art history, archaeology, and textual studies. Discoveries of inscriptions, text fragments, sites, and artworks in the last decade have added new pieces to the Gandharan puzzle, redefining how we understand the region and its cultural complexity. The essays in this volume reassess Gandharan Buddhism in light of these findings, utilizing a multidisciplinary approach that illuminates the complex historical and cultural dynamics of the region. By integrating archaeology, art history, numismatics, epigraphy, and textual sources, the contributors articulate the nature of Gandharan Buddhism and its practices, along with the significance of the relic tradition. Contributions by several giants in the field, including Shoshin Kuwayama, John Rosenfield, and the late Maurizio Taddei, set the geographical, historical, and archaeological parameters for the collection. The result is a productive interdisciplinary conversation on the enigmatic nature of Gandharan Buddhism that joins together a number of significant pieces in a complex cultural mosaic. It will appeal to a large and diverse readership, including those interested in the early Buddhist religious tradition of Asia and its art, as well as specialists in the study of South and Central Asian Buddhist art, archaeology, and texts. A Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation Book on Buddhism and Comparative Religion.
War and Worship
Author: Susan Möller-Wiering
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2011-08-30
Total Pages: 215
ISBN-13: 1842174282
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWar and Worship concerns textile deposits from the bog sites of Thorsberg in Germany and Nydam, Vimose and Illerup Ådal in Denmark. All four sites are well-known for containing a substantial amount of archaeological materials, particularly weapons, but they also contain, as integral parts of the weapon deposits, a smaller number of preserved textiles, which nevertheless constitute outstanding assemblages. With the exception of Thorsberg, publications dealing particularly with textiles from weapon deposits are almost non-existent. The textiles from each site are analysed, then compared to one another and described as a unit characterising the particular site. Comparisons are then made between the four sites, with emphasis on the overall context. A final chapter by Lise Ræder Knudsen analyses tablet-woven textiles in the deposits, a textile technique used to make bands, edges and borders. Although the state of preservation of the textiles at the different locations varies hugely, the research has extracted a large amount of information allowing conclusions on status, origin, function and role in the deposits to be drawn. The fabrics presented here were, unquestionably, consecrated textiles. They had been worn by the defeated foreign warriors during the battle and were considered worthy as sacrificial offerings to the gods. Some individual high-status textiles were perceived to have a value comparable to certain metal items. Others - probably the majority - were used for covering and wrapping other offerings for the subsequent sacrifice. All were committed to the lakes in a sacred act of remembrance to celebrate victorious battles.
The Danubian Lands between the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas
Author: Gocha R. Tsetskhladze
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Published: 2015-11-30
Total Pages: 583
ISBN-13: 1784911933
DOWNLOAD EBOOKProceedings of the Fifth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities (Belgrade - 17-21 September 2013). The theme of the congress included archaeological, historical, linguistic, anthropological, geographical and other investigations across the huge area through which the Argonauts passed in seeking to return from Colchis.
Achaemenid Culture and Local traditions in Anatolia, Southern Caucasus and Iran
Author: Ivantchik
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2007-12-31
Total Pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9047423984
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book contains papers representing the results of the latest research into the relationship between the ‘imperial’ culture of the Achaemenids and local traditions. Some of them are devoted to the Southern Caucasus, especially to latest archaeological excavations and to investigations into specific categories of archaeological finds. Other articles concern other regions of the Achaemenid world. The article by L. Summerer represents a publication of a unique work of art: the painting on one of the walls of a wooden tomb in Tatarlı in Western Anatolia, depicting a battle between Persians and warriors of nomadic (Scythian-Saka) appearance. The article by S. Sajjadi presents readers with the results of interesting research, which has been going on in Sistan. Originally published as issue 3-4 of Volume 13 (2007) of Brill's journal Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. For more details on this journal, please click here.
