The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean

The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean

Author: Eric H. Cline

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 968

ISBN-13: 019024075X

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The Greek Bronze Age, roughly 3000 to 1000 BCE, witnessed the flourishing of the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations, the earliest expansion of trade in the Aegean and wider Mediterranean Sea, the development of artistic techniques in a variety of media, and the evolution of early Greek religious practices and mythology. The period also witnessed a violent conflict in Asia Minor between warring peoples in the region, a conflict commonly believed to be the historical basis for Homer's Trojan War. The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean provides a detailed survey of these fascinating aspects of the period, and many others, in sixty-six newly commissioned articles. Divided into four sections, the handbook begins with Background and Definitions, which contains articles establishing the discipline in its historical, geographical, and chronological settings and in its relation to other disciplines. The second section, Chronology and Geography, contains articles examining the Bronze Age Aegean by chronological period (Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age). Each of the periods are further subdivided geographically, so that individual articles are concerned with Mainland Greece during the Early Bronze Age, Crete during the Early Bronze Age, the Cycladic Islands during the Early Bronze Age, and the same for the Middle Bronze Age, followed by the Late Bronze Age. The third section, Thematic and Specific Topics, includes articles examining thematic topics that cannot be done justice in a strictly chronological/geographical treatment, including religion, state and society, trade, warfare, pottery, writing, and burial customs, as well as specific events, such as the eruption of Santorini and the Trojan War. The fourth section, Specific Sites and Areas, contains articles examining the most important regions and sites in the Bronze Age Aegean, including Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Knossos, Kommos, Rhodes, the northern Aegean, and the Uluburun shipwreck, as well as adjacent areas such as the Levant, Egypt, and the western Mediterranean. Containing new work by an international team of experts, The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean represents the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date single-volume survey of the field. It will be indispensable for scholars and advanced students alike.


The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age

The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age

Author: J. Lesley Fitton

Publisher:

Published: 1998-02-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780674211896

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J. Lesley Fitton traces this exciting tale of scholarly discovery and weaves it into an engaging, in-depth portrait of Greek Bronze Age civilizations, from their dawning on the Cycladic Isles in the third millennium B.C. to their later flowering in Minoan Crete and then in the Mycenaean centers and finally to their mysterious disappearance in the twelfth century B.C. The result is an elegant assimilation of vast historical detail and a well-illustrated tour of the art and artifacts, the grand palaces and tombs, the mythical heroes and Trojan treasures that form at least one cradle of our own civilization. Fitton begins with the early finds of travelers, advances in geology, and research into Homer's identity. She vividly recreates the heroic age of the first archaeological excavations, particularly Heinrich Schliemann's fascinating work at Troy and Mycenae, and Arthur Evans's pioneering excavation and restoration of the Palace of Minos on Crete. The persistent search for signs of writing among Bronze Age Greeks culminates in Fitton's description of the 1952 deciphering of the earliest script used to write Greek. And as her account extends into the present, it encompasses the important contributions of the archaeologists Alan Wace and Carl Blegen, the War's impact on research, and a concise summation of current scholarly trends.


Maritime Networks in the Mycenaean World

Maritime Networks in the Mycenaean World

Author: Thomas F. Tartaron

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-05-27

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1107067138

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In this book, Thomas F. Tartaron presents a new and original reassessment of the maritime world of the Mycenaean Greeks of the Late Bronze Age. By all accounts a seafaring people, they enjoyed maritime connections with peoples as distant as Egypt and Sicily. These long-distance relations have been celebrated and much studied; by contrast, the vibrant worlds of local maritime interaction and exploitation of the sea have been virtually ignored. Dr Tartaron argues that local maritime networks, in the form of 'coastscapes' and 'small worlds', are far more representative of the true fabric of Mycenaean life. He offers a complete template of conceptual and methodological tools for recovering small worlds and the communities that inhabited them. Combining archaeological, geoarchaeological and anthropological approaches with ancient texts and network theory, he demonstrates the application of this scheme in several case studies. This book presents new perspectives and challenges for all archaeologists with interests in maritime connectivity.


The Mycenaeans

The Mycenaeans

Author: Louise Schofield

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9780892368679

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For almost three thousand years, the Mycenaeans, ancestors of the classical Greeks, lay lost and forgotten beneath the soil of Greece. In 1876, however, a German businessman, Heinrich Schliemann, in his search for the great Mycenaean king Agamemnon and other heroes of the Trojan War, made an astounding discovery in Mycenae: inside the monumental Lion Gate he discovered shaft graves belonging to a warrior elite, many of whom were buried wearing striking gold funerary masks and armor. In this authoritative new survey, Schofield examines these initial discoveries and other material evidence from Mycenaean culture, including painted pottery, documents in Linear B script, and the remains of fortress-palaces, all of which have yielded important information about the social hierarchies, religion, and military and trading activities of this wealthy and sophisticated culture. The author also considers the factual basis for the Mycenaeans' legendary links with the Trojan War and the various explanations for the eventual decline of their civilization.


Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Author: Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2006-07-27

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 0748627294

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The period between the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization around 1200 BC and the dawning of the classical era four and half centuries later is widely known as the Dark Age of Greece, not least in the eponymous history by A. M. Snodgrass published by EUP in 1971, and reissued by the Press in 2000.In January 2003 distinguished scholars from all over the world gathered in Edinburgh to re-examine old and new evidence on the period. The subjects of their papers were chosen in advance by the editors so that taken together they would cover the field. This book, based on thirty-three of the presentations, will constitute the most fundamental reinterpretation of the period for 30 years. The authors take issue with the idea of a Greek Dark Age and everything it implies for the understanding of Greek history, culture and society. They argue that the period is characterised as much by continuity as disruption and that the evidence from every source shows a progression from Mycenaean kingship to the conception of aristocratic nobility in the Archaic period. The volume is divided into six parts dealing with political and social structures; questions of continuity and transformation; international and inter-regional relations; religion and hero cult; Homeric epics and heroic poetry; and the archaeology of the Greek regions. Copiously illustrated and with a collated bibliography, itself a valuable resource, this book is likely to be the essential and basic source of reference on the later phases of the Mycenaean and the Early Greek Iron Ages for many years.


Minoan and Mycenaean Art

Minoan and Mycenaean Art

Author: Reynold Alleyne Higgins

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780500203033

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The magnificent works of ancient Crete, Mycenae, and the Cycladic Islands are awe-inspiring in their richness and variety. Frescoes, jewelry, sculpture, gold funeral masks, ivories, and countless other beautiful artifacts--all the significant works of art and architecture that are our legacy from those great civilizations in the third and second millennia BC are described and illustrated in Dr. Higgins's distinguished survey. This fully revised and updated edition includes greater coverage of the breathtaking frescoes from Akrotiri on the island of Thera. Other recent findings are also illustrated and described in detail, such as the unique ivory figure from Palaikastro, objects from the palace of Mallia, and the intriguing discovery of Minoan frescoes in Egypt.


The Mycenaean World

The Mycenaean World

Author: John Chadwick

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1976-03-25

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9780521290371

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John Chadwick summarizes the results of research into Mycenaean Greece.


Great Moments in Greek Archaeology

Great Moments in Greek Archaeology

Author: Panos Valavanēs

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780892369102

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This beautifully illustrated book offers a wide-ranging overview of the greatest archaeological sites and discoveries from ancient Greece. The contributors--a veritable who's who of the most venerable names in Greek archaeology--include both those who have excavated at the sites in question and scholars who have spent a lifetime studying the monuments about which they write. Presented here are the legendary sites of ancient Greece, including the Athenian Acropolis, Olympia, Delphi, Schliemann's Mycenae, and the Athenian Agora; the most iconic sculptures in the Greek world, such as the Aphrodite of Melos and the Nike of Samothrace; and several fascinating chapters on underwater archaeology discussing the Kyrenia and Uluburun shipwrecks and the astonishing bronze masterpieces raised from the sea. This is the first book to bring together the archaeological legacy of ancient Greece in a concise and accessible way while still preserving the excitement of discovery.