This is the first general monograph on ancient Greek dress in English to be published in more than a century. By applying modern dress theory to the ancient evidence, this book reconstructs the social meanings attached to the dressed body in ancient Greece. Whereas many scholars have focused on individual aspects of ancient Greek dress, from the perspectives of literary, visual, and archaeological sources, this volume synthesizes the diverse evidence and offers fresh insights into this essential aspect of ancient society.
This is an up-to-date survey of Aegean archaeology at the beginning of the Iron Age (late eleventh and tenth centuries BC). There are chapters on pottery, metal finds, burial customs, architectural remains (and how to use them to understand the social and political structure of the society), cult practices, and developments towards state formation. The book will be useful to field archaeologists, historians of ancient Greece, and students.
This volume reports on Athenian pottery found in the Athenian Agora up to 1960 that can be dated from about the middle of the 8th century B.C., when the appearance of a painter of sufficient personal distinction to enliven the whole craft marks a real break from the earlier Geometric style, through the third quarter of the 7th century B.C. when Protoattic gives way to black-figure and black wares. A sampling of contemporary imported ware is included. The material is treated first by shape and then, more extensively, by painting styles. Some 650 characteristic pieces are selected for cataloguing. The introduction discusses the development of the various shapes and styles, characterizing the special techniques and innovations of the period. The topographical features of the Agora that are indicated by the places of discovery of deposits of late Geometric and Protoattic pottery are summarized under wells, houses, workshops, sanctuaries, cemeteries, and roads.
This book interprets the main lines of European prehistory from the first agricultural communities in the sixth or even seventh millennium B.C. until the incorporation of much of barbarian Europe within the Roman Empire. It traces the beginnings of animal domestication and plant cultivation in ancient Western Asia, and the transmission of these skills by movements of peoples or by assimilation, in the European continent. The early technology of working in copper, and later in bronze, is discussed. Metal winning and working, and trade in raw materials and finished products, brought social and political repercussions to barbarian and civilised peoples alike.The spread of the Indo-European languages is considered in its archaeological context, as is the formation of the Celtic peoples, soon to acquire iron technology and to become the main barbarian component in Europe, side-by-side with the civilised Mediterranean societies, Greek, Etruscan or Roman. The later Celtic world of Europe and the British Isles is examined, and an attempt made to estimate the contribution of the older barbarian world to the Europe, which emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, geographically, the book ranges over the whole European field, from the Atlantic shores to the Urals and the Caucasus. While it does not pretend to be a prehistory of Europe within the period chosen, the book does bring together and discuss for the first time much scattered and often little-known archaeological evidence.This book is organized in a manner that will permit it being read on two levels. For the general non-specialist reader, the text and illustrations should give a sufficient idea of the nature of the theme and of the evidence, and of the development of the barbarian cultures side-by-side with the civilizations of antiquity, as their precursors and their subsequent counterparts. For the archaeological student however the text is documented with rather full references and notes at the end of each chapte
A Companion that examines together two pivotal periods of Greek archaeology and offers a rich analysis of early Greek culture A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean offers an original and inclusive review of two key periods of Greek archaeology, which are typically treated separately—the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. It presents an in-depth exploration of the society and material culture of Greece and the Mediterranean, from the 14th to the early 7th centuries BC. The two-volume companion sets Aegean developments within their broader geographic and cultural context, and presents the wide-ranging interactions with the Mediterranean. The companion bridges the gap that typically exists between Prehistoric and Classical Archaeology and examines material culture and social practice across Greece and the Mediterranean. A number of specialists examine the environment and demography, and analyze a range of textual and archaeological evidence to shed light on socio-political and cultural developments. The companion also emphasizes regionalism in the archaeology of early Greece and examines the responses of different regions to major phenomena such as state formation, literacy, migration and colonization. Comprehensive in scope, this important companion: Outlines major developments in the two key phases of early Greece, the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age Includes studies of the geography, chronology and demography of early Greece Explores the development of early Greek state and society and examines economy, religion, art and material culture Sets Aegean developments within their Mediterranean context Written for students, and scholars interested in the material culture of the era, ACompanion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean offers a comprehensive and authoritative guide that bridges the gap between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Winner!
The Greek polis has been arousing interest as a subject for study for a long time, but recent approaches have shown that it is a subject on which there are still important questions to be asked and worthwhile things to be said. This book contains a selection of essays which embody the results of the latest research, yet are presented so as to be accessible to non-specialist readers. Beyond the historical development of the Greek polis, the authors ask questions about the civic institutions of ancient Greece as a whole, and their relationships to each other. Questions of power, or the significance of a written code of law are discussed as well as the nature of Greek overseas settlements. The Development of the Greek Polis presents up-to-date research and asks up-to-date questions on various aspects of an important topic. It will be essential reading for all students and teachers of early Greek history and of the institutions of the ancient world.
A systematic survey of archaic Greek society and culture which introduces the reader to a wide range of new approaches to the period. The first comprehensive and accessible survey of developments in the study of archaic Greece Places Greek society of c.750-480 BCE in its chronological and geographical context Gives equal emphasis to established topics such as tyranny and political reform and newer subjects like gender and ethnicity Combines accounts of historical developments with regional surveys of archaeological evidence and in-depth treatments of selected themes Explores the impact of Eastern and other non-Greek cultures in the development of Greece Uses archaeological and literary evidence to reconstruct broad patterns of social and cultural development
Twenty chapters present the range of current research into the study of textiles and dress in classical antiquity, stressing the need for cross and inter-disciplinarity study in order to gain the fullest picture of surviving material. Issues addressed include: the importance of studying textiles to understand economy and landscape in the past; different types of embellishments of dress from weaving techniques to the (late introduction) of embroidery; the close links between the language of ancient mathematics and weaving; the relationships of iconography to the realities of clothed bodies including a paper on the ground breaking research on the polychromy of ancient statuary; dye recipes and methods of analysis; case studies of garments in Spanish, Viennese and Greek collections which discuss methods of analysis and conservation; analyses of textile tools from across the Mediterranean; discussions of trade and ethnicity to the workshop relations in Roman fulleries. Multiple aspects of the production of textiles and the social meaning of dress are included here to offer the reader an up-to-date account of the state of current research. The volume opens up the range of questions that can now be answered when looking at fragments of textiles and examining written and iconographic images of dressed individuals in a range of media. The volume is part of a pair together with Prehistoric, Ancient Near Eastern and Aegean Textiles and Dress: an interdisciplinary anthology edited by Mary Harlow, C_cile Michel and Marie-Louise Nosch