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The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age

The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age

The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age

Cynthia W. Shelmerdine, University of Texas, Austin
October 2008
Paperback
9780521891271

    This book is a comprehensive up-to-date survey of the Aegean Bronze Age, from its beginnings to the period following the collapse of the Mycenaean palace system. In essays by leading authorities commissioned especially for this volume, it covers the history and the material culture of Crete, Greece, and the Aegean Islands from c.3000–1100 BCE, as well as topics such as trade, religions, and economic administration. Intended as a reliable, readable introduction for university students, it will also be useful to scholars in related fields within and outside classics. The contents of this book are arranged chronologically and geographically, facilitating comparison between the different cultures. Within this framework, the cultures of the Aegean Bronze Age are assessed thematically and combine both material culture and social history.

    • The only book to cover all aspects of the whole period
    • Covers both material culture and social history
    • Chronological and geographic organisation make it useful as a textbook for university students

    Reviews & endorsements

    'This book, written by well-known experts who are good at explaining, is almost as up-to-date as any such book can be and will meet most needs, while suggesting where to read further.' The Anglo-Hellenic Review

    '… one of the best regional accounts of the origins of complex societies worldwide.' Nature

    See more reviews

    Product details

    October 2008
    Paperback
    9780521891271
    554 pages
    221 × 150 × 25 mm
    0.77kg
    95 b/w illus. 11 maps
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Background, sources, and methods Cynthia Shelmerdine
    • 2. The early bronze age in Greece Daniel Pullen
    • 3. The early bronze age in the Cyclades Cyprian Broodbank
    • 4. Early prepalatial Crete David Wilson
    • 5. Protopalatial Crete: a. Formation of the palaces Sturt W. Manning
    • b. The material culture Carl Knappett
    • 6. The material culture of neopalatial Crete John Younger and Paul Rehak
    • 7. Minoan culture: religion, burial customs, administration John Younger and Paul Rehak
    • 8. Minoan Crete and the Aegean Islands Jack L. Davis
    • 9. Minoan trade Philip P. Betancourt
    • 10. Early Mycenaean Greece James Clinton Wright
    • 11. Mycenaean art and architecture Janice L. Crowley
    • 12. Mycenaean states: A. Economy and administration Cynthia W. Shelmerdine and John Bennet
    • B. LM II-IIIB Laura Preston
    • 13. Burial customs: A. Death and the Mycenaeans William Cavanagh
    • B. Mycenaean religion Thomas G. Palaima
    • 14. Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean and Beyond Christopher Mee
    • 15. Decline, destruction, aftermath Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy.
      Contributors
    • Cynthia Shelmerdine, Daniel Pullen, Cyprian Broodbank, David Wilson, Sturt W. Manning, Carl Knappett, John Younger, Paul Rehak, Jack L. Davis, Philip P. Betancourt, James Clinton Wright, Janice L. Crowley, John Bennet, Laura Preston, William Cavanagh, Thomas G. Palaima, Christopher Mee, Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy

    • Editor
    • Cynthia W. Shelmerdine , University of Texas, Austin

      Cynthia W. Shelmerdine is Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics Emerita at the University of Texas, Austin. Her main research interests are in Aegean Bronze Age archaeology, and Mycenaean Greek language, history and society. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, Cambridge University and Harvard University (Ph.D. in Classical Philology, 1977). She has worked in the field as a ceramic expert with the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition (1970s), the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (1990s) and currently the Iklaina Archaeological Project (from 1999). She is the author of many publications on Mycenaean culture and history and is currently working on a book about Mycenaean Greek society.