![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > European archaeology
This book is a comprehensive examination of Olympic victor lists. The origins, development, content, and structure of Olympic victor lists are explored and explained, and a number of important questions, such as the source and reliability of the year of 776 for the first Olympics, are addressed. Olympic victor lists emerge as a clearly defined type of literature that is best understood as a group of closely related texts. This book offers a fresh perspective on works by familiar writers such as Diodorus Siculus and a sense of the potential importance of less-well-known authors such as Phlegon of Tralleis.
Villas, Sanctuaries and Settlement in the Romano-British Countryside had its genesis in a conference held at the British Museum in 2009 and brings together a range of papers on buildings that have been categorised as 'villas', mainly in Roman Britain, from the Isle of Wight to Shropshire. It comprises the first such survey for almost half a century. While some of these structures were indeed country houses and the centres of agricultural estates as their designation as 'villas' implies, others are here shown to have been administrative or industrial centres, hunting lodges or religious sanctuaries, or a combination of more than one such function. The art associated with these prestige structures and its relevance to their function is also considered.
Democracy's Ancient Ancestors examines the political landscape of the ancient Near East through the archive of over 3000 letters found in the royal palace of Mari. These letters display a rich diversity of political actors, encompassing major kingdoms, smaller states and various tribal towns. Mari's unique contribution to the ancient evidence is its view of tribal organization, made possible especially by the fact that its king Zimri-Lim was first of all a tribal ruler, who claimed Mari as an administrative base and source of prestige. These archaic political traditions are not essentially unlike the forms of pre-democratic Greece, and they offer fresh reason to recognize a cultural continuity between the classical world of the Aegean and the older Near East. This book bridges several areas of interest, including archaeology, ancient and classical history, early Middle and Near East, and political and social history.
This book discusses how Greek and South Italian vase paintings of the musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas became the model for Etruscan representations of Cacus ambushed by the Vibennae brothers, two Etruscan heroes of the sixth century B.C. The study demonstrates that the Etruscans knowingly adapted Greek iconographic forms to represent their own legends. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Robert Pashley (1805 59) spent 1833 4 exploring Greece and Turkey as a Trinity College, Cambridge Travelling Fellow and contributor to a British survey of the Mediterranean, yet it was the island of Crete that most captivated his attention; his travels there became the subject of this two-volume account, published in 1837. The following year, Pashley's notes, collected artefacts and books were destroyed in a fire, so this work is all that remains from his expedition to the island. Crete at various points in its history had been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. At the time of Pashley's arrival it was under Egyptian administration and there were palpable tensions between Christians and Muslims. In Volume 1, Pashley begins his journey in the western town of Chania, and his lively narrative weaves contemporary observations about Cretans with a discussion of the island's rich history.
Robert Pashley (1805 59) spent 1833 4 exploring Greece and Turkey as a Trinity College, Cambridge Travelling Fellow and contributor to a British survey of the Mediterranean, yet it was the island of Crete that most captivated his attention; his travels there became the subject of this two-volume account, published in 1837. The following year, Pashley's notes, collected artefacts and books were destroyed in a fire, so this work is all that remains from his expedition to the island. Crete at various points in its history had been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. At the time of Pashley's arrival it was under Egyptian administration and there were palpable tensions between Christians and Muslims. In Volume 2, Pashley ends his travels in the south-western Samaria region. This volume also includes an appendix of Venetian manuscripts, and economic and demographic statistics from 1834.
Uncovering the Germanic Past brings to light an unexpected side-effect of France's nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution. While laying tracks for new rail lines, quarrying for stone, and expanding lands under cultivation, French labourers uncovered bones and artefacts from long-forgotten cemeteries. Although their original owners were unknown, research by a growing number of amateur archaeologists of the bourgeois class determined that these were the graves of Germanic 'warriors', and their work, presented in provincial learned societies across France, documented evidence for significant numbers of Franks, Burgundians, and Visigoths in late Roman Gaul. They thus challenged prevailing views in France of the population's exclusively Gallic ancestry, contradicting the influential writings of Parisian historians like Augustin Thierry and Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges. Although some scholars drew on this material evidence to refine their understanding of the early ancestors of the French, most ignored, at their peril, inconvenient finds that challenged the centrality of the ancient Gauls as the forebears of France. Crossing the boundaries of the fields of medieval archaeology and history, nineteenth-century French history, and the history of science, Effros suggests how the slow progress and professionalization of Merovingian (or early medieval) archaeology, a sub-discipline in the larger field of national archaeology in France, was in part a consequence of the undesirable evidence it brought to light.
The impact of long-distance exchange on the developing cultures of Bronze Age Greece has been a subject of debate since Schliemann's discovery of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae. In Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity, Bryan E. Burns offers a new understanding of the effects of Mediterranean trade on Mycenaean Greece by considering the possibilities represented by the traded objects themselves in their Mycenaean contexts. A range of imported artifacts were distinguished by their precious material, uncommon style and foreign writing, signaling their status as tangible evidence of connections beyond the Aegean. The consumption of these exotic symbols spread beyond the highest levels of society and functioned as symbols of external power sources. Burns argues that the consumption of exotic items thus enabled the formation of alternate identities and the resistance of palatial power.
Sir William Ridgeway (1858-1926) was a prominent classical scholar, archaeologist and anthropologist who was appointed to the Disney Chair for Archaeology in 1892. Originally published in 1913, this volume was created in honour of his sixtieth birthday. It provides essays and studies by various contributors covering three broad areas: classics and ancient archaeology; medieval literature and history; anthropology and comparative religion. Abundant illustrations are also contained within the text. This is a wide-ranging book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in the numerous topics covered.
The antiquary Sir William Gell (1777 1836) was most famous for his two books on the archaeological discoveries at Pompeii (also reissued in this series) but his interest in the topography of classical sites resulted in several other publications, including this two-volume work, first published in 1834. The work was intended to accompany a map (available to download at http: //www.cambridge.org/9781108042109) of the territory of Ancient Rome, for which the field research and surveying activities were carried out in 1822. It provides alphabetical entries (from Abbatone to Zagarolo) on all the sites in Rome and its environs, with their modern names and populations, and their significance in ancient history and literature. Volume 2 also contains essays on the history and languages of Ancient Italy, and supplements to various entries, where new discoveries had been made during the course of the work's preparation.
The antiquary Sir William Gell (1777 1836) was most famous for his two books on the archaeological discoveries at Pompeii (also reissued in this series) but his interest in the topography of classical sites resulted in several other publications, including this two-volume work, first published in 1834. The work was intended to accompany a map (available to download at http: //www.cambridge.org/9781108042109) of the territory of ancient Rome, for which the field research and surveying activities were carried out in 1822. It provides alphabetical entries (from Abbatone to Zagarolo) on all the sites in Rome and its environs, with their modern names and populations, and their significance in ancient history and literature. Volume 2 also contains essays on the history and languages of ancient Italy, and supplements to various entries, where new discoveries had been made during the course of the work's preparation.
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Girton College, Cambridge, was discovered in 1881, while ground was prepared for the construction of tennis courts. More of the cemetery was unearthed in 1886, when the foundations for the Tower Wing were being laid. The area was excavated under the supervision of Francis Jenkinson (1853-1923), and the urns and other material found on the site date it to roughly the fifth and sixth centuries CE. The graves contained domestic utensils - tweezers, needles, pots for food and cooking - and personal items, such as ivory combs and bronze brooches. Written by Girton alumnae Edith Hollingworth and Maureen O'Reilly, this detailed report of the excavations is based on notes left by Jenkinson, and was first published by Cambridge University Press in 1925. According to a contemporary reviewer, the work of Hollingworth and O'Reilly provides a 'duty to their College and a real service to archaeology'.
The antiquary Sir William Gell (1777-1836) was most famous for his two books on the archaeological discoveries at Pompeii (also reissued in this series) but his interest in the topography of classical sites is also reflected in this work, first published in 1823. Gell describes his experiences of many visits to the Peloponnese over a period of twenty years, during which the Greek movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire was gathering momentum and widespread support in Europe. Written partly in response to a request to 'give us anything but your dull maps and measures', the book does not discuss archaeological sites in detail but rather records impressions of the lives of the Greek and Turkish inhabitants in the period immediately before the outbreak of war. Gell's own conclusions about the prospects for 'Grecian liberty' are gloomy: he holds it to be 'quite unattainable at the present day'.
William George Clark (1821 78) is probably best remembered as the co-editor (with W. Aldis Wright) of the Cambridge Shakespeare (1863 6; also reissued in this series). A fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a classical and literary scholar and editor, but travelled widely in his vacations, and this work, first published in 1858, is an account of a tour of Greece undertaken in 1856 with W. H. Thompson (1810 86), who later succeeded William Whewell as Master of Trinity. Clark's plan was to visit the archaeological sites of the Peloponnese using W. M. Leake's various surveys as a guide and comparing Leake's observations and his own with those of the ancient traveller Pausanias. The result is an engaging combination of travel narrative and serious archaeological and topographical research backed up by a profound knowledge of classical literature. It remains an interesting resource for those studying the history of Greek archaeology.
Hittite is the earliest attested Indo-European language and was the language of a state which flourished in Asia Minor in the second millennium BC. This exciting and accessible introductory course, which can be used in both trimester and semester systems, offers in ten lessons a comprehensive introduction to the grammar of the Hittite language with ample exercises both in transliteration and in cuneiform. It includes a separate section of paradigms, a grammatical index, as well as a list of every cuneiform sign used in the book. A full glossary can be found at the back. The book has been designed so that the cuneiform is not essential and can be left out of any course if so desired. The introduction provides the necessary cultural and historical background, with suggestions for further reading, and explains the principles of the cuneiform writing system.
Since the time of the ancient Greeks we have been fascinated by accounts of the Amazons, an elusive tribe of hard-fighting, horse-riding female warriors. Equal to men in battle, legends claimed they cut off their right breasts to improve their archery skills and routinely killed their male children to purify their ranks. For centuries people believed in their existence and attempted to trace their origins. Artists and poets celebrated their battles and wrote of Amazonia. Spanish explorers, carrying these tales to South America, thought they lived in the forests of the world's greatest river, and named it after them. In the absence of evidence, we eventually reasoned away their existence, concluding that these powerful, sexually liberated female soldiers must have been the fantastical invention of Greek myth and storytelling. Until now. Following decades of new research and a series of groundbreaking archeological discoveries, we now know these powerful warrior queens did indeed exist. In Amazons, John Man travels to the grasslands of Central Asia, from the edge of the ancient Greek world to the borderlands of China, to discover the truth about the warrior women mythologized as Amazons. In this deeply researched, sweeping historical epic, Man redefines our understanding of the Amazons and their culture, tracking the ancient legend into the modern world and examining its significance today.
The long-awaited final part of the publication of the Corinth Potters' Quarter is based on the work of the excavator, A. N. Stillwell, edited and supplemented after her death by J. L. Benson. The pottery, although frequently fragmentary, can often be assigned to known painters or workshops, and the deposits, especially in view of the defective pieces in them, can be argued to contain material almost exclusively of local manufacture. A brief introduction serves to explain the organization of the catalogue and to characterize the principal deposits, most of which contained material from several periods; a summary of represented painters and workshops concludes the chapter. The catalogue presents over 2,300 examples from more than 4,000 inventoried pieces. Almost all are illustrated with photographs, frequently supplemented with detail line drawings of motifs; selected profile drawings represent the principal shapes. A new foldout plan of the Potters' Quarter is included.
This 2007 study explores how modern scholars came to write Greek history from a Eurocentric perspective and challenges orthodox readings of Greek history as part of the history of the West. Since the Greeks lacked a national state or a unified society, economy or culture, the polis has helped to create a homogenising national narrative. This book re-examines old polarities such as those between the Greek poleis and Eastern monarchies, or between the ancient consumer and the modern producer city, in order to show the fallacies of standard approaches. It argues for the relevance of Aristotle's concept of the polis, which is interpreted in an intriguing manner. Finally, it proposes an alternative way of looking at Greek history as part of a Mediterranean world-system. This interdisciplinary study engages with debates on globalisation, nationalism, Orientalism and history writing, while also debating developments in classical studies.
What was the impact of Romanisation on non-elite life in central Italy during the late third and second centuries BC? Focusing on the increasing spread of black-gloss pottery across the peninsula, this 2007 text demonstrates the importance of the study of such everyday artefacts as a way of approaching aspects of social history that are otherwise little documented. Placing its subject within the wider debate over cultural identity in the Roman world, the book argues that stylistic changes in such objects of everyday use document the development of new forms of social representation among non-elite groups in Roman Italy. In contrast to previous accounts, the book concludes that, rather than pointing to a loss of regional cultural identities, the ceramic patterns suggest that the Romanisation of Italy provided new material opportunities across the social scale.
Early in the archaic period of Greek history, Messenia was annexed and partially settled by its powerful neighbour, Sparta. Achieving independence in the fourth century BC, the inhabitants of Messenia set about trying to forge an identity for themselves separate from their previous identity as Spartan subjects, refunctionalising or simply erasing their Spartan heritage. Professor Luraghi provides a thorough examination of the history of Messenian identity and consequently addresses a range of questions and issues whose interest and importance have only been widely recognised by ancient historians during the last decade. By a detailed scrutiny of the ancient written sources and the archaeological evidence, the book, which was originally published in 2008, reconstructs how the Messenians perceived and constructed their own ethnicity at different points in time, by applying to Messenian ethnicity insights developed by anthropologists and early medieval historians.
The city is widely regarded as the most characteristic expression of the social, cultural and economic formations of the Roman Empire. This was especially true in the Latin-speaking West, where urbanism was much less deeply ingrained than in the Greek-speaking East but where networks of cities grew up during the centuries following conquest and occupation. This up-to-date and well-illustrated synthesis provides students and specialists with an overview of the development of the city in Italy, Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain and North Africa, whether their interests lie in ancient history, Roman archaeology or the wider history of urbanism. It accounts not only for the city's geographical and temporal spread and its associated monuments (such as amphitheatres and baths), but also for its importance to the rulers of the Empire as well as the provincials and locals.
The late sixth century was a period of considerable change in Etruria; this change is traditionally seen as the adoption of superior models from Greece. In a re-alignment of agency, this 2007 book examines a wide range of Etruscan material culture - mirrors, tombs, sanctuaries, houses and cities - in order to demonstrate the importance of local concerns in the formation of Etruscan material culture. Drawing on theoretical developments, the book emphasises the deliberate nature of the smallest of changes in material culture form, and develops the concept of surface as a unifying key to understanding the changes in the ways Etruscans represented themselves in life and death. This concept allows a uniquely holistic approach to the archaeology of Etruscan society and has the potential for other archaeological investigations. The book will interest all scholars and students of classical archaeology.
This 1957 book describes a series of early Greek tombs, unwittingly discovered in 1933 on the slopes of the Acropolis of Knossos in Crete by a peasant. The excavation was carried out in 1933 and 1935 by two former Directors of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, Humfry Payne and Alan Blakeway, both of whom died before the material could be prepared for preparation. It was eventually presented by one of the members of their party, James Brock, on behalf of the British School. The tombs are described as far as possible in chronological order, so that the illustrations of their contents convey an impression of the development of Cretan art. The catalogue contains more than 1300 vases, nearly all of them complete and many of the highest quality. From detailed analyses of the pottery, a continuous sequence of ceramic phases, spanning nearly four centuries, can be established.
Epigraphy, or the study of inscriptions, is critical for anyone seeking to understand the Roman world, whether they regard themselves as literary scholars, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, religious scholars or work in a field that touches on the Roman world from c. 500 BCE to 500 CE and beyond. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy is the fullest collection of scholarship on the study and history of Latin epigraphy produced to date. Rather that just a collection of inscriptions, however, this volume seeks to show why inscriptions matter and demonstrate to classicists and ancient historians how to work with the sources. To that end, the 35 chapters, written by senior and rising scholars in Roman history, classics, and epigraphy, cover everything from typograph to the importance of inscriptions for understanding many aspects of Roman culture, from Roman public life, to slavery, to the roles and lives of women, to the military, and to life in the provinces. Students and scholars alike will find the Handbook a crritical tool for expanding their knowledge of the Roman world.
This is the first full account in English of the archaeological material from early Rome and the surrounding region of Latium, from the Late Bronze Age down to the end of the sixth century BC. The book sets for the first time the region of Latium in its proper context as the hinterland of Rome, and as participating in the major developments in central Italy, including Campania and Etruria, and as a witness to the radical transformation of the Mediterranean as a whole in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Dr Smith presents the most recent evidence from the whole region as well as Rome itself, and discusses the reliability and usefulness of the literary accounts of early Latium, as well as applying theoretical models of regional economy and archaeological interpretation. |
![]() ![]() You may like...
The Arabian Nights (Barnes & Noble…
Sir Richard Francis Burton
Hardcover
|