Aegean Art and Architecture

The discoveries in Crete, Greece, and the Aegean islands that began a century ago were nothing less than stunning, and seemed to give shape and substance to tales of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, of Theseus and Ariadne, of Minos and Icarus. Ancient Aegean Art is the first comprehensive historical introduction to the art and architecture Crete, mainland Greece, and the Cycladic islands in the Aegean, beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and ending at the dose of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age of Hellenic Greece (c.1000 BCE).

The amazing discovery of the 'first European civilization' in Crete, Greece and the Aegean islands during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was beyond what anyone had imagined. Beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and ending at the close of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age of Hellenic Greece (c.1000 BCE), this is the first comprehensive introduction to the visual arts and architecture of this extraordinary era. This book introduces the reader to the historical and social contexts within which the arts - pottery, gold, silver, and ivory objects, gravestone reliefs, frescoes, and architecture - of the Aegean area developed. It examines the functions they served, and the ways in which they can be read as evidence for the interactions of many different peoples and societies in the eastern Mediterranean. It also provides an up-to-date critical historiography of the field in its relationship to the growth of ancient art history, archaeology, and museology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, giving a contemporary audience a clear appreciation of what has been at stake in the uncovering and reconstruction of this ancient society.

1 - Introduction: Aegean Art and Architecture
2 - The Neolithic Period and the Prepalatial Early Bronze Age
3 - The First Palace Period
4 - The Second Palace Period
5 - Mycenaean Domination and the Minoan Tradition
6 - Conclusion: Disruptions, (Dis)Continuities, and the Bronze Age

Donald Preziosi is Professor of Art History, UCLA, where he developed and directs the art history critical theory programme, as well as the UCLA museum studies programme. Dr Louise Hitchcock is a Research Associate of the Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She received the prestigious Edward A. Dickson Fellowship on several occasions prior to completing her Ph.D., and was a Fellow of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens.