Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete - Hardcover

Castleden, Rodney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415040701 ISBN 13: 9780415040709

Publisher: Routledge, 1990

Synopsis

In the short time that has elapsed since Sir Arthur Evans rediscovered the Minoans in the early 1900s, the people of Bronze Age Crete have become a fixture in European prehistory. We have defined a whole string of cultural traits that make the "Minoan" personality. The Minoans were an elegant and graceful people, lithe and athletic, refined aesthetes who surrounded themselves with sophisticated architecture and beautiful objects. They were nature lovers and lovers of peace: the inhabitants of each city-state living in harmony with their neighbours. With fleets controlling the seas surrounding Crete, they were collectively strong and ruled by a great and powerful King of Knossos called Minos. But how far does the work of subsequence archaeologists in Crete support this widely-held view of Minoans? It is appropriate, as we approach the centenary of Evans' historic excavation, to take stock of the evidence. Rodney Castleden has extended the new interpretation he began in "The Knossos Labyrinth". Embodying the fruits of recent archaeological research, he has produced a new vision of the peoples of Minoan Crete.

About this title

Review:

"Displaying sound scholarship, Castleden cites excavations and theories in detailed but accessible prose. . . . A more complex, even contradictory, image of the Minoans than appears in other works."
-"Booklist
"Strongly recommended for all ancient history collections."
-"Choice
"Well researched, well illustrated, and bang up to date as far as recent discoveries are concerned."
-"Minerva

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0415040701
• ISBN 13: 9780415040709
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272