Cultural Identity in Minoan Crete

Social Dynamics in the Neopalatial Period

Ellen Adams (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

360 Seiten

2017
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-107-19752-7 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

Minoan Crete holds the key to the origins of Greek - and arguably European - history. It will therefore be of interest to Classicists, archaeologists and historians, and is pitched for both students and scholars. This synthesis combines in-depth knowledge with a wider understanding of early cultures - and how to interpret them.

Neopalatial Crete - the 'Golden Age' of the Minoan Civilization - possessed palaces, exquisite artefacts, and iconography with pre-eminent females. While lacking in fortifications, ritual symbolism cloaked the island, an elaborate bureaucracy logged transactions, and massive storage areas enabled the redistribution of goods. We cannot read the Linear A script, but the libation formulae suggest an island-wide koine. Within this cultural identity, there is considerable variation in how the Minoan elites organized themselves and others on an intra-site and regional basis. This book explores and celebrates this rich, diverse and dynamic culture through analyses of important sites, as well as Minoan administration, writing, economy and ritual. Key themes include the role of Knossos in wider Minoan culture and politics, the variable modes of centralization and power relations detectable across the island, and the role of ritual and cult in defining and articulating elite control.

Ellen Adams is Lecturer in Classical Art and Archaeology at King's College London. She has conducted research based at the University of Cambridge (Ph.D.), the British School at Athens (Ph.D. and Leverhulme Study Abroad Award), and Trinity College, Dublin (Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Postdoctoral Award). She has been involved in fieldwork in Britain, Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

1. Introduction; 2. The background to Neopalatial Crete; 3. Elite architecture and artefacts; 4. Palaces and their context; 5. Other settlements and regional groupings; 6. The ritual landscape and extra-urban sanctuaries; 7. Literacy, administration and communication; 8. The economy; 9. Who were the Minoans? Self-representation and others in 'Minoan' identity; 10. Conclusion.

Erscheinungsdatum	28.09.2017
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises; 2 Tables, black and white; 1 Maps; 41 Halftones, black and white; 27 Line drawings, black and white
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	183 x 260 mm
Gewicht	930 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
ISBN-10	1-107-19752-X / 110719752X
ISBN-13	978-1-107-19752-7 / 9781107197527
Zustand	Neuware