The Mediterranean, or 'Middle Sea', has long been regarded as the symbolic centre of European civilization. The binding water between Turkey, the Middle East, the trading communities of North Africa, and the European powerhouses Italy, France and Greece, a history of this sea is a new and vital way of understanding the history of the societies which have flourished in the region. The Islands of the Eastern Mediterranean charts the story of the water as both connector and border, and analyses the islands role in world history. Covering Mehmed II's efforts to conquer the old Roman Empire, through to the claims of Rhodes and the role of the Aegean Islands in Ottoman international relations, to the British in Cyprus and the present-day tensions, this book's interconnected essays from leading scholars form a tapestry of knowledge. Together, they represent a new frontier in the way in which we look at sea histories. This will become essential reading for scholars of History, International Relations, Trade and Migration.

Textile and dress production, from raw materials to finished items, has had a significant impact on society from its earliest history. The essays in this volume offer a fresh insight into the emerging interdisciplinary research field of textile and dress studies by discussing archaeological, iconographical and textual evidence within a broad geographical and chronological spectrum. The thirteen chapters explore issues, such as the analysis of textile tools, especially spindle whorls, and textile imprints for reconstructing textile production in contexts as different as Neolithic Transylvania, the Early Bronze Age North Aegean and the Early Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean; the importance of cuneiform clay tablets as a documentary source for both drawing a detailed picture of the administration of a textile industry and for addressing gender issues, such as the construction of masculinity in the Sumerian kingdoms of the 3rd millennium BC; and discussions of royal and priestly costumes and clothing ornaments in the Mesopotamian kingdom of Mari and in Mycenaean culture. Textile terms testify to intensive exchanges between Semitic and Indo-European languages, especially within the terminology of trade goods. The production and consumption of textiles and garments are demonstrated in 2nd millennium Hittite Anatolia; from 1st millennium BC Assyria, a cross-disciplinary approach combines texts, realia and iconography to produce a systematic study of golden dress decorations; and finally, the important discussion of fibres, flax and wool, in written and archaeological sources is evidence for delineating the economy of linen and the strong symbolic value of fibre types in 1st millennium Babylonia and the Southern Levant. The volume is part of a pair together with Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology edited by Mary Harlow and Marie-Louise Nosch.

About 240 wooden statues survive from the Old Kingdom (c. 2575 - 2134 BC). The statues that can be dated by external criteria have been gathered together into a chronological catalogue and their features studied to establish dating criteria. The criteria are then applied to the remaining statues, enabling many of them to be assigned dates within individual reigns of the Old Kingdom.

This book examines the depictions of anthropomorphised animals found on ostraca and papyri from Deir el-Medina and considers their narrative and artistic purpose within the religious environment of New Kingdom Thebes.

This volume collects papers from the symposium 'Body, Cosmos and Eternity: the Symbolism of Coffins in Ancient Egypt', convened at the historical building of the University of Port, February 2013.

An annotated index and general orientation of Islamic art collections in museums, libraries, other institutions and on private hands. Includes a short description of each collection, its main characteristics, documentation, publications and exhibitions.

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