The Temple University Aegean Symposium was an annual event from 1976 until 1985 sponsored by the Department of Art History at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Each year, the symposium focused on a specific theme in Aegean Bronze Age art and archaeology. This book is a collection of the 10 volumes of articles that were published. Aside from incorporating errata, the articles are unchanged from the original publications. A new Preface and page numbering system are included in this compendium.

A huge collection of fifty-seven papers from the 6th International Aegean conference held in Philadelphia 1996. A small selection of the papers is: Arts and artefacts in the shaft graves (Oliver Dickinson); Aegean art before and after the LM IB Cretan destructions ( Paul Rehak); Minoan wall-painting (Fritz Blakolmer); Minoan clay figures and figurines (George Rethemiotakis); LM III tholois and theri builders (Paolo Belli); Pottery workshops at Phaestos and Haghia Triada in the Protopalatial period (Filippo M. Carinci); Mycenaean kylix painters at Zygouries (Patrick M. Thomas); The organisation of textile production on Bronze Age Crete (Brendan Burke); Itinerant craftsmen and trade in the Aegean Bronze Age (Edmund Bloedow); Minoan women and the challenges of weaving for home, trade and shrine (Elizabeth Barber).

The aim of this volume is to present an overview of current trends and individual methodological attempts towards arriving at an adequate understanding of Minoan, Cycladic, and Mycenaean iconography.

Classical Greeks considered the Mycenaean civilization to be the basis of their glorious and heroic heritage, but its material existence was not confirmed until the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in the late nineteenth century. In the ensuing years, as with the field of archaeology in general, emphasis has shifted from revealing monuments and finding treasure to dealing with less glamorous, more scientifically-oriented investigations concerning aspects such as social and political organization, economic functions and settlement patterns. With its more than 2000 entries, this reference work serves as both an introduction to and a summary of the study of ancient Mycenaean civilization. Considerably expanded from the first edition, there are 500 new entries representing materials published since 1991. The largest part of the book is made up of annotated bibliography entries arranged topically with introductory material for each section. The book also includes a general introduction to Mycenaean civilization, a glossary, and author, place and subject indexes.

The papers published here are dedicated to the memory of Ellen N. Davis, one of the most valued and beloved Aegean scholars of her generation. All of the articles are in some way inspired or influenced by Davis' own contributions to the field. In the area of metalwork, several papers investigate interconnections within and around the Aegean during the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Ages (Betancourt, Ferrence, and Muhly, Weingarten, Kopcke), while others examine metal ware in its social context (Wiener). Papers on wall painting range from studies of pigments and optical illusions (Vlachopoulos), to representations of water (Shank). Anthropomorphic representations, or their absence, of goddesses or priestesses (Jones), rulers (Palaima), or initiates (Koehl) are also studied here with new eyes and fresh insights.

During the Bronze Age, the ancient societies that ringed the Mediterranean, once mostly separate and isolate, began to reach across the great expanse of sea to conduct trade, marking an age of immense cultural growth and technological development. These intersocietal lines of communication and paths for commerce relied on rigorous open-water travel. And, as a potential superhighway, the Mediterranean demanded much in the way of seafaring knowledge and innovative ship design if it were to be successfully navigated. In Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant Shelley Wachsmann presents a one-of-a-kind comprehensive examination of how the early eastern Mediterranean cultures took to the sea--and how they evolved as a result. The author surveys the blue-water ships of the Egyptians, Syro-Canaanites, Cypriots, Early Bronze Age Aegeans, Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Sea Peoples, and discusses known Bronze Age shipwrecks. Relying on archaeological, ethnological, iconographic, and textual evidence, Wachsmann delivers a fascinating and intricate rendering of virtually every aspect of early sea travel--from ship construction and propulsion to war on the open water, piracy, and laws pertaining to conduct at sea. This broad study is further enhanced by contributions from other renowned scholars. J. Hoftijzer and W. H. van Soldt offer new and illuminating translations of Ugaritic and Akkadian documents that refer to seafaring. J. R. Lenz delves into the Homeric Greek lexicon to search out possible references to the birdlike shapes that adorned early ships' stem and stern. F. Hocker provides a useful appendix and glossary of nautical terms, and George F. Bass's foreword frames the study's scholarly significance and discusses its place in the nautical archaeological canon. This book brings together for the first time the entire corpus of evidence pertaining to Bronze Age seafaring and will be of special value to archaeologists, maritime historians, philologists, and Bronze Age textual scholars. Offering an abundance of line drawings and photographs and written in a style that makes the material easily accessible to the layperson, Wachsmann's study is certain to become a standard reference for anyone interested in the dawn of sea travel.

This volume brings together papers that discuss social change. The main focus is on the Early Helladic III to Late Helladic I period in southern Greece, but also touches upon the surrounding islands. This specific timeframe enables us to consider how mainland societies recovered from a ‘crisis’ and how they eventually developed into the differentiated, culturally receptive and competitive social formations of the early Mycenaean period. Material changes are highlighted in the various papers, ranging from pottery and burials to domestic architecture and settlement structures, followed by discussions of how these changes relate to social change. A variety of factors is thereby considered including demographic changes, reciprocal relations and sumptuary behavior, household organization and kin structure, age and gender divisions, internal tensions, connectivity and mobility. As such, this volume is of interest to both Aegean prehistorians as to scholars interested in social and material change. The volume consists of eight papers, preceded by an introduction and concluded by a response. The introduction gives an overview of the development of the debate on the explanation of social change in Aegean prehistory. The response places the volume in a broader context of the EH III-LH I period and the broader discussion on social change.

A Companion that examines together two pivotal periods of Greek archaeology and offers a rich analysis of early Greek culture A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean offers an original and inclusive review of two key periods of Greek archaeology, which are typically treated separately—the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. It presents an in-depth exploration of the society and material culture of Greece and the Mediterranean, from the 14th to the early 7th centuries BC. The two-volume companion sets Aegean developments within their broader geographic and cultural context, and presents the wide-ranging interactions with the Mediterranean. The companion bridges the gap that typically exists between Prehistoric and Classical Archaeology and examines material culture and social practice across Greece and the Mediterranean. A number of specialists examine the environment and demography, and analyze a range of textual and archaeological evidence to shed light on socio-political and cultural developments. The companion also emphasizes regionalism in the archaeology of early Greece and examines the responses of different regions to major phenomena such as state formation, literacy, migration and colonization. Comprehensive in scope, this important companion: Outlines major developments in the two key phases of early Greece, the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age Includes studies of the geography, chronology and demography of early Greece Explores the development of early Greek state and society and examines economy, religion, art and material culture Sets Aegean developments within their Mediterranean context Written for students, and scholars interested in the material culture of the era, ACompanion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean offers a comprehensive and authoritative guide that bridges the gap between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Winner!