Knossos, Mycenae, Troy : the enchanting Bronze Age and its tumultuous climax /

Knossos, Mycenae, Troy : the enchanting Bronze Age and its tumultuous climax /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Barca, Natale, author.
Imprint:	Oxford ; Havertown, PA : Oxbow Books, 2023.
Description:	xx, 252 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Civilization, Aegean. Civilization, Mycenaean. Minoans. Trojans. Civilization, Aegean. Civilization, Mycenaean. Minoans. Trojans.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12971381

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9781789259476 1789259479
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references.
Summary:	"This work puts a particular emphasis on the mixing and osmosis of the first Mediterranean civilizations, with particular reference to the Minoan, Cycladic, Mycenaean, and Trojan, and on the causes of their decline, which are to be identified in a jumble of natural and human causes, and in a long-lasting, slow, but irreversible crisis. It takes into account that the Mediterranean Dimension of the Bronze Age is a garden in which many legends flourished, clearly distinguishing between myth and history, and always bearing in mind that legends are not to be taken literally (nonetheless, they often have a grain of truth). It does not aim to provide an exhaustive report but to compose a broad and evolutionary picture, in which the facts and their connections, which are deducible from archaeological evidence or from the accounts of ancient historians, find their place, in their consequentiality. Its originality lies not in the choice of the subject, but in the way of treating it. The author introduces and explains, in order to be read, and perhaps to get excited. Another characterizing element of Knossos, Mycenae, Troy is the wide use of the 'historical present' that is made there to represent events and construct the text, to reduce the reader's distance from the narrated events, and facilitates their approach to them. This book aims to provide the reader with an overall picture of the cultures that laid the foundations of Western civilization, which is not generic, but rather detailed and updated, and which has scientific solidity"--

Description
Summary:	This book charts the rise of and interplay between the first Mediterranean civilisations - with particular reference to the Minoan, Cycladic, Mycenaean and Trojan - and on the causes of their decline, which are identified in a jumble of natural and human causes, and in a slow, but irreversible crisis. It takes into account that the Mediterranean Dimension of the Bronze Age is a garden in which many legends flourished, clearly distinguishing between myth and history. Using written sources and archaeological evidence, it charts these civilisations' fortunes and crises, and the wars and natural disasters that led to their decline. Chapters explore political geography, military and economic development, religion, monumental architecture and the rise and fall of the palatial dynasties and successive centralised governments, social life and material culture, with emphasis on the importance of commerce. A characterising element of Knossos, Mycenae, Troy is the wide use of the 'historical present' to represent events and construct the text. In doing so, it immerses the reader in the narrated events, facilitating our understanding. The result is a fascinating picture of the cultures that laid the foundations of Western civilisation.
Physical Description:	xx, 252 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:	9781789259476 1789259479