Product Description
Minoan civilization. Bronze Age, Crete, Mycenaean Greece,Minoan chronology, Minoan pottery, History of Crete,Religions of the Ancient Near East, Minoan eruption,Mycenaean Greek language, La Parisienne, Bull-leaping ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scam Book
User:PrimeHunter/Alphascript Publishing sells free articles as expensive books
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Alphascript Publishing sells free articles as expensive books

An Amazon.com book search on June 9, 2009 gives 1009 "books" from Alphascript Publishing.[1] 1003 of the books are described as "by John McBrewster, Frederic P. Miller, and Agnes F. Vandome". They are called editors in the book listings. It seems the only content of the many books is free Wikipedia articles with no sign that these three people have contributed to them.

The articles are often poorly printed with features like missing characters from foreign languages, and numerous images of arrows where Wikipedia had links. It appears much better to read the original articles for free at the Wikipedia website than paying a lot of money for what has been described as a scam or hoax. Advertising for the books at Amazon and elsewhere does not reveal the free source of all the content. It is only revealed inside the books which maybe satisfy the license requirements for republishing of Wikipedia articles.

As an example of the "care" given to the books, the book "History of Georgia (country)" is about the European country Georgia but has a cover image of Atlanta in the American state Georgia.[2] The Wikipedia article History of Georgia (country) does not make such a comical blunder. ... Read more

Product Description
The History of Crete goes back as far as the ancient Minoan civilization. After this civilisation was destroyed by natural catastrophes, Crete developed an Ancient Greece-influenced organization of city states, then successively became part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetian Republic, the Ottoman Empire, and the modern state of Greece. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Warning
Don't forget, if you bought it of Amazon, then you have internet access. Lots of dollars for Wikipedia articles. Yep, true.

I wrote a review without reading the book?Yep. Huh.Thers a watch for sale on Amazon worth $84000; much better value.

Seventy eight dollars for wikipedia articles for another such book.

Am I being harsh?After all, it does say "high quality" on the pretend sticker on the front. ... Read more

Product Description
Since Sir Arthur Evans first brought attention to the Minoans in the early 1890s, the people of Bronze Age Crete have become a fixture in the study of European prehistory as well as a source of romance and myth in the popular imagination. In his latest work, Castleden contests the usual depiction of this people, providing a more informed description of the Minoan way of life.

Expanding on the interpretation he began to formulate in his highly acclaimed work, The Knossos Labyrinth, Castleden uses the latest evidence to discuss the nature of the Minoan empire, the problems of interpreting the Mycenean conquest of Crete, and the influence of their society on Cretan prehistory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Misleading & poor
I expected an accurate review of Minoan civilization but instead found an odd seemingly out-of-touch and misleading review. I have no gripe with the author wishing to emphasize the religious aspect of Minoan civilization but he actually conflates Minoan and Mycenaean things in a most misleading way. These two peoples were quite distinct and to use late Linear B texts as explanations of early Minoan culture is quite misleading - he even quotes such texts from Pylos as allegedly shedding light on Minoan ways. In one place he even states that the wars between city-states in Crete in Roman times shed ligth on their alleged interactions 1000 years earlier! Not only does this book contribute nothing new to our knowledge of Minoan civilization it is actually a negative contribution regarding understanding by the interested layman. Consult the works of McEnroe and Fitton if you are really interested in the Minoans.

There are better options.
Aegean Prehistory has lacked authoritative introductions but now see Cynthia Shelmerdine, Cambridge Companion to Aegean Prehistory, 2008.Soon also Eric Cline's comparable book for Oxford.All contributors are leaders in their field.

Nothing new
As the author points out, this book is not so much a presentation of new information on the archaeology of Minoan Crete as it is a reinterpretation of what is already known.That said, individuals who know nothing about the subject will find the book an acceptable overview of the literature.The author cites a number of works, both older material and more recent, some on archaeology and some on the "history" of the Minoans, to complete his own project here.Thus the new comer will find ample resources for further investigation which I would encourage.

Those who know something of the field will probably find little new other than a perspective change.Here rather than "palaces" the extant Minoan ruins are interpreted as "temples."This change allows new ideas regarding the character and accomplishments of the Minoan people to be aired, always a good thing since it allows new discoveries to test the reliability and likelihood of alternate hypotheses.

I probably don't need to caution the reader familiar with the literature that there is little material or written evidence to go on with respect to the Minoans; something the author observes as well but only belatedly in the last chapters of the work.For those less initiated, I would like to flag the author's most significant words:"perhaps," "possibly," "maybe," "should," "could," and "might."All of these modifiers are significant, and they encourage the reader to keep an open mind; in short, other interpretations than these are also possible.

I've studied ancient history, including the Minoans, and have been to a number of sites that figured highly in my studies.It was almost a matter of "pilgrimage."One of the sites I went to was Knossos where I expected something of an epiphany;well, I had one but not that which I had expected.

In treading the corridors and staircases of this very famous archaeological site, I noted that much of what was standing had been rebuilt, the modern materials composing it being abundantly apparent.This is as expected with archaeological reconstruction properly done.Seeing the vast degree to which the standing remains owed their existence to interpretations placed on them by Sir Arthur Evans, I was rather shocked.Admittedly such reconstructions are not based on nothing, but even what they are based on can be subject to preconceived ideas, personal biases, societal or cultural objectives, and other even less substantial influences.The very extent to which the site of Knossos was the result of interpretation and thus to such influences was what was surprising.This fact was very significant to me, since it is not always apparent from books on the topic, and books had been my primary resource on the culture until my visit.It made me realize how important an actual visit to an archaeological site is for anyone studying its history.

Lest the uninitiated think that this type of introduced bias in writing about the past might well be said of any ancient civilization, I would point out that there are far fewer contentions over Egyptian history, where archaeology and written history are able to reinforce and correct one another.This is not the case with Minoan Crete, where although there are written documents in at least four different scripts, their type and frequency are not always helpful to the historian.One can learn something about a person from their laundry and grocery lists perhaps, but not enough to say one actually "knows" them and definitely not enough to say one knows what they "think" or "mean."

I welcome the new perspective and lament the lack of newer field research.

Misleading
The book has a nice bibliography and is useful for looking up sources for research. However, anyone reading this as an introduction to Minoan civilization will me mislead on several key points. 1. The author refers to the Minoan "palaces" throughout as "temples". This is confusing to the reader. Granted, Minoan "palaces" were much more complex buildings with many functions than this accepted scholarly term implies. But simply changing the term doesn't help anything.
2. The author discounts the well accepted idea that the Mycenaeans ever ruled at Knossos. The period of Mycenaean sovreignty is treated as a continuation of Minoan civilization with no break. Most people of Crete were the same and went on living as they had been in Minoan times. But the ruling class changed, as evidenced by the change in administration language at Knossos. The author makes no mention of the change and in fact uses the Linear B tablets from Knossos and even Pylos(!) as evidence for Minoan social institutions.
3. The author displays a real lack of understanding about Minoan religious life. Strange considering how many buildings he refers to as "temples". For those interested, see Nanno Marinatos' "Minoan Religion".
The book makes an interesting read as an overview or for light reading, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Extremely biased and poorly thought-out
Beware!If you read this book, know that it misrepresents the Minoans terribly.

Let's begin with the cover.The vast majority of humans depicted in Minoan art are women.Furthermore, for every man shown in a (possible) leadership position, there are thirty Minoan women shown in such positions.Most scholars concede that the political leader of the Minoans could very well have been a woman.So what does Castleden plaster on the front of his book?Not only a man, but the only male figure that's ever been suggested as a remotelypossible leader. If this isn't blatant dishonesty of the worst kind, I don't know what is.

And who is Castleden, anyway?I've looked high and low, and can't find credentials for him.There are none listed in (or on) his book.He isn't an archaeologist.He doesn't seem to be a scientist or academic. He doesn't seem to have any training in anything.Did he even graduate from high school?If so, no one's saying.

As the Library Journal reviewer above points out, Castleden spends quite a bit of time blasting "traditional" theories about the Minoans.In his mind, almost every "traditional" theory is a "wrong" theory.But as the the LJ reviewer also notes, Castleden offers little or no evidence to support his "new and improved" theories.

Take for example the Anemospilia data.Not every archaeologist agrees that "human sacrifice" happened at this Minoan site.Yet Castleden assures us that he KNOWS it did, and, furthermore, that this translates into the Minoans generally practicing human sacrifice (!)He knows they did, by golly!He, the "expert" with the mystery credentials, tells us point blank that "the archaeological evidence is not susceptible of any other interpretation" (p. 171, 1994 edn).Excuse me, Mr. C., but have you read the imminent archaeologist Nanno Marinatos?!?No?I thought not.Marinatos gives that "other interpretation" you so haughtily assure us does not exist.

And then there's war.The traditional view is that the Minoans maintained peace for 1000 years unbroken.So of course Mr. C. knows this has to be wrong.Again Mr. C. refrains from mentioning that not all experts (of which he is not one) agree with him here.He passes the Minoans off as confirmed warriors (in certain time periods at least), and himself as one with the credentials to know.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Library Journal reviewer: "Castleden frequently proposes scenarios drawn more from psychosocial inference than evidence, yielding arguments less compelling than the originals. A nation of addicts could scarcely have had the energy to execute drug-induced creativity, much less to develop the commercial empire that was ancient Crete under the Minoans...."

Lastly, nothing in this book is referenced.We are forced to rely on Castleden's memory, integrity, and/or intellect about almost every thing he says.He gives us nowhere to go to check up on his accuracy -- a sure mark of an inexperienced amateur.

~ Jeri Studebaker, author of Switching to Goddess: Humanity's Ticket to the Future

... Read more

Product Description
Minoan Crete is one of the most intensively investigated archaeological cultures in the world, and one that has often captured the public imagination. It is a Bronze Age Aegean society, but it has been intimately connected with the Classical Greek myth of King Minos and his Labyrinth since Sir Arthur Evans excavated and restored (some would say orebuilto) the important site of Knossos, more than a century ago. Yet many archaeological interpretations of this fascinating culture are still largely traditional in focus and often anachronistic. This collection of papers, challenging and re-examining many conventional and established versions of aeMinoanAe history, is thus long overdue. How have modern preconceptions and socio-political developments shaped archaeological interpretations of aeMinoanAe society? What were the gender roles and attitudes of the inhabitants of Bronze Age Crete? How can data such as the puzzling architecture, the stunning wall-paintings, the elaborate and abundant pots, the landscape and the way it is perceived by humans, help us understand the nature and the negotiations of power and the role of the so-called palaces? These are just some of the questions that this book addresses, considering aeMinoanAe culture from variety of interpretative angles, and situating aeMinoanAe archaeology in the mainstream of archaeological thinking and practice.CONTENTS: What Future for the aeMinoanAe Past? Re-thinking Minoan Archaeology (Yannis Hamilakis); Archaeology as Museology: Re-thinking the Minoan Past (Donald Preziosi); Virtual Discourse: Arthur Evans and the Reconstructions of the Minoan Palace at Knossos (Louise Hitchcock and Paul Koudounaris); Cretan Questions: Politics and Archaeology 1898-1913 (John C McEnroe); Palaces with Faces in Protopalatial Crete: Looking for the People in the First Minoan States (Marianna Nikolaidou); Gender and the Figurative Art of Late Bronze Age Knossos (Benjamin Alberti); Integration and Complexity in the Late Pre-Palatial Period: A View from the Countryside in Eastern Crete (D C Haggis); Landscapes of Memory, Craft and Power in Pre-Palatial and Proto-Palatial Knossos (Peter M Day and David E Wilson); Mind the Gap: Between Pots and Politics in Minoan Studies (Carl Knappett); Pottery as a Barometer of Economic Change: From the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial Society in Central Crete (Aleydis Van de Moortel); Millennial Ambiguities (John Bennet). 248p, many b/w illus (April 2002) ... Read more

Product Description
This book assesses what we really know about the Minoans' life and times, defining the essential characteristics of adistinctive Cretan culture and setting this within itscontemporary historical context which included not only Greece but the Eastern Mediterranean and Egypt. The author discusses the major themes of daily life such as social and economic organization, agriculture, architecture and religion, drawing upon the latest archaeological research including examples of Linear B and the evidence of recent excavations to paint a broad chronological picture of a fascinating and important culture. 100 b/w and 20 color illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Minoan Crete
This is a very good summary of Minoan Crete. Together with McEnroe's architectaul treatise the serious reader will learn a great deal about Minoan Crete. One gripe relates to her apparently mistaken belief that it was Zeus who sent the white bull; it is generally accepted that Poseidon sent it.

Wise, balanced, trustworthy . . .
I found what I was hoping for with this book. What I did not want was rash speculations or modern mythologies of Minoans as a pacifist's Eden. Neither did I want a list of archaeological finds dryly reported for us to make sense of. Fortunately, Fitton had a nice way of summing up and synthesizing the important trends for us, then selecting a few examples that best show her point.

Her humble attitude is what I hope for from prehistorians, essentially: "We can't know for sure what the truth was, so let me review four or five competing theories, then I'll you which I think is best and why." (My words). Or as she puts it, "Minoan society is incompletely understood, but that should not mean that it becomes a source for wild reconstructions or outlandish interpretations. The truth as we understand it is more subtle and complex and perhaps stranger than fiction: in so far as we are able, we must let the facts speak for themselves. Then, if elusively and only partially, the people will emerge from the works that they have left behind."

I wanted to write this review as a contrast to the other review, which almost prevented me from buying this book. I'd like to (respectfully and politely) disagree with the reviewer. Birkett provides an example of what he or she considered to be a typical sentence. As I suspected, it's actually one of the more complicated sentences in the book, but one which makes sense in context. Minoan history is divided into three large eras, Early Minoan, parts 1, 2, & 3; Middle Minoan, parts 1, 2, & 3; and Late Minoan, parts 1, 2, & 3. Thus, we learn through reading the book that a code as seemingly daunting as "EM III-MM 1A" means the transitional period going from the Early Minoan age into the Middle Minoan age. A peek at the time line provided tells us this is happening from around 2200 BC to 2000 BC. For comparison's sake, here is an example of a sentence that I would consider typical: "The Cretan bulls so prominent in Minoan art and ritual must have been the largest animals that most Minoans ever saw." Also, I found that Linear A is mentioned on 18 pages in the book. I agree that the last chapter is most fun, but this is because Fitton's discussing myths and legends, not facts. (I'm not trying to suggest that Birkett's review is not fair or legitimate- It is. I just thought a different opinion would help inform buyers.)

But the publishers can kick themselves for stupidly not letting us buyers "Look Inside" the book, preventing everyone from seeing for themselves what's in the pages. Thus, let me break down the contents for them.

Chapter 1: Geography, Landscape, and Chronology.
(Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and the Use of Wild Resources; Raw Materials for Building and Crafts; Historical Outline; Absolute Chronology)

Chapter 2: Crete Before the Palaces.
(The Earliest Inhabitants; Early Minoan I;Early Minoan II; Early Minoan III and Middle Minoan IA; Religion in the Period before the Palaces; Prepalatial Arts and Crafts; Foreign Relations in the Prepalatial Period; Conclusions and the Genesis of the Minoan Palaces.)

Chapter 3: Protopalatial Crete.
(The First Palaces and Their Towns; Protopalatial "States"; Writing in Protopalatial Crete; Protopalatial Arts and Crafts; Foreign Relations; Protopalatial Religion)

Chapter 4: Neopalatial Crete.
(The Second Palaces; What Happened In the Palaces?; Knossos Town; Burial Customs; Arts and Crafts of the Second Palace Period; Minoan Frescoes; Sculpture and Figurines; Metalwork; Stone Vases; Pottery; Seal-Stones and Signet-Rings; Writing and Administration in Neopalatial Crete; Minoans Abroad; Minoan Religion in the Neopalatial Period; The Destructions.)

Chapter 5: From the Final Palace to the End of Minoan Civilization.
(The Final Palace Period; The Linear B Evidence; Arts and Crafts in the Final Palace Period; Burials of the Final Palace Period; Religion in the Final Palace Period; Postpalatial Crete; Religion in Postpalatial Crete.)

Chapter 6: The Mythological Legacy and the Reception of Minoan Crete.
(Mythology; Cretan Zeus; King Minos; Reception of Minoan Crete.)

To round off, this is what Fitton writes on the front flap: "With the famous discovery of the Palace of Knossos on the Greek Island of Crete by Arthur Evans in the early 1900s, the Minoans became the peaceful, flower-loving "hippies" of the Aegean Bronze Age. But recently a darker side has been revealed, with speculation about human sacrifice."

Fitton's acceptance of the evidence for human sacrifice fascinated me. (In addition to a trussed captive on an altar with a knife at his chest were the skeletons of a priest and priestess crushed by collapse of a shrine's roof during the very earthquake this sacrifice was meant to prevent.) The book is indeed sometimes dry, but I feel I can trust the author's conservative conclusions, and prefer that to misplaced creativity. Illustrations are informative but far from coffee-table beautiful, and you have to wait for a cheaper price to appear, but as a college-level book for interested beginners, I recommend it.

Just the facts
It's a book for serious students more than the general public. A typical sentence is "Construction of the tholos tomb C at Phourni was dated by the excavators to EM III, but a recent study has shown that the earliest burial layer in the tomb is of EM IIA date underlying an EM III-MM 1A level."
Fitton is determined to avoid unwarranted crackpot speculation, and she succeeds all too well. She sticks to the facts so effectively that she leaves out a lot of the interesting stuff. For example there's not a word about the Phaistosdisk, in fact very little about epigraphy, andonly one sentence about the possible language of Linear A.In describing the Akrotiri frescoes she goes into detail about the chemical nature of the pigments but avoids any wild guesses about the intriguing question of what the characters depicted are doing.
I enjoyed the last chapter best, where she finally lets her hair down and relates the archeology to some of the Greek myths and historical legends about King Minos and Ariadne.
It might be of interest if you're visiting Crete (or live in Crete) and are able to spend several days at the sites she describes in detail, and "The Blue Guide to Crete" isn't quite enough for you. It has little of the excitement of "The Decipherment of Linear B". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Herberger Builds on "Thread" in "The Riddle of the Sphinx"
Here is a word about Herberger's 1979 follow-up work "The Riddle of the Sphinx: Calendric Symbolism in Myth and Icon" (NY: Vantage Press---Standard Book Number 533-03500-7; still available for ex. at ABE). Like "Thread of Ariadne," this book teaches more "directly" from the ancient Cretans than any other. Herberger builds upon his carefully-documented discovery that the Minoan "Bull Leaper" Fresco displays the ancient Cretans' lunar/solar calendar, harmonizing human life with the "dance" of moon and sun, and the cycles of nature. In the process, from understanding the Minoans' prime symbol Labrys or the Double Axe, we gain an important tool for further analysis in multiple fields. In "Sphinx" Herberger broadens and deepens his understandings of Crete, and then applies his finds to further historical, cultural, literary and ultimately spiritual problems; and, most often his broadly-informed analyses show us the tremendous legacy that in fact underlies (literally) layer after layer of the "nightmare" of Western history and spiritual bankruptcy. What is the Minoan Labrys doing on the vestments of the Catholic Mass, how was it "borrowed in disguise" multiple times, what has it meant to people? How is it related to (for ex.) the "sacred secular space" of today's international Olympic Games, in which competition is only part of a larger sense of relationship? If we perish without ever recovering our fact-based, harmonious heritage we have no one to blame but ourselves for not embracing it. Make "Thread" and "Sphinx" your first guide to the labyrinth of early Western studies. Comprehensive, rigorous, packed with soul food. A priceless social and spiritual heritage for the must-read shelf of every school and library.

The Most Important Discovery Yet About Ancient "Minoan" Crete
A calendar is a society's daily diagram: it reckons cosmic cycles of nature, and reveals what its people hold sacred. This book teaches more "directly" from the ancient Cretans than any other. Dr. Charles F. Herberger (Professor-Emeritus, Nasson College, Maine) rigorously demonstrates that the famous "Bull-Leaper Fresco" from The Labyrinth of Cnossos is a special work of art at the foundations of Western civilization. In short careful chapters ranging from myth to ecology, Herberger reveals a consistent, complex, elegant calendar of a year mathematically measured in cycles of moon and sun. The rectangular border of this fresco displays lunar phases and "tracks" that represent days of the solar year. Compute with them as Herberger shows, and eight circuits of this counting-border produce a "Great Year," whose ninth year perfectly matches the Winter Solstice/New Moon and Summer Solstice/Full Moon (signifying birth and death or renewal of "King Minos")---harmonizing human life with the "dance" of moon and sun, and the cycles of nature. Imagine that: a "king" with sociopolitical limitations, a leader of rituals other than war. Notably, as the eight years pass, the calendar allows for leap days, differences in cycles, multiple festivals and anomalies. Like a maze, it ends where it began (and vice-versa). The years also trace the shape of Crete's prime symbol, the labrys or double-axe, within the rectangle, and we understand it as never before. As an historian who has studied, published and lectured on Minoan Crete for 26 years, I have no doubt that Herberger's clear, specific, reasonable analysis (including plentiful illustrations, charts etc.) rings true across the whole of Cretan evidences. We see for ourselves that this fresco articulates and expresses the soul of Minoan Crete---its unmatched, attentive delight in nature, and its fierce devotion to the sacred-celebratory dance of male and female as complementary equals. (No wonder Crete was the longest continuous period of Western development on record: Herberger reveals their goal was harmony.) I know his related works including "Riddle of The Sphynx" in detail. Make these your first guide to the labyrinth of studies. Comprehensive, rigorous, packed with Western culture's most deeply-spiritual and positive legacies: pure soul food. A priceless social and spiritual heritage for the must-read shelf of every school and library. ... Read more

Product Description

Ever since Sir Arthur Evans first excavated at the site of the Palace at Knossos in the early twentieth century, scholars and visitors have been drawn to the architecture of Bronze Age Crete. Much of the attraction comes from the geographical and historical uniqueness of the island. Equidistant from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Minoan Crete is on the shifting conceptual border between East and West, and chronologically suspended between history and prehistory. In this culturally dynamic context, architecture provided more than physical shelter; it embodied meaning. Architecture was a medium through which Minoans constructed their notions of social, ethnic, and historical identity: the buildings tell us about how the Minoans saw themselves, and how they wanted to be seen by others.

Architecture of Minoan Crete is the first comprehensive study of the entire range of Minoan architecture--including houses, palaces, tombs, and cities--from 7000 BC to 1100 BC. John C. McEnroe synthesizes the vast literature on Minoan Crete, with particular emphasis on the important discoveries of the past twenty years, to provide an up-to-date account of Minoan architecture. His accessible writing style, skillful architectural drawings of houses and palaces, site maps, and color photographs make this book inviting for general readers and visitors to Crete, as well as scholars.

Customer Reviews (1)

Minoan Crete
Despite the perhaps intimidating title this is a truly remarkable book. For an arm-chair archaeologist interested in Minoan civilization this is almost a rivetting book. The text is surprisingly lively, highly informative and complemented with outstanding illustrations and plans of virtually all major sites in Minoan Crete. Anyone planning to visit Crete for more than just a beach holiday should consider this as truly essential reading. It is substantially better than the next best summary of the Minoans for the layman by J. Lesley Fritton. ... Read more

Product Description
It is one of humankind's most enduring myths. And now it is a fantasy no longer...

In the year 347 B.C., Plato wrote of a miraculous island with hot and cold flowing waters, terraced multi-storied buildings, and "the fairest of all plains." For thousands, of years, the legend of the mysterious vanished "continent" of Atlantis has captivated writers, poets, artists, philosophers, and dreamers. But now Atlantis has been found -- and the truth about its vibrant life and horrific destruction is even more remarkable than the myth.

Based on artifacts and evidence uncovered in an ancient buried Minoan city, noted scientist and New York Times-bestselling author bestselling author Charles Pellegrino reanimates an astounding lost civilization and re-creates with explosive power the apocalyptic cataclysm that destroyed their remarkable island metropolis. A brilliant synthesis of historical, literary, archaeological, and geological detective work, here is both the story of the astounding discovery that transformed tale into fact -- and a breathtakinq vision of Atlantis reborn.

Customer Reviews (10)

Fascinating Read
I read this book while spending a week in Santorini.It was the perfect book to read while sitting on the beach, looking at all the tourists and imagining how different and more advanced Theran life must have been like 37 or so centuries ago, before the volcano took away two thirds of the island to create one of the most scenic, photographed places on earth.The thought that the Theran volcano explosion caused the pestilence and plagues mentioned in the Bible was startling.Could it be true?Could Thera be the lost Atlantis?Well, why not?Read it for yourself and see.And check out the Theran wall paintings excavated in Akrotiri on the web, especially the one with the unique antelopes that only exist in one part of Africa to this day and see if you don't start to wonder yourself about what really happened.

Oh no!!! Pellegrino!!!" Unearthing Atlantis"
An author so full of his own importance it is a wonder that he hasn't exploded by now.
This has to be the most useless and boring book I have ever read. If you want to bore yourself to sleep, still wondering what on earth he is babbling on about then go ahead and read it!!! Did you know the Minoans had indoor plumbing?? You will. Go on I dare you to waste your money and time!!

Dr. Pellegrino Should Stick to Old Bones
This book was a joke!

First, the theory that the Minoan civilization was Plato's Atlantis is hardly original.It was published by J.V. Luce more than 20 years before Pellegrino's book.

Dr. Pellegrino's book is filled with rumor, theory and conjecture with no substantive information.

But the worst of it is that Dr. Pellegrino entertains us with a number of theories with no backing.He has Moses 300 years earlier than everyone else has him and provides little explanation for that.He has Thutmose III 150 years earlier than everyone else has him.He gives us a whole chapter called (cleverly) 'Dating Hatshepsut' that proposes to explain these discrepancies, but gives us just a few paragraphs of the problems of pottery dating, then goes into a long discourse of fantastic speculation.Where is the hard data?This is a scientist writing?

Perhaps a scientist who is accustomed to dealing in tens of millions of years cannot be bothered with mere centuries.

Does he bother to cite a reference that Hatshepsut's sarcophagus went down in the Titanic?It seems at times he is reciting little more than urban legends.His flights of fancy into what would have been if Thera had not exploded are absurd.Certainly the Minoans were advanced, but to think that we would have colonies on distant solar systems today if the volcano had not exploded is ridiculous.They were not that far advanced.

That whole chapter taking us to the big bang was pointless and added nothing to his theme.It was obviously filler material to make up for lack of research.

I am intrigued by the idea that the explosion of Thera could explain the 10 plagues described in Exodus.But he gives us such little real hard evidence of this link, that I am not prepared to accept it.

Anyone that has an interest in a serious analysis of the excavation at Santorini should read J.V. Luce's 'Lost Atlantis'.The Pellegrino book is mass market trash.

Some editions of this book have a foreward by Arthur C. Clarke.It appeared to me that it was simply a regurgitation of the book's first chapter.Well, maybe it is appropriate.In my view, Pellegrino's book might just belong on the science fiction shelf...

An interesting study, but the approach was not to my taste (based on original hardcover edition)
In UNEARTHING ATLANTIS (1991), Pellegrino, a professional paleontologist, offers his own theories about the legend of Atlantis in an approach designed to appeal to general readers as opposed to academic audiences. He concludes that the Atlantis of Plato and the ancient Egyptian texts that were his sources refers to the Minoan culture of the ancient Mediterranean, a civilization that was disrupted (though not destroyed) following a succession of volcanic events on the island of Thera that occurred about 1628 BC. Pellegrino shines in his attempts to prove this theory, as he places the destruction of Thera within the context of contemporary historical events (such as the Biblical Exodus and the rise and fall of the Minoan culture), modern knowledge of volcanology, modern science's ability to date events from the distant past, and modern underwater archaeology. In addition, he also details efforts by modern archaeologists to rediscover ancient Thera.

Pellegrino's study is interesting and genuinely informative, though there are some major issues that readers need to bear in mind. His narrative is presented out of chronological order (in fact, the text jumps around a lot), while his prose tends to ramble at times (often repeating himself, as other reviewers note) and includes long sections that tend to distract one from his argument (for example, a fifty-page odyssey into prehistoric times that ends at the Big Bang). Also, Pellegrino appears to have been deeply affected by his study of Thera and the Monoan civilization, and he tends to criticize most other periods of human history--the Middle Ages receives particularly harsh criticism.

Thought provoking
Atlantis as both a concept and an historical reality appeal to the romantic and the practical in all of us.

Dr. Pellegrino's beautiful writing raises once again the idea that the volcano "Thera" on the island of Santorini wiped out the Minoan civilization and sent Minoans (our name - not theirs) as refugees to countries around the Mediterranean rim.Those who arrived in Caanan were called "Philistines" and may be ancestral to today's Palestinian people.

At the same time, according to this book, the Egyptian pharoah refused to release Moses (there's an Egyptian name, eg Tut-mose and so on) and his people from their "servitude" in Egypt.Darkness by day, rivers of blood and the famous escape scene (which may represent the Theran tsunami) result in a second group of fleeing refugees arriving in Caanan claiming they were promised or given the land.

Four thousand years later, whether one believes in Plato's Atlantis or not, the story of the Volcano of Thera is a fascinating one.Get yourself a copy of the King James' Bible as Dr. Pellegrino presents Biblical citations often in his work and it is very helpful to be able to read along and mark all the juicy bits for later.

Fire and brimstone, the voice of angels, the clap of the celestial trumpets, lighted pillars of flame, the gnashing of teeth and wailing of the wounded - all make sense when viewed through a volcanic perspective.Reading about Krakatoa, Vesuvius and Thera all in a group both in Dr. Pellegrino's work and that of Simon Winchester gives a very interesting view into the role of volcanos and other geological processes on human history.

Certainly in our own age, we have seen the awesome power of tsunami waves, as the December 26, 2004 wave took away a quarter of a million people.Waves produced by Thera were nearly 30 stories high and washed inland for miles and miles - producing a channeled scablands in Turkey almost as far as Mount Ararat.

Dr. Pellegrino never pointed this out, but if "Noah's flood" were a river flood - the ark would have been washed out to sea.It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and the ark ended up on a mountain, raising the interesting possiblity that this event, too is associated with volcanic darkness and accompanying tsunamis.

Get this book.Even if you believe Plato's Atlantis was anywhere or nowhere at all - you'll learn a lot and be dragged along by the beautiful and evocative writing every inch of the way.I'll never think of Vesuvius the same way again - and I'm a trained Geologist.

I only wish I'd read Dr. Pellegrino's books when I was teaching.I think my students would have been much more excited by volcanos - because I sure would have been! ... Read more

Product Description
The magnificent works of ancient Crete, Mycenae, and the Cycladic Islands are awe-inspiring in their richness and variety. All the significant works of art and architecture that are our legacy from those great civilizations are described and illustrated in Dr. Reynold Higgins's distinguished survey. This fully revised and updated edition includes greater coverage and recent findings. 241 illustrations, 54 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Arrived on time & in good conditions
The book arrived on time and in good condition.It was just what I ordered.

Excellent starting point
This is the book I recommend as a starting point for learning the arts of the Aegean Bronze Age.It's obviously limited in scope, and I'd like to see a book like this that incorporates Egyptian arts at least, and those of Asia Minor.

Still, this book has the greatest advantage in clarity and readability, and its organization helps impress the large trends of the arts in a chronological and stylistic way.It's useful mainly to the beginner in this manner.

It's also a handy reference when reading other, more in-depth studies which aren't always so well organized or clear, and which are often poorly illustrated.

The author's language is easy and succinct; the typeface is clear with plenty of white space.These things make a big difference.

The references are excellent and the author gives plenty of due respect to the various experts in each field of study, allowing the reader to easily follow up with the original documentation if desired.

In short, do read this book first if you have an interest in the arts of Bronze Age Greece and the Aegean islands.

Packed with photos and information
This is an excellent guide to the arts of Bronze Age Greece. The book is generously illustrated with good photographs. Higgins's text is densely written and conveys abundant information on the subject matter. The writing style of the accounts (based on areas, periods, and categories of art) is neither dry and technical nor shallow "purple prose," but simply states, usually objectively, what is known. The depth of information for a relatively small book is good. For example, we learn about the characteristic rough surface of Minoan Bronze artefacts and the possible reasons for this. Higgins allows subjective diversions now and then, which can be quite entertaining. One gets the impression that the Minoans were already master craftspeople when the Myceneans were still trying to fashion hats from mud and twigs. However, even the Minoans had their off-days. For example, a Minoan vase with applied ornamentation is described as an unusual lapse of taste (it is decidedly tacky, and I thought it was the Romans who invented bad taste...) This is a fine book from which to gain a sound basic knowledge of Greek Bronze Age art, and certainly one to take to Greece if you intend to visit some of the archaeological sites and museums there.

A Solid Reliable Classic
Every ancient culture needs a work to survey and catalogue its art, to provide a background against which more detailed studies can be done, and to provide a general base of knowledge for interested laypeople andbeginning students of the culture. This book succeeds admirably in thismission; it is organized, thorough, does not assume much preliminaryknowledge of these cultures, and even has color pictures. My only quibblewith it is that few of the artifacts have their dimensions listed in thecaptions; those are given in the List of Illustrations in the back of thebook, and only one number is given. This makes it harder to translate aphotograph into a mental image of the object in question. That said, thisis an excellent book, one of the first I bought when I began stocking mypersonal library of archaeological books. ... Read more

Product Description
To celebrate thirty years of excavation, the director of the University of Toronto excavations at Kommos presents a personal view of the site and the archaeological investigations that have transformed our understanding of what daily life for more humble members of the Bronze Age population may have been like. At the same time, the site was a busy port with connections to the Near East that continued into historic periods and some rich finds and elaborate buildings reflect the importance of foreign trade for the Cretan economy. ... Read more

Product Description
In the newest entry in this acclaimed series, young readers learn to create objects inspired by such ancient cultures as the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Trojans, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Full-color photographs show the original artifact along with the finished paper replica, while simple instructions and line drawings explain the process of creating it step by step. A typical project is a beautiful Greek amphora vase made in paper or clay. Easy to understand and designed for a wide range of ages, this interactive book features background information and interdisciplinary guidelines that broaden the scope of the activities, touching on the ancient cultures' math, science, architecture, creative writing, and history. More than 60 fun projects are featured. Included is a full-color double-page map of each region with yesterday and today's important points of interest. ... Read more

Product Description
As researchers bring their analytic skills to bear on contemporary archaeological tourism, they find that it is as much about the present as the past. Philip Duke’s study of tourists gazing at the remains of Bronze Age Crete highlights this nexus between past and present, between exotic and mundane. Using personal diaries, ethnographic interviews, site guidebooks, and tourist brochures, Duke helps us understand the impact that archaeological sites, museums and the constructed past have on tourists’ view of their own culture, how it legitimizes class inequality at home as well as on the island of Crete, both Minoan and modern. ... Read more

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This work provides an archaeological guide to the palaces of Minoan Crete. ... Read more

Product Description
What happened after the collapse of palatial economies inCrete? Did Crete become a typical outpost of Hellenistic and RomanGreece? New evidence, especially from intensive surveys, is opening upour understanding of hitherto neglected periods of Cretan history. ... Read more

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Long before the rise of the classical Greeks and their famous achievements, Crete and nearby Aegean islands were the home of the Minoans, who fashioned Europe's first advanced culture. From the discovery of the great palace at Knossos in 1900, to new theories about the Minoans' demise, a noted scholar of ancient Greece tells the story of this enigmatic vanished people. (20010601) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent Summary of What is Known about an Important Ancient People
There is a lot of good information packed into this rather short book about the Minoans, an ancient people located in the area of the eastern Mediterranean. It chronicles their civilization from about 2200 BC to 1100 BC, and describes it from the apparent height of its power to its final subjugation and assimilation by mainland Greeks. It is amazing how much information researchers have been able to glean from ancient storytellers, geological evidence and archaeological remains. With this information and almost no written records from the Minoans themselves, they have pieced together an exciting and surprising picture of their characteristics and history. It also explains how stories about such things as the Minotaur and Atlantis might well have gotten started.

a very helpful and interesting book
This book told me everything I wanted to know about the subject and it was well writen and obviously very well reserched. The author has done a lot of other books about ancient civilazations and really knows his stuff. I have reveiwed some of those books and, like this one, given them high ratings. Anybody looking for facts about ancient times should check out his books.

What we know (and how we know it) about the Ancient Minoan Civilization
Unfortunately there is only color photograph for Don Nardo's look at "The Minoans" for the Lost Civilizations series, and that is the one on the cover.The good news is that it is of the most famous of all Minoan paintings, the Bull Leaping Fresco, which shows three young Minoans in various stage of somersaulting over a huge bull.The bull is impressive enough, but it is the beautiful shade of Minoan blue that always captures my eye ("The Ladies in Blue Fresco" is also pretty impressive).So while this look at the Minoans is filled with photographs of their frescoes and ruins, we only get a taste of how colorful they were (and still are, in some regards).

In his Introduction on The Limitations of the Sources, Nardo explains why we know so little about the Minoans in contrast with the other primary Bronze Age civilization in Greece, in Mycenae, establishing the idea that they are a people without a history (we know about the mythical King Minos, but not one name of a real Minoan).Consequently, there is a question as to whether the traditional views held about the Minoans are realistic or not.What is not in dispute, is that they were Europe's first advanced culture, and deserve to be remembered as such.It is not surprising, then, that Nardo's first chapter is about Arthur Evans and the Discovery of Minoan Civilization, because that is really where the great city of Knossos that he excavated in 1900 enters history.

Subsequent chapters cover what is known and surmised about this ancient culture.Chapter Two, Farming, Finances, and Trade in Minoan Crete, tells what is figured out about their economic system (e.g., a collective system, bees were important), Chapter Three, Political and Social Life in the Minoan Towns looks at what has been learned, or guessed at, from the various frescoes that have been uncovered.This leads to the look at Minoan Painting, Architecture, Crafts, and Writing in Chapter Four.This has some interesting points about the Knossos palace based on reconstructions, and the key features and techniques of Minoan art (there is also a fascinating sidebar on Michael Ventris' deciphering of the Linear B alphabet proving it was an early form of Greek).Chapter Five, Minoan Religious Places, Gods, and Rituals gets into their believe systems, which involved both cave sanctuaries and mountaintop shrines, along with the palace-centers.We also find out a little about Minoan deities such as the snake goddess. and how there are echoes of Minoan religion in some of the myths we know about (e.g., Deadalus).

The final chapters talk about what happened to the Minoan Civilization.Chapter Six, The Minoans at War and the Mycenaean Conquest, looks at what is known about the ancient Cretans as warriors from both myth (e.g., Homer's "Iliad" has then fighting at Troy under Idolmeneus) and history (e.g., a fresco indicating Minoan chariots).Nardo also covers the evidence that the Minoans were dominating the Myceneans before the mainlanders conquered the island.Chapter Seven, Minoan Civilization Is Crippled by a Volcanic Eruption, covers the eruption of Thera ca. 1625-1500 B.C. that devastated the Minoans.In his Epilogue, Nardo looks at The End of Minoan-Mycenaean Civilization, which paved the way for the glory days of Ancient Greece.Because there is so little that is really known about the Minoans, Nardo does an excellent job of documenting why we know what we know, so that young students can have an appreciation for how archaeologists and historians come to their conclusions.

The back of the book contains detailed Notes for the text, a Chronology that from B.C. goes from ca. 6000 when the first human habitations appear in Crete to ca. 355 when Plato wrote the "Tinaeus" and the "Critias," which describe the ancient land of Atlantis, and then jumps to A.D. from 1870, when archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovers the remains of Troy to 2004, when excavations continued to unearth and study the remains of a recently discovered large Minoan town, which lies buried beneath the modern Greek city of Khania.Nardo provides not only a list of books and web sites For Further Reading, but also the Works Consulted for this effort, which are divided into major works, other important works (primary sources), modern sources (both books and periodicals).Other titles in the series include looks at "The Ancient Greek," "The Aztecs," "The Celts," "The Etruscans," "The Han Dynasty," and "The Vikings." ... Read more

Product Description
This book focuses on economic and social changes, particularly during the opening phase of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. New developments in ceramics that reached Crete at the end of the Neolithic period greatly contributed to the creation of economic, technological, social, and religious advancements we call the Early Bronze Age. The arguments are two-fold: a detailed explanation of the ceramics we call Early Minoan I and the differences that set it apart from its predecessors, and an explanation of how these new and highly superior containers changed the storage, transport, and accumulation of a new form of wealth consisting primarily of processed agricultural and animal products like wine, olive oil, and various foods preserved in wine, vinegar, honey, and other liquids. The increased stability and security provided by an improved ability to store food from one year to the next would have a profound effect on the society. Contents: Part I: 1. Introduction, 2. The Change in Ceramic Technology in EM I, 3. The Clays and the Fired Fabrics, 4. The Pottery Shapes, 5. EM I Surface Treatments and Decoration and their Relation to Fabrics, Shapes, and Methods of Manufacture, 6. Comments and Conclusions on the Pottery; Part II: 7. The Transformation of Cretan Society; References; Index. ... Read more