This is a unique two volume box set revealing the history of Crete's luminous Minoan civilization. Volume one is a catalogue of the over 280 objects that were included in the exhibition. It features detailed descriptions as well as excellent color photographs of the wide ranges of rare objects included in the exhibition. While each object is dealt with separately the volume nonetheless covers numerous aspects of the Minoan culture such as Religion and Ritual, Scripts and Weights, Pots and Potters, Jewels for Life and Death, Masterpieces in Stone, Warriors and Weaponry. Volume two completes the set by offering 19 essays by renowned scholars of Minoan archaeology. They delve into detailed information on the Minoan civilization including up to date information on the palaces, their architecture and administration, funerary evidence and burial practices, the importance of religion in the Minoan society, the significance of the use of writing and many more principal facets of the civilization. More than just an exhibition catalogue, this two-volume set serves as a textbook for anyone who wants to better understand one of the greatest civilizations of the world.
Contributors include, in addition to the editors, Peter Warren, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Bristol University; Clairy Palyvou, Professor, Department of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Christos Boulotis, Archaeologist, Academy of Athens, Research Centre for Antiquity, Athens; Philip P. Betancourt, Professor, Department of Art History, Temple University, Philadelphia; Lefteris Platon, Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Athens; Irini Papageorgiou, Archaeologist, Benaki Museum, Athens; Jean-Claude Poursat, Professor Emeritus, University of Clermont II; Photini J. P. McGeorge, Anthropologist-Archaeologist, University of Crete, Rethymnon; Metaxia Tsipopoulou, Director of the National Archive of Monuments, Athens; Nanno Marinatos, Professor of Classics, University of Illinois at Chicago; Athanasia Kanta, Archaeologist, Archaeological Institute of Cretological Studies, Herakleion, Crete; Andonis Vasilakis, Archaeologist, 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Herakleion, Crete.