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'Ancient Greece' with its associations of city states, democratic governance, and iconic material culture, can no longer be envisaged as a uniform geographical or historical entity. The Classical city-states of Crete differed considerably in culture, history and governance from those of central Greece. In this book, Saro Wallace reaches back into Crete's prehistory, covering the latest Bronze Age through the Archaic periods, to find out why. It emphasizes the roles of landscape, external contacts, social identity construction and historical consciousness in producing this difference, bringing together the wealth of new archaeological evidence available from the island with a variety of ancient text sources to produce a vivid and up-to-date picture of this momentous period in Crete's history. ... Read more

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Descriptions of early Hellenic art, with 52 color plates, 369 monochrome plates. Research and "coffee-table" hardcover book. ... Read more

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Pictures and text in english about the project terra dias. Description of many aspects of nature and culture in Crete. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Cretan Mythology, Kings of Crete, Minoan Art, Minoan Frescos, Minoan Religion, Minoan Vase Painting, Rhea, Minotaur, Europa, Minos, Amalthea, Pasiphaë, Korybantes, Talos, Rhadamanthus, Ariadne, Britomartis, Asterion, Androgeus, Aërope, Idomeneus, Pandareus, Cocalus, Catreus, Minoan Pottery, Minoan Chronology, Labrys, Bottiaeans, Talos in Popular Culture, Nilotic Landscape, Bull-Leaping, Dictys Cretensis, Dactyl, Potnia Theron, Pithos, Bull-Leaping Fresco, Prince of the Lilies, Horns of Consecration, Acacallis, Glaucus, Peak Sanctuaries, La Parisienne, Orsilochus, Miletus, Sacred Caves of Crete, Malia Altar Stone, Deucalion of Crete, Bianna, Kouretes. Excerpt:Acacallis (Greek : ) in Greek mythology is the daughter of Minos , king of Crete , and Pasiphae . According to a Cretan mythological tradition, she bore a son to Hermes , Cydon, the founder of Cydonia . Other traditions describe Cydon as the offspring of Acacallis and Apollo . In retribution for her having an illicit relationship, her father King Minas banished her to Libya.Another tradition relates that Acacallis and Apollo had a son named Miletus . Fearing her father's wrath she exposed the child, but Apollo commanded she-wolves to nurse it until it could be taken in and raised by shepherds. He grew up strong and handsome, and Minos was seized with desire for the boy. Miletus fled Crete to avoid being becoming the eromenos of the king, and went on to found the eponymous city, Miletus . Still other traditions relate other sons born of her and Apollo, named Amphithemis and Garamas (in some stories, the first mortal born). Apollodorus calls this daughter of Minos Acalle (Greek: ), but does not mention Miletus as her son. Acacallis was in Crete a common name for a narcissus . References (URLs online) Sources A hyperlinked ... ... Read more

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A vivid tale of action and the love of life, of conflict and passionate vision and political change at the dawn of Western Civilization. Ariadne---new young Queen of Minoan Crete, beloved of the narrator, Deucalion---struggles to uphold her family's and her people's ways amid threats of natural disaster and military invasion by the Achaian/Mycenean "future Greeks," whose Homeric histories our world knows too well. Did you know that Crete really was/is the longest continuous period of Western cultural development? What happened to bring on a Dark Age? Was it "inevitable," or a matter of choices made and still being made? This is an epic adventure blending myth and new decades of archaeological and other evidence into a story of real people who lived long ago and whose extraordinary legacy is still ours to embrace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Love, war, heroics, good and evil -- a good read!
Like Ursla LeGuin, Dempsey takes us to worlds we never imagined, with characters we care about, and stories that resonate with today's issues. I read this when it was new, and find that years later, I keep thinking back to it. The book asks us to grapple with trying to understand the motives and methods of a culture so foreign that it is beyond us to even imagine the right questions. And to face up to the culture-crushing consequence.

All in a good read! Love, war, heroine and hero, the building and crushing of empires, good and evil.

A sad, but beautiful story
I have bought and read every piece of fiction and every piece of non-fiction on Minoan Crete I could get my hands on since I was in high school...I graduated in 1972. This book is one of the best. It is not an easy read because Mr. Dempsey uses a style similar to Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." This novel is well worth working through though. It reflects the latest scholarship on the end of the Minoans, at least through the mid 1990's and does not romanticise them. They were a wonderful, artistic people who understood that their wealth had to be defended with military strength and yes, sometimes they practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism...ancient humanity's way of communion with the gods..."the body and blood of Christ?"

Ariadne is a beautiful, graceful character who is willing to sacrifice everything she loves to preserve her people...even her life. She and the Minoans in general are depicted as being a bit naive in thinking that sharing their technology will stave off Akkian aggression, but that is an entirely plausible idea and could have been what happened...who knows? The novel is sexual, but tasteful and within the boundaries of what we know about Minoan sexual pracices. Ariadne is sexual and yet innocent, strong yet naive. I thoroughly recommend this book and am personally going to try to find the author. Its an expensive purchase, but worth every penny. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1368 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Intended to provide a comprehensive description of the enterprise of education both within the United States and throughout the world. Articles offer a view of the institutions, people, processes, and products found in educational practice. ... Read more

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The pithos is one of the most distinctive utilitarian forms of the Cretan Bronze Age ceramic repertoire. Because of its use as a storage container, a pithos is the foremost parameter for the evaluation of the economic organization of palatial and domestic sectors of Cretan Bronze Age society. The pithoi as pottery and their significance for the understanding of the Cretan Bronze Age economy has been the focus of a research project carried out from 1989 to 1999.

This book is not a pithos handbook in the narrow sense-although the study offers a typological division of the data with comments on chronology and spatial distribution-it integrates stylistic considerations with broad fabric and technological observations in order to understand the production and consumption of pithoi.

Contents: Introduction; 1. A Formal Typology for Pithoi; 2. Decorative Patterns and Style; 3. The Use of Pithoi; 4. Traditions and Trends in the Production and Consumption of Pithoi. ... Read more

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A Good Historical Overview
Most Anglos think of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna as the villian of the Alamo, but when viewed as a whole, the Alamo was just another incident in the life of this colorful and still controversial figure. Santa Anna's rise to power begins at the time of the filibusters and ends with his return from forced exile in the the late 1870's. In between, the "Napoleon of the South" made Mexican history. From political intrigue, wars, European conflicts and "perfidious foreignors" in Texas, Santa Anna left an indellable impression. Vain, arrogant, foolhardy, calculating, charming, determined and, at times, deceitful, you either loved him or hated him. ... Read more