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Understanding Relations Between Scripts
Understanding Relations Between Scripts examines the writing systems of the ancient Aegean and Cyprus in the second and first millennia BC, principally Cretan ‘Hieroglyphic’, Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan and the Cypriot Syllabary. These scripts, of which some are deciphered and others are not, are known to be related to each other. However, the details of their relationships with each other have remained poorly understood and this will be the first volume dedicated solely to this issue. Nine papers aim to reach a better appreciation of relationships between writing systems than has been possible in previous research, through an interdisciplinary dialogue that takes account of both features of the writing systems and the contextual factors affecting the way in which writing was passed on. Each individual contribution furthers this aim by presenting the latest research on the Aegean scripts, demonstrating the great advances in our understanding of script relations that are possible through such detailed and innovative studies.
eBook
Status in a Nutshell. A Praxeological/Phenomenological Approach to Seals as Power Accessories
In the course of their long history in Aegean societies, seals acquired a polyvalent significance that arose from their active ‘participation’ in different social spheres and manifested itself in a superb level of technique and virtuosity. This paper examines the role of Minoan and Mycenaean seals as status symbols, highlighting not their creation but rather the practices of wearing, displaying, using, and perceiving them. The discussion spans two main chronological periods: the Second Palace Period (mid-17th to mid-15th century BCE) and the Third Palace Period (14th-13th century BCE), during which seals served different functions as status mediators. In the earlier period, a notable tension in the social significance of seals is evident when comparing evidence from Crete and the Greek Mainland. While Minoan seals were used as sphragistic tools, Mycenaean seals were not. In the later period, the use of seals in Mainland Greece was driven by their role as administrative tools within the palatial sphere. This dynamic analysis sheds light on the evolving roles and transformations of seals, influenced by varying social environments and demonstrating the multiple ways these artifacts embodied and mediated power. Additionally, it shows how their symbolic potential could express individual or collective identities.
Journal Article
Cultural identity in Minoan Crete : social dynamics in the Neopalatial period
Neopalatial Crete - the 'Golden Age' of the Minoan Civilization - possessed palaces, exquisite artefacts, and iconography with preeminent females. While lacking in fortifications, ritual symbolism cloaked the island, an elaborate bureaucracy logged transactions, and massive storage areas enabled the redistribution of goods. We cannot read the Linear A script, but the libation formulae suggest an island-wide koine. Within this cultural identity, there is considerable variation in how the Minoan elites organized themselves and others on an intra-site and regional basis. This book explores and celebrates this rich, diverse and dynamic culture through analyses of important sites, as well as Minoan administration, writing, economy and ritual. Key themes include the role of Knossos in wider Minoan culture and politics, the variable modes of centralization and power relations detectable across the island, and the role of ritual and cult in defining and articulating elite control.
BOOK
NATURAL HISTORY OF A BRONZE AGE JEWEL FOUND IN CRETE: THE MALIA PENDANT
The unique gold pendant found at Chrysolakkos, Malia, Crete, in 1930 has been variously interpreted, and usually is said to represent a pair of bees. This vague interpretation is discussed, and it is pointed out that the three discs that are suspended from the pendant closely resemble the fruits of a native Cretan herb, Tordylium apulum . Megascolia maculata , a member of the order Hymenoptera, is proposed as the model for the insects. Like a gold toggle pin, also from Chrysolakkos, the pendant demonstrates that Cretan goldsmiths were capable of creating aesthetically pleasing work by paying close attention to the local flora and fauna and used examples as the models for their unique jewellery
Journal Article
History of floods in Greece: causes and measures for protection
Floods as diachronic and international phenomena affect numerous people, buildings and infrastructure. Throughout human history, floods are the most lethal and have caused more economic losses than other natural disasters. In this review, the history of floods is considered focusing in ancient Greece since the early Bronze Age. Ancient Greeks avoided living near lakes and rivers probably for hygiene reasons and protection from floods. Representative impressive hydraulic anti-flooding works including dams, walls, channels from different cities and other settlements in the Minoan era, and the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period are presented. It is concluded that the risk with respect to flood events is more severe today than in ancient times. The ongoing urbanization and deforestation through the centuries have led to an increasing and unmanageable flood risk. For this reason, a set of special measures should be applied in vulnerable areas aiming to mitigate severe damages that floods might cause, including anti-flooding dams, water flow diverting technologies, rainwater harvesting and rain gardens for stormwater retention, reforestation and other smart environmental strategies. The examples of anti-flood hydro-technologies described in this paper may have some relevance for water engineering even in modern times.
Journal Article
Seals, craft, and community in Bronze Age Crete
\"Generations of scholars have grappled with the origins of 'palace' society on Minoan Crete, seeking to explain when and how life on the island altered monumentally. Emily Anderson turns light on the moment just before the palaces, recognizing it as a remarkably vibrant phase of socio-cultural innovation. Exploring the role of craftspersons, travelers and powerful objects, she argues that social change resulted from creative work that forged connections at new scales and in novel ways. This study focuses on an extraordinary corpus of sealstones which have been excavated across Crete. Fashioned of imported ivory and engraved with images of dashing lions, these distinctive objects linked the identities of their distant owners. Anderson argues that it was the repeated but pioneering actions of such diverse figures, people and objects alike, that dramatically changed the shape of social life in the Aegean at the turn of the second millennium BCE\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Scarf and the Cloak Prestige Garments for Aegean Elites
When seeking to identify elite personages in the Aegean iconographic record, the researcher faces the great problem that almost everyone seems to dress in the same rich apparel and there are no deciphered contemporary texts which can explain the meaning of the images. Yet the visual record does reveal that Aegean artists showed particular interest in fabric differentiation and this is especially true of the images on the Aegean seals, signet rings and sealings, each a piece of miniature relief art. The detail in these seal images provides a new lens through which to view gender and identity in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. This paper concentrates on an item that was named by Arthur Evans over a hundred years ago when he saw depictions of what seemed to be rolled-up cloth. He coined the term, “sacral knot” to describe it and so it has remained in the literature. However the seal detail published across the last 50 years establishes that there are actually two items subsumed under Evans’ term, one which we may call the “scarf knot” and the other the “cloak knot” and that the basis for these knots are two very different garments, the scarf and the cloak. When their characteristics are described with regard to the type of raw material used and the patterns observable and when attention is turned to their wearing, it becomes clear that the scarf designates elite females and that the cloak envelopes elite males. The primary use of these two prestige garments, with their underlying distinction of gender roles, is seen to provide the basis for their symbolic use in the knotted form. The scarf and the cloak are primarily Minoan prestige garments and both creations are testament to a sophisticated society that cherished their beautiful fabrics.
Journal Article