The Archaeology of Ancient Greece

A synthesis of research on the material culture of Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods.

James Whitley (Author)

9780521622059, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 October 2001

512 pages, 133 b/w illus. 40 maps 1 table
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.8 cm, 1.1 kg

'… deserves the attention of us all … an excellent account of what the discipline is, where it has been, and where it is now'. Bryn Mawr Classical Review

The Archaeology of Ancient Greece provides a synthesis of research on the material culture of Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods (1000–300 BC). The rich and diverse material culture of ancient Greece has always provoked admiration and even wonder, but it is seldom analysed as a key to our understanding of Greek civilisation. Dr Whitley shows how the material evidence can be used to address central historical questions for which literary evidence is often insufficient. He also situates Greek art within the broader field of Greek material culture, providing an historically more accurate perspective on both. This is a significant contribution to the integration of archaeological and art historical evidence.

Part I. Approaches to Greek Archaeology: 1. Introduction: classical archaeology and its objects
2. Great traditions: classical scholarship and classical archaeology
3. Modern archaeologies of Greece
4. Chronology and terminology
Part II. Archaic Greece: 5. Archaic Greece, 1000–700 BC
6. The Aegean, the Levant and the West: the orientalising phenomenon
7. Gods, heroes and sacred places
8. The city, the state and the Polis
9. Art, narrative and monumentality
10. Regional archaeologies
Part III. Classical Greece: 11. Defining the classical: classical art
12. Cities and sanctuaries of Classical Greece
13. The archaeology of democracy: Classical Athens
14. Beyond the Polis: the countryside of Classical Greece
15. Epilogue: towards Hellenistic archaeology.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], European history [HBJD], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]