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Compiled by Stelios Jackson
Archaeology and History books to Crete
Arranged alphabetically under author.
Brown, A C Arthur Evans and the Palace of Minos A look at Arthur Evans work at the "Palace of Minos" at Knossos, Crete. Price:
Cameron, Pat Blue Guide to Crete, The. OK, this is a guide book and therefore it also lives on our general guidebook page, but it is also an excellent history book, so I am placing it here too. The archeaological guidebook to the island. Superb on all historical periods, though especially so on "Minoan". This latest is edition is far better than it used to be for niceties such as accommodation, though I would really recommend that you take another general guidebook as well, as this books strengths are more historical than practical.
Click on the logo to go to my review of 'The Blue Guide to Crete', on west-crete.com.
Rodney Castleden Minoans - Life in Bronze age Crete A new view of the Palace of Minos at Knossos
To follow
Cottrell, Leonard The Bull of Minos. A classic look at the Minoans and Mycenaens; wonderful stuff!
Costis Davaras The Palace of Zakros Photographic and textual guide to the site.
Costis Davaras: The Palace of Phaistos Photographic and textual guide to the site.
Costis Davaras "Gournia" Photographic and textual guide to the site.
Costis Davaras The Palace of Malia Photographic and textual guide to the site.
de Bakker, Johan (with extracts from the writings of Edward Lear, Captain Spratt, Richard Pococke and Robert Pashley), Illustrated by Yannis Samatas et al. Across Crete - Part 1 :From Khania (Chania) to Herakleion : ***** Some very important historical and archaeological wrting can be found here. Each one of the nine chapters within receive a synopsis of the area they deal with, geographically and historically, before extracts from travel writers Richard Pococke (1739), Robert Pashley (1834) Edward Lear (1864) and Captain Thomas Spratt (1853) are interwoven, giving the reader an idea of what it was like travelling the "megali Nissi" in the days before mass tourism. The final 3 chapters of miscellany include extracts of the poets Homer, Hesiod, Callimachus and Ovid with a last chapter on the Atlantis link - namely the eruption of Santorini (Thera) in the 16th century BC, as described 1200 years later by Plato in the Timaeus and Critias dialogues. Of the 4 authors that Johan de Bakker has used extracts of, only Edward Lear's "Cretan Journal" is currently in print (though Spratt was reprinted by Adolf Haakert in the 80's and Pashley was reproduced in a 2 vol pb format in Greece 15 years ago) and the price of the originals can run into £1,000s, so this is a very welcome series from that perspective too. Absolutely superb For a list of chapters see our webpage: Across Crete SJ
Click on the logo if you wish to read the review for this book, online over at explore.crete.com
Doumas, Christos The Wall Paintings of Thera. ***** Ok, this is not strictly on Crete, but the relation between the two islands of Crete and Thera (the Greek name for the island of Santorini) is its reason for inclusion here. An absolutely beautiful, boxed book with colour photographs of the mind-blowing wall paintings found at Akrotiri on Thera.
Farnoux, Alexandre Unearthing a Legend An excellent look at the excavation at Knossos from the earliest finds of Minos Kalokairinos, the attempted acquisition by Heinrich Schliemann to Arthur Evans successes.
Fennymore, Tony. Fenny's Hania Tony Fennymore runs guided tours of the city of Chania. As a totla know-it-all, I am not into guided tours, however, I absolutely adored this one and would recommend it very highly to anybody visiting the beautiful Venetian city of Chania.. Click on the book, to go to Tony's site, which has more details.
J. Lesley Fitton Minoans This new book in the "Peoples of the Past" series, is an excellent addition to the Cretan field. Chapter headings: Geography, Landscape and Chronology; Crete Before the Palaces; Protopalatial Crete; Neopalatial Crete; From the Final Palace Period to The End of Minoan Civilization; The Mythology, Legacy and the Reception of Minoan Crete. Hardback pp224 inc index, b/w photos throughout, demy 8vo, 2002
Click on the above logo to go to my review of 'Minoans', on west-crete.com
Friedrich, Walter L. Fire in the Sea A very detailed look at the eruption of Thera (Santorini) and the devistating effect that it must have had on the island of Crete. If "Atlantis" wasn't Plato's "great lie", surely one need look no further than Thera to find its true position.
To follow
To follow
Horowitz, Sylvia L. Find of a Lifetime- Sir Arthur Evans and the Discovery of Knossos
Paperback; Demy 8vo. The first paperback edition of this
biography of the archaeologist Arthur Evans. It should be pointed out that Evans did not
discover Knossos, merely excaved it.
Huxley, D (ed) Cretan Quests - British Explorers, Excavators and Historians
"Pilgrims, merchants and travellers from Britain saw
Crete as an object of interest in the eastern Mediterranean from medieval times. They were
followed by antiquaries, geographers, mapmakers, the Royal Navy, and in the late 19th c.
by the first archaeologists. Excavation and research have continued to flourish there. One
hundred years after Sir Arthur Evans began his work, the British School at Athens recalls
in this collection of essays the many aspects of British scholarship which have formed
part of an international effort to throw light on the past of the whole island from the
earliest Neolithic settlements to the Cretan Renaissance." A wonderful book, though
for pre 20th century travellers the best book is "Across Crete" .
Macgillivray, J. Alexander. Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology if the Minoan Myth. Iconoclastic look at Arthur Evans and his exvations at Knossos.
To follow
Michailidou, Anna Knossos A nice colourful guide to the palace of Knossos
To follow
Panagiotaki, Marina Central
Palace Sanctuary at Knossos, The
BSA Supplementary monograph No. 31 Thorough examination of
the Central palace, illustrated throughout with line drawings and 45 b/w plates at rear.
Hardback
Robinson, Andrew. The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris Hardback. A superb new book on the man behind the decipherment of Linear B, includes fascinating detail on Ventis' early life, though like to many geniuses, Ventris only lived until the age of 34, his achievment in decoding these (pctiographic and syllabic) scripts is one of the great stories of our times. Ventris spent most of his life believing that Linear B or "Minoan" has Arthur Evans had dubbed it, to be a form of Etruscan and hence a non Indo-European language, until finally dicovering it to be a form of pre Archaic Greek, which turned the whole world of archaeology on its head. Superb stuff. SJ
Sakellerakis, J.A. Heraklion Museum A nice colorful guide to the fabulous museum in Heraklion on Crete. Possibly second only to the National Archaeological musuem in Athens
Theocharis E Detorakis A History of Crete***** P
A history of Crete up to and including the battle of Crete
in 1941. A little weak on Minoan history this book is, however, excellent for all the
intervening years including Roman, A rab, Venetian and Turkish Rule, autonomy and
unification with Greece in 1913. A few spelling mistakes and typos have been made in the
translation from the original Greek but I would highly recommend this book. S.J.
History of Crete(all periods to 1941) .
Vassalakis, Antonis Phaistos Actually this book is on most of the major sites on the central South coast and includes Aghia Triada and Gortyns and a few other sites in that area. Nice and pictorial.
Wunderlich, H.G. The Secret of Crete Very popular book which aims at exploding the theory that Knossos was a palace and instead proffers the view that it was a burial site. Interesting but in all likelihood, wrong. SJ
PIC Soon J. Wilson Myers et al- Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete Description soon
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