The Aegean Civilizations: The Making of the Past

by Peter Warren

Book by Warren, Peter

Genres: Greece, Ancient History, History

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Richard Hessney · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in-depth survey of pre-Classical Greek societies, notably the Minoans of Crete and Myceneans. The work is heavy on archaeology, particularly pottery, and it's easy to get lost in the chronology, since the author dates things based on time periods derived from pottery types (like Late Minoan II). The writing style is dry and dense with little personality. Attempts are made to cover other aspects of society, such as commerce, language and religion. What really makes this book worthwhile is a profuse number of photos and illustrations--notable artworks, photos of palace ruins like Knossos and Mycenae, and plan drawings of cities, tholos tombs and the like.

[Anna C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vintage old library book, 1975 edition, super dated but interesting to read to see how the historiography has changed from then. You can tell it's an old book because of the Hellenic exceptionalism, and the concern over who is a culture and who is a Civilization, and the fact that Evans' vandalism at Knossos is held up as exemplary and non-controversial.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this second edition was published in 1989, it appears the main text is unchanged from the first edition published in 1975. An 8 page introduction with updated evidence and conclusions has been added, but if you are reading this book to learn about the Aegean civilizations, the introduction might not make much sense until you've read the rest of the book.

The main text presents the highlights of archaeological evidence and theories (circa 1975) for the civilizations on Crete, Thera, and Mycenae. Mostly Crete. The illustrations are very good. I thought the text was a bit disjointed, jumping around from topic to topic. But I was reading it it bits and pieces, too, so that might be an unfair assessment :)

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't say I care much about whatever it is that the Aegean is.

[Pixelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading in my Ancient history classes at uni and one of the books I still take out now and then. Not for the dry writing but for the images of Cycladic goddesses and Minos floor-plans.