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Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess
A Near Eastern Koine
Nanno Marinatos
Cloth978-0-252-03392-6
$55.00
| Pub Date: | 2009 |
| Pages: | 296 pages |
| Dimensions: | 6.125 x 9.25 in. |
| Illustrations: | 24 black & white photographs, 137 line drawings, 1 map, 3 tables |
An illustrated guide to Minoan images and symbols
Ancient Minoan culture has been typically viewed as an ancestor of classical Greek civilization, but this book shows that Minoan Crete was on the periphery of a powerfully dynamic cultural interchange with its neighbors. Rather than viewing Crete as the autochthonous ancestor of Greece's glory, Nanno Marinatos considers ancient Crete in the context of its powerful competitors to the east and south.
Analyzing the symbols of the Minoan theocratic system and their similarities to those of Syria, Anatolia, and Egypt, Marinatos unlocks many Minoan visual riddles and establishes what she calls a "cultural koine," or standard set of cultural assumptions, that circulated throughout the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean at the time Minoan civilization reached its peak. She pays special attention to the similarities found in religion and political leadership, which were everywhere entwined. With more than two hundred illustrations, Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess delivers a comprehensive reading of Minoan art as a system of thought.
"A multifaceted, innovative work that freshly interprets many aspects of the Minoan religious symbol system. Without a doubt, this book will stimulate extensive scholarly discussion."--Thomas Staubli, coauthor of Body Symbolism in the Bible
"A radical and provocative view of Minoan art, religion, and society. Marinatos provides new readings of numerous Minoan artifacts, offering solutions to many puzzles and placing the imagery within a semantic system of sacral kingship and cosmology."--Kenneth D. S. Lapatin, author of Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: Art, Desire, and the Forging of History
Nanno Marinatos is a professor of classics at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the author of Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol; The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of Animals in Early Greek Religion; and other books.
Subjects:
Religion / Classics / History, European
