Customer Reviews

Great Moments in Greek Archaeology

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This lavish book describes the excavation of the signature monuments of Greek history. Each chapter deals with a different site (e.g. the Acropolis in Athens, Delphi, Knossos, the tomb of Phillip II at Vergina, etc) and is written by a different Greek expert (i.e. an ethnic Greek scholar writing in that language). This review refers to the English translation published in association with the Paul Getty Museum. Since the book appears to be written primarily for a specialist Greek audience, other readers will feel like they are doing a bit of exploration themselves. The terminology (perhaps because of the translation) is often obscure and there is a presumption of background knowledge that varies from chapter to chapter. To understand what I mean consider that a similar book aimed at a US audience would have numerous side-bars and boxed explanatory notes to supplement the text. The tone is notable for nationalistic pride that reflects satisfaction at the recovery of relics of past glory and freedom from foreign (mainly Turkish) subjugation that doubtless was a big factor in the 1800s when a lot of the described excavation was done. This sub-text is less noticeable in the chapters dealing with the more recent discoveries. In general, non-Greek readers will find this undercurrent distracting.

Having said all of the above, this is still a very important and (quite literally) illuminating book. The photographs will show readers what ancient Greek sites look like. Although purchase of so expensive and specialized a book implies previous knowledge of the subject, a picture is still worth a thousand words, so most readers will be satisfied just by the pictures. That said, guidebooks and tourist materials contain even more sumptuous photographs. What made this book most valuable to me (the reason I gave it 4 stars), are the photographs of how the monuments looked before they were restored. These images will not be found in any guidebook.

We tend to have a perception, based on Indian Jones and similar movies, that ancient monuments are preserved nearly intact. On reflection most of us realize that this cannot really be true, but the extent of deterioration is striking. The significance of the word `ruin' as in `ancient ruins' is here made clear. This book documents the emergence of buried relics from the ground and shows us how they looked when they were first seen by archeologists, compared to how they now look after restoration for museum display. The tomb of Phillip II (father of Alexander the Great) at Vergina was tightly sealed and had not been disturbed for millennia so one might expect the contents to be preserved in their original state. While it is true that they were well preserved, nevertheless the first views of the interior reveal an indistinguishable mess of material. One can only imagine how much labor and dedicated restoration was required to transform the artifacts into the state currently on display. This is a reality check.

Oh my god this is a brilliant book. Fully illastrated and packed with a lot of information! It's a Classics Major's wet dream! Pluse it's got an underwater archaeology section!