The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership [Hardcover]

Michael Coe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 1996

Between 1400 and 400 BC, in what is now Mexico and Central America, the Olmec people created a magnificent culture, one too often overshadowed by those of the Maya and the Aztec. This catalogue accompanies an exhibition of over 250 Olmec works of art - ceramic, jade and stone - on display at the Art Museum, Princeton University in December 1995, and travelling to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Essays by prominent scholars offer interpretations of such topics as the power of objects within the context of the Olmec ritual system. These identify and illustrate the fundamental themes of Olmec small-scale sculpture, the sacred role of the maize in Olmec ideology, and the relationship of Olmec culture to later civilizations. An illustrated glossary of motifs and symbols is provided to clarify the often highly abstract style and encoded iconography of the Olmec. The book also includes precise mineralogical descriptions of the lithic materials they used.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Art Museum / Harry N. Abrams; 1st edition (March 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810963116
• ISBN-13: 978-0810963115
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 11.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,838,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University, Michael D. Coe is a specialist in the comparative study of ancient, tropical forest civilizations. Coe's books include The Maya, Mexico, The True History of Chocolate, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for any Olmec Enthusiast, November 16, 2000

By 

Chop Suey (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Hardcover)

The Olmec World is an amazing resource for those who study or have an appreciation of early Mesoamerican Art. At its most basic level The Olmec World is the catalogue of the 1996 Olmec Exhibition at the Art Museum at Princeton University the first comprehensive show of Olmec art in America. Drawing upon nearly all of the major Olmec museum collections in North America from Dunbarton Oaks to Princeton's own expansive holdings, the exhibition also drew heavily from many private collections never before shown to the general public. For instance, John Stokes' amazing collection of ceramic babies and jade masks are showcased in this catalogue. However, almost as impressive as the pictures are the essays in this collection. Michael Coe has done a marvelous job of soliticing and editing a myriad of papers on the mysterious Olmec.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catalogue of a 1995-96 exhibition with 7 papers and pictures of the artifacts, February 23, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Hardcover)

This quite beautiful book is the product of an exhibition by the Art Museum of Princeton University that ran from December 1995 through February 1996. It was called "The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership". The first half of the book contains seven very interesting papers that made varying degrees of sense to me. Not because the papers were poor, but simply because I am not an authority in the field. Trying to weigh and interpret the scant threads of evidence (but the evidence is actually amazing) is tough for professionals. For amateurs like me, it is quite impossible to do much more than pay your money and take your chances. We follow along as best we can and watch developing trends in the scholarship.

The papers discuss various ideas of Olmec political / religious (not in our sense) organization, the extent of their cultural influence, the things we can tease out of the shamanistic symbols found, the artistic motifs we see again and again, and certain specific symbols such as the tree of life (by the greatly lamented Linda Schele). Enjoy the papers. They will enrich your idea of the culture we call the Olmec as it existed in multiple forms over a long period of time. However, another great benefit is to learn about how archaeologists and anthropologists of real quality work with evidence and construct their theories. This is especially so because we have no writing of the Olmec, if they ever had any.

The second half of the book is the actual catalogue of the show. It is full of glorious color photographs of amazing artifacts with very helpful annotations. It will dazzle you.

This is a very fine book about a wonderfully interesting civilization that great scholars continue to bring to more vivid life for us.

I also strongly recommend John E. Clark's "Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesomerica" that may be available in a strong library near you.

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Introduction to This Ancient Culture, January 17, 2012

By 

Neodoering - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Hardcover)

The Olmec were the first known civilization of the New World and invented many of the characteristics of later Central American civilizations, such as vision rites, the were-jaguar cult, the hieroglyph writing system, the hieroglyph calendar, the use of pyramids for temples and worship, and stone masks which are thought to have had ritual use. Later these features of Olmec civilization would be adopted and adapted by the Maya, the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs, the Toltecs and the Aztecs.

This book is a rich introduction to the Olmecs. There are essays on various aspects of Olmec civilization and culture, especially the shamanic experience and the nature of Olmec leadership, and these complement and are enhanced by many photos of Olmec art, sculpture and monuments. There is also a useful map of the relevant areas of Central America, showing Olmec territory and principal sites. This museum catalog was meant to tie together and explain the many objects in the show and how they related to Olmec, and later Central American, history. There aren't many books out there on the Olmec. Their culture passed away around the time of Christ or even earlier, and there isn't a whole lot for archaeologists to go on. What is known, however, is neatly summarized and explained herein. To my knowledge this book is the most insightful work on the Olmecs on the market today. If you're into the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica, this is the culture that kicked them all off, and you owe it to yourself to read this book!