Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete

Creating the Vision of Knossos

Nanno Marinatos

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English

Bloomsbury
24 December 2020

History; European history; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Prehistoric archaeology

Before Sir Arthur Evans, the principal object of Greek prehistoric archaeology was the reconstruction of history in relation to myth. European travellers to Greece viewed its picturesque ruins as the gateway to mythical times, while Heinrich Schliemann, at the end of the nineteenth century, allegedly uncovered at Troy and Mycenae the legendary cities of the Homeric epics. It was Evans who, in his controversial excavations at Knossos, steered Aegean archaeology away from Homer towards the broader Mediterranean world. Yet in so doing he is thought to have done his own inventing, recreating the Cretan Labyrinth via the Bronze Age myth of the Minotaur. Nanno Marinatos challenges the entrenched idea that Evans was nothing more than a flamboyant researcher who turned speculation into history. She argues that Evans was an excellent archaeologist, one who used scientific observation and classification. Evans's combination of anthropology, comparative religion and analysis of cultic artefacts enabled him to develop a bold new method which Sir James Frazer called 'mental anthropology'.

It was this approach that led him to propose remarkable ideas about Minoan religion, theories that are now being vindicated as startling new evidence comes to light. Examining the frescoes from Akrotiri, on Santorini, that are gradually being restored, the author suggests that Evans's hypothesis of one unified goddess of nature is the best explanation of what they signify. Evans was in 1901 ahead of his time in viewing comparable Minoan scenes as a blend of ritual action and mythic imagination.

Nanno Marinatos is a leading authority on Minoan religion. In this latest book she combines history, archaeology and myth to bold and original effect, offering a wholly new appraisal of Evans and the significance of his work. Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete will be essential reading for all students of Minoan civilization, as well as an irresistible companion for travellers to Crete.

By: Nanno Marinatos
Imprint: Bloomsbury
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 354g
ISBN: 9781350197350
ISBN 10: 1350197351
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 24 December 2020
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Illustrations Foreword Preface Introduction 1. Tree and Pillar Cult 2. Mourning Kybele: Arthur Evans and James Frazer 3. The Whirligig of Time: The Narrative of the Palace of Ninos 4. Monotheism 5. The Ring of Nestor 6. The Ring of Minos 7. The Final Years: Evans' Restorations and his Visions of Knossos 8. Sir Arthur Evans and Spyridon Marinatos 9. The Last Visit of Evans to Crete 10. Sunt Lacrimae Rerum: The War and the Death of Evans

Nanno Marinatos is Professor Emerita of Classics and Mediterranean Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Her publications include Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess: A Near Eastern Koine , Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol and The Naked Goddess and Mistress of Animals in Early Greek Religion. Author residency - Chicago, Illinois, USA.