Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete

'Nanno Marinatos has pulled off a very difficult task in writing a stimulating intellectual biography of Sir Arthur Evans - excavator of the site of Knossos and creator of the Minoan civilisation - that combines a laudatory, but critical, approach with the introduction of new information about an already well-documented life. Following a broadly chronological structure - from Evans' intellectual formation in late-19th century anthropology and prehistory to his final years in the early part of WW II - this is a personal narrative in two distinct ways: first, because it links Marinatos' own quest to interpret Minoan religion to Evans'; and second, because it weaves a Greek perspective into Evans' story, drawing on personal correspondence, some never before published, of her father Spyridon Marinatos, himself famous as the excavator of the spectacularly well-preserved site of Akrotiri on Thera. Throughout Marinatos situates her narrative effectively and readably within contemporary developments - both scholarly and historical - producing a genuinely novel picture of Evans' life, his intellectual contribution and his involvement in the world of Cretan archaeology, particularly in later life.' John Bennet, Professor of Aegean Archaeology, University of Sheffield, author of A Short History of the Minoans (I.B.Tauris, 2015) This book enables us to see, at a level and detail of argument not reached in other works, the logic, reasonableness and force of Evans's interpretations...Nanno Marinatos offers not simply a new but also a unique contribution. Peter Warren, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, University of Bristol.