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Marinatos, Dr. Nanno, Art and Religion in Thera, Reconstructing a Bronze Age Society. The author, daughter of Spyridon Marinatos, was born in Athens. She studied classics and archaeology in the USA and received her PhD in 1978 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has taught classics and archaeology at Oberlin College, Ohio and at the University of Colorado. This book is about wall paintings and the function they fulfilled in the Bronze Age society of Akrotiri, Thera (Santorini). The author discusses the frescoes in their architectural setting and in relation to the objects found in the rooms and buildings. She explores the symbolism of the art and reconstructs actual ceremonies.

Marinatos, Nanno, and Robin Hägg, editors, Greek Sanctuaries, New Approaches. What were Greek sanctuaries like? Recent scholarship has tended to focus more on social functions and the decoding of religious ritual than on elaborate descriptions of the archaeological remains. There seemed to be a need for something of a general nature designed primarily for English-speaking audiences. This volume presents an international team of authors with an intentional inclination towards Anglo-Saxon scholarship. Some of the contributors are archaeologists, others historians of religion. In the majority of cases, the principal issues centre around function and historical development of sanctuaries..

Mehling, Dr. Marianne, editor, Athens and Attica, A Phaidon Cultural Guide. With over 260 color illustrations and 6 pages of maps. A comprehensive, richly illustrated guide to the treasusres of Athens and Attica--ancient building and archaeological sites, temples, churches and museums. In alphabetical order of town for easy reference. Though obviously directed at tourists, this little book contains a wealth of detailed information not only on the archaeological sites, but also on the mythology of the area. Contains pictures usually missing in other travel guides, e.g., The sanctuary of Artemis at Aulis where Iphigenia was sacrificed and Brauron (Vravrona) where young female initiates danced "the Bear".

Meier, Christian, The Political Art of Greek Tragedy. According to Christian Meier, one of Germany's leading classicists, a Greek tragedy cannot be considered simply a work of art or a reflection of ancient modes of thought. He argues that it is essential to understand tragedy's interaction with Greek political life. In The Political Art of Greek Tragedy he focuses on the works of Aeschylus to examine the close relationship between drama and democracy at the beginning of the great age of Greek tragedy. Meier looks to tragedy for clues about the political, social, and psychological problems faced by inhabitants of fifth-century Athens, a period of rapid and unsettling change. he explores the important role of festivals--particularly the festival of Dionysus--and develops an original interpretation of Aeschylus's Oresteia, Prometheus, and The Persians.

Michailidou, Anna, Knossos, A Complete Guide to the Palace of Minos. Knossos was the most important town in Crete in prehistoric times. Homer speaks of the existence of one hundred cities in Crete at the time of the Trojan War and mentions Knossos first, then Gortyn, Meletos, Phaistos and others. he describes Knossos as "vast" and "a great city" and informs us that Minos was its king. The major excavations conducted in Crete since the end of the 19th century have brought to light the remains of a great civilization, the first advanced civilization in Europe. It spanned the interval between 2800 and 1100 BC and Arthur Evans, the English excavator of Knossos, name it the Minoan Civilization after the legendary Minos.

Morrison, J. S. and R. T. Williams, Greek Oared Ships 900-322 B.C. The constant and close reliance on the sea, and on the ships that sailed it, could not have failed to influence the language of the ancient Greeks, the metaphors and pictures in which their ideas were expressed. The result is that passages of Greek poetry and prose writing are often inscrutable without a knowledge of the nautical practice which lies behind them, and modern ignorance has led on occasion to corruption of the text. More frequently, historical events depend for their correct assessment on a knowledge of nautical matters. Unless we know what rowing in a trieres meant, we can hardly expect to understand the battles and voyages, the problems of training, transport and supply in the fleets of the fifth and fourth centuries. I have been unable to locate a source for this book.

Murray, Gilbert, Euripides and his age. One of the best books ever written on Euripides. The author writes: "As a playwright the fate of Euripides has been strange. All through a long life he was almost invariably beaten in the State competitions. He was steadily admired by some few philosophers, like Socrates; he enjoyed immense fame throughout Greece; but the official judges of poetry were against him, and his own people of Athens admired him reluctantly and with a grudge. After death, indeed, he seemed to come into his kingdom. He held the stage as no other tragedian has ever held it, and we hear of his plays being performed with popular success six hundred years after they were written, and in countries far removed from Greece."

Myres, Sir John L., Herodotus, Father of History. From the author: "My object is to examine the claim of Herodotus to be the 'Father of History', the man who first formulated its aims and method, and implemented this conception in his own writings. Much past criticism of Herodotus has resulted from failure to appreciate his originality, not only as an inquirer into the past, and interpreter of it, but as an artist and man of letters, faced with an immense range of uncoordinated facts, and with literary traditions and techniques which are inadequate to present them intelligibly.