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CRETE AND MYCENAE by Spyridon Marinatos Kirkus Star

CRETE AND MYCENAE

By

Publisher: Abrams

This book serves a dual role. Not only is it an excitingly beautiful collection of photographs, many in full color, but the text provides the reader with a fascinating historical and archaeological study of the explorations in Crete and Mycenae. Anyone who has gone to Crete and to Mycenae will find his horizons widened, his understanding deepened by this book. The ancient power of Crete, envisioned through Evans' excavations at Knossos and subsequent excavations of three or more other palaces and lordly residences and communities in other parts of Crete, takes on a sense of authenticity. One has a sense of new knowledge of other peoples, other times. The same is true in the text related to Mycenae and neighboring excavations. The minutely detailed diagrams and maps of the various locales make the text more readily understandable, while the photographs of the excavation sites and progress, and of the rich findings bring the whole into vivid life. Only one strange omission strikes the inquiring reader. Nowhere is credit or information given as to what museums now house these riches. While many can be recognized as being in the museums connected with the excavations, others are in Athens and elsewhere. Should this not be integral to the captions or the notes on the illustrations?