Prehistory and Protohistory (to 1100 B.C.)

Never has Greek prehistory—from the Stone Age to the end of the Mycenaean civilization—been so thoroughly revealed and explored. When the Greek edition appeared it was hailed by the Journal of Hellenic Studies as "a vast undertaking" and by the American Journal of Archaeology as "a most valuable work, created with love and care." The English translation, carried out by a team of experts under the direction of Dr. Phillip Sherrard of King's College, London, is accurate and lucid, and incorporates discoveries that came to light only after the Greek edition appeared. The volume begins with an account of the Stone Age followed by the Bronze Age and its brilliant civilization: Minoan Crete, the newly uncovered civilization of Thera, and the Age of "Golden Mycenae," the peak of Mycenaen civilization.

The book abound with about 400 meticulously chosen illustrations of art objects, buildings and sites, as well as aerial photographs of historical and archaeological sites, new maps, plans and diagrams, all of which, accompanying the text, present the unfolding civilizations in a startlingly real and often highly imaginative light.

This remarkable work is at once an impeccable piece of scholarship and an outstandingly beautiful volume. Written by thirteen eminent and archaeologist and historians, and illustrated throughout by color photographs of the highest quality, the book is required reading for the specialist and yet attractively accessible to interested layman.