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Author: Society of Engineers (London, England)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 386
Release: 1917
Genre: Engineering
ISBN:

The Bone and Ivory Objects from Gordion

The Bone and Ivory Objects from Gordion
Author: Phoebe A. Sheftel
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Museum
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2023-07-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1949057186

Gordion is a paramount site for understanding the culture of central Anatolia over more than 3,000 years, from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period, but is most renowned for its Iron Age horizon, when it was royal capital of the mighty Phrygian kingdom. The hundreds of bone and ivory artifacts excavated at Gordion constitute a highly diverse body of material, and this publication presents one of the largest and most important assemblages of its kind in the Near East. The artifacts give remarkable insight into the tools used in crafts and manufacturing processes, a variety of decorative items, the artistic developments among local craftspeople, as well as indications of trading connections with other regions to the east and west. Ivory was a highly valued material used for decorative pieces in many areas around the eastern Mediterranean. The objects from Gordion are a significant addition to this corpus and illustrate both widely dispersed features common in other contemporary ivory-working centers, as well as the singular motifs and styles that developed in the Phrygian milieu. A unique assemblage of ivory horse trappings from the Early Phrygian Citadel are an important illustration of this cultural confluence. While bone was primarily used for strictly utilitarian objects, there are numerous pieces that show this lowly material could be used for high quality items such as inlays set into the wooden furniture exceptionally attested at Gordion. Even the sheep knuckle bone (astragal), decorated with incised designs and letters, gives a glimpse into the daily life in the community.

The Quest

The Quest
Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction Ltd.
Total Pages: 689
Release: 2018-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1785765930

BOOK 4 IN THE ICONIC ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SERIES, BY THE MASTER OF ADVENTURE, WILBUR SMITH 'Best historical novelist' - Stephen King 'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times 'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror AN ENEMY UNLIKE ANY OTHER THE GREAT KINGDOM OF EGYPT ON THE BRINK OF RUIN CAN THE ANCIENT MAGE TAITA SAVE HIS HOMELAND, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE? Renowned magus Taita is now over a hundred years old and has ascended to a new level of wisdom and understanding about his world. But he must prepare himself for the biggest threat Egypt has ever faced: the great plagues and the failure of the Nile. Taita must find the cause before Egypt is ruined, but he has no idea of the terrible enemy that awaits him: the fire witch Eos, an ancient force of sheer evil. Taita must risk his soul to battle her, or his homeland and everything he has ever loved will be lost forever. But there are other reasons for Taita to fight - since success could also mean rewards he could never have thought possible . . . Book 4 in the Ancient Egyptian series from the master historical adventure writer, Wilbur Smith. Book 4 in the series, Desert God, is available now. And don't miss Wilbur Smith's return to Egypt in The New Kingdom sequence: The New Kingdom Titans of War Testament All available now.

Diplomacy by Design

Diplomacy by Design
Author: Marian H. Feldman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2006-05-15
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0226240444

During the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE, the kings of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and Hatti participated in a complex international community. These two hundred years also witnessed the production of luxurious artworks made of gold, ivory, alabaster, and faience--objects that helped to foster good relations among the kingdoms. In fact, as Marian H. Feldman makes clear here, art and international relations during the Late Bronze Age formed an unprecedented symbiosis, in concert with expanded travel and written communications across the Mediterranean. And thus diplomacy was invigorated through the exchange of lavish art objects and luxury goods, which shared a repertoire of imagery that modern scholars have called the first International Style in the history of art. Previous studies have focused almost exclusively on stylistic attribution of these objects at the expense of social contextualization. Feldman's Diplomacy by Design instead examines the profound connection between art produced during this period and its social and political contexts, revealing inanimate objects as catalysts--or even participants--in human dynamics. Feldman's fascinating study shows the ways in which the diplomatic circulation of these works actively mediated and strengthened political relations, intercultural interactions, and economic negotiations and she does so through diverse disciplinary frameworks including art history, anthropology, and social history. Written by a specialist in ancient Near Eastern art and archaeology who has excavated and traveled extensively in this area of the world, Diplomacy by Design considers anew the symbolic power of material culture and its centrality in the construction of human relations.

Excavations at the Palatial Complex

Excavations at the Palatial Complex
Author: Geoffrey Summers
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures
Total Pages: 534
Release: 2023-01-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1614910804

The city on the Kerkenes Dağ in the high plateau of central Turkey was a new Iron Age capital, very probably Pteria. Founded in the later seventh century BC, the city was put to the torch in the mid-sixth century and then abandoned. Excavations at what we have identified as the Palatial Complex were conducted between 1999 and 2005. The stone glacis supporting the Fortified Structure at the eastern end of the complex was revealed in its entirety while the greater portion of the Monumental Entrance was uncovered. Portions of buildings within the complex were also excavated, notably one-half of the heavily burned Ashlar Building, one corner of the Audience Hall, and parts of other structures. This volume documents as fully as possible the results of those excavations with the exception of sculpture, some bearing Paleo-Phrygian inscription, already published (OIP 135). The location of the complex, its development from foundation to destruction, and its architecture are discussed and illustrated. Within the Monumental Entrance were extraordinary, unexpected, semi-iconic stone idols, and other embellishments that include stone blocks with bolsters, bases for large freestanding wooden columns, and stone plinths. Extensive use was made of iron in combination with timber-framed facades and large double-leafed doors. Objects of gold, silver, copper alloys, and iron attest to former splendor. Organization of the volume is roughly chronological, beginning with the Fortified Structure, and concluding with the Monumental Entrance. Presentation of material culture is organized with an emphasis on context. Specialist chapters report on alphabetic and nonalphabetic graffiti and masons' marks, animal bones among which was found the jawbone of a dolphin, and a Byzantine-period burial. This volume provides further dramatic and surprising new evidence for the power, wealth, and sophistication of an eastward expansion of Phrygian culture exemplified by architecture, cultic imagery, Paleo-Phrygian inscriptions and graffiti, pottery, and artifacts. The brief existence of this extraordinary city, hardly more than one hundred years, together with the excellent stratigraphic context provided by the destruction level, offer an unparalleled window onto the first half of the sixth century BC on the Anatolian Plateau.