Warren Moon Series in Art and Archaeology – Serie

During the Hellenistic period, the North Aegean Sea was a dynamic and diverse area, linked by robust trading networks and sometimes precarious political allegiances. The islands of Thasos, Samothrace, and Lesbos in particular played crucial roles in their position between Anatolia, Macedonia, Thrace, and Greece. Migration, trade, and politics—not to mention the specifics of sites and climate—shaped the development of architecture, which pioneered many innovations that subsequently spread across the Mediterranean.Employing the idea of networks to effectively describe the interconnectedness of design, materials, technology, religion, and politics, the contributors to this volume establish the need to understand this important region holistically and on its own terms. Taking a close look at major buildings and monuments—while considering technique, design, and decoration as elements of a vigorous web—this volume offers important insights about the area’s significance in the history of Hellenistic architecture, including lasting innovations in architectural illusion, Ionic entablature, and groundbreaking uses of marble and plaster. From the North Aegean, such principles and tactics were transmitted to the rest of the Hellenistic world, influencing Roman architecture and, from there, Western architectural history.

Most people today encounter ancient Greek vases as static, untouchable artifacts safely out of reach behind glass, in the quiet of a museum gallery. Once, however, these vessels were also useful objects, made to be held, filled, and generally used in a variety of settings, from the ritual to the quotidian. This volume considers these ancient vases together with the theoretical frameworks developed by pioneers of phenomenology such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Edmund Husserl, helping us experience Greek vases as they once were. The principles of phenomenology require that we understand objects as active participants in shaping the manner in which humans experience the world. A phenomenological perspective allows us to see how the function and use of Greek vases shaped both their visual appearance and the perceptual experience of them—as well as our continued understanding of them today—while taking into account multisensory perspectives. With this alternative approach to the study of classical pottery, the authors offer new and illuminating insights not just into the objects in question but also into ancient Greek culture and life more broadly.