Pocket Museum

A vast collection of significant works of art from the whole of ancient Greek civilization and a range of museums, gathered in one handy, pocket-sized guide

The numerous treasures of ancient Greece are scattered all over the world, impossible to view in the context of fellow objects, or in some cases impossible to see at all, without visiting institutions across the globe. This magnificently illustrated book presents more than 200 objects currently housed in public collections around the world that offer both context and immediacy to the rich culture of ancient Greece. From the bifacial hand tools of the Lower Palaeolithic to the Hellenistic Great Altar of Pergamon,the artifacts presented here reveal a complex sociocultural history of shifting priorities, spiritual beliefs, and cultural traditions. Objects from across the Greek world, valued in life and in death, reflect the transmission of shared ideals across vast distances through relationships maintained for centuries at a time.

Pocket Museum: Ancient Greece also offers an insight into the history of collecting and methods of interpretation, examining how the perception of objects has changed over time. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of each featured artifact, this is an absorbing introduction to a culture that has exerted an unparalleled influence on Western civilization.

About the Author

David Michael Smith holds a doctorate in Greek prehistory from the University of Liverpool. He has taught widely on Aegean and Greek archaeology and material culture, and has extensive excavation experience on mainland Greece and the Cycladic archipelago on sites ranging in date from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. He is a member of the British School at Athens and a regular contributor to Archaeological Reports.