Browsing by Author "Gates, Charles"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Open Access
Acropolis
(SAGE, 2010) Gates, Charles; Hutchison, R.
Open Access
The adoption of pictorial imagery in Minoan wall painting: a comparativist perspective
(The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2004) Gates, Charles; Chapin, A.
A striking feature of Minoan wall paintings is the sudden adoption of pictorial imagery in the Neopalatial period. This change calls for an explanation, but so far, that explanation has proved elusive. Those specialists in Aegean frescoes who have addressed this problem have focused on the possible artistic antecedents or on the functions of the mural imagery, notably its putative religious and decorative purposes, but have not considered the circumstances that gave rise to such imagery in the first place. This paper will explore these issues of origins and functions, with particular attention paid to Knossos. The explanation proposed here, with the help of three cross-cultural comparisons, is that pictorial imagery in Minoan wall painting resulted from the major political change that marked the transition from the Protopalatial to Neopalatial periods on Crete: the consolidation of island-wide power in Knossos, in the hands not of an auto- crat, but of an oligarchic or theocratic regime. Pictorial imagery, at least in Neopalatial Crete, is not only an artistic preference, but also an ideological choice, an expression of particular political, social, and religious conditions.
Open Access
Agora
(SAGE, 2010) Gates, Charles; Hutchison, R.
Open Access
Ancient cities: the archaeology of urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome
(Routledge, 2024-01-01) Gates, Charles; Goldman, Andrew
The third edition of Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on archaeological evidence. Urban form is the focus: the physical appearance and overall plans of cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller’s experience. Objects or artifacts that furnished everyday life are discussed, such as writing systems, pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics, and coins. Ancient Cities is unusual in presenting this wide range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Preclassical and Classical periods, and in showing the links between these ancient cultures. In this new edition, in which Andrew Goldman has joined Charles Gates in updating the volume, readers and lecturers will be delighted to see a major revision of the chapters on Greek cities in South Italy and Sicily, the Etruscans, the development of the capital city, Rome, during the Republic as well as the Empire, and the end of the ancient city. This new edition includes several new and updated user-friendly features, such as: Here is the list from the provided text in Markdown format: - Clear and accessible language, assuming no previous background knowledge - Lavishly illustrated, with almost 350 line drawings, maps, and photographs, including new contributions from Neslihan Yılmaz Tekman adding to her already acclaimed illustrations - Suggestions for further reading for each chapter - A companion website with images, study guides, and an interactive timeline. With its comprehensive presentation of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cities, its rich collection of illustrations, and its companion website, Ancient Cities remains an essential textbook for university and high school students across a wide range of archaeology, ancient history, and ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Classical Studies courses.
Open Access
Cities, ancient, and daily life
(Academic Press, 2008) Gates, Charles; Pearsall, D. M.
By the fourth millennium BC, developed cities had appeared in the Near East, the earliest cities in the world. This article focuses on daily life in selected cities in this and neighboring regions, with one New World example for comparison. Evidence for daily life in ancient cities comes from two sources: archaeology and, for historical periods, ancient texts. Archaeological evidence is variously preserved, depending on climatic, geological, and cultural conditions. Moreover, archaeologists weigh the evidence differently, depending on the questions they seek to answer. Daily life itself comprises many elements, but a basic distinction can be drawn between private and public. Private life centers around the house, its appearance and furnishings, its occupants (males and females of different ages), and household functions. Public life concerns such aspects as social relationships outside the family, political organization, the maintenance of order, economic matters, and religious practices. Such activities take place in a physical setting, both natural and built; understanding daily life in ancient cities includes analysis of what these elements looked like, individually and in relation with others. To explore these themes, five case studies are presented. The first Old World example is Pompeii, a Roman city destroyed in AD 79 by the eruption of the volcano, Vesuvius. Well preserved under the volcanic pumice and ash, Pompeii has yielded an immense amount of information about daily life. The second example is the Agora, or city center of Athens. Here, archaeological excavations combined with textual sources have illuminated the political, commercial, and religious concerns of this ancient Greek city. The third example is Amarna, or Akhetaten, the short-lived capital city of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (ruled c. 1353-1337 BC). The final Old World case is Ur, a Sumerian city, and a good example of a Near Eastern 'tell,' an artificial mound consisting of accumulated remains of centuries of occupation. The article concludes with a contrasting New World example: Teotihuacan, the large city in the Valley of Mexico that flourished c. AD 150-600.
Open Access
Cities: historical overview and theoretical issues
(Oxford, 2010) Gates, Charles; Maas, G. S.
Open Access
The place of the achaemenid Persian period in archaeological research in Cilicia and Hatay (Turkey)
(De Boccard, 2005) Gates, Charles; Briant, P.; Boucharlat, R.