Archaeology Magazine - June 1967 - 65

REVI

EWS

RECENT

BOOKS
IN THEANCIENT and going thence to Assyria, Baby- rise to an *International Style" by
INTERCONNECTIONS
A Studyof the Relationships lonia and AchaemenidPersia on the the fifteenth century b.c. The AsNEAR
EAST:
betweenthe Artsof Egypt,the Aegean, one hand, to Egypt and the Aegean syrian style of wall reliefs began in
and WesternAsia,by WILLIAMSTE- on the other, is a connection of the thirteenth century B.c. The conVENSONSmith, xxxii, 202 pages, another sort. The use of glazed tiles cept was new, but some of the
221 figures, 3 end maps. Yale Uni- in architecturebrings Smith to other conventions came from Egypt and
considerations, espe- Mesopotamia. The continuous narversity Press, New Haven 1965 architectural
cially the use of corbel-vaulted rative style of these reliefs and the
$17.50
passageways, which connects Uga- portrayal of specific local scenes
The literature on East Mediter- rit, Bogazköy and Mycenae. The occur nowhere else in antiquity
ranean-Aegean connections written break in communicationscaused by until the second century A.D. in
in this century is largely by sup- the invasion of the Sea Peoples is Rome, on the columns of Trajan
porters of Oriental influence in followed by the unifying effects of and Marcus Aurelius.
The final section deals with
Greece, by defenders of Greece the Assyrian empire in the Near
against any suggestionof outside in- East, which influenced both Egypt Egyptian wall decoration and its
and the Aegean.
basic register system, used from
fluence or by those who see (or
The larger part of the book is Late Predynastic to Roman times.
saw) Egypt as the source of all
devoted to "The Composition of Some interesting deviations from
civilized aspects of both Near
Eastern and Aegean culture. It is, Wall Scenes," a study of the dif- this system did occur; those in the
therefore, most refreshing to have ferent approachesof ancient peoples New Kingdomwere probably under
an account of interconnections of the East Mediterranean area in Aegean influence.Smith urges conamong the three regions, by a most the recording of visual impressions. sideration of the possibility of dieminentEgyptologist,which follows Smith begins with the Aegean, rect connections between Middle
none of these lines but reviews all where there was early developed an Kingdom Egypt and Crete to exthe evidence for interconnections exceptional sense of space relation- plain the early relations usually
without pressing claims of priority ships, one which features the bird's- attributed to indirect contact, probfor one region over the others. One eye view. One of the most interest- ably through Syria. The full effect
senses the thoroughnesswith which ing attempts of Aegean artists to of this earliest contact between
the author has studied not only the relate figures to a landscape back- Egypt and Crete was not felt in
literature but every monument, ground is in the fragmentary silver Minoan painting until the sevenlarge and small, in the Near East rhyton from the Fourth Shaft teenth century, just as Cretan inGrave at Mycenae,for which a new fluenceof the sixteenth and fifteenth
and the Aegean besides those of
Egypt, which he knows so well. The reconstruction is given. The Cretan centuries was apparent only in the
fidelity with which he records his miniature frescoesshow these same Amarna period in Egypt. A better
findings and the sober judgment spatial relationships. Smith believes knowledge of Middle Kingdom
with which he notes actual con- that the free Cretan type of com- Egypt is needed for a true undertacts and influences and suggests position, best suited to plant and standing of this relationship, Smith
possible movements beyond those marine life, changed under Egyptian feels. The New Kingdom experithat are firmly documented is im- influence to the register system, ments with movement and spatial
better for depicting animals and relationships,which began in early
pressive.
The work is in two parts, the human figures. The Cretan sensi- Dynasty XVIII and reached their
first a historical survey of inter- tivity to color and to movementwas conclusion in the historical reliefs
connections, beginning with sea alien to the Greek mainlanders, of Seti I and Ramses II and III, are
trade in the third and second mil- whose battle and hunt scenes, all of Minoan inspiration. But this
much later than preserved Minoan climax came only shortly before
lennia B.c. Syria then played a
large rôle as intermediary between paintings, are more akin to similar Aegean contact with the Orient
was broken by the invasion of the
Egypt and Mesopotamia and later scenes from Egypt and the Near
betweenEgypt and the Aegean.The East.
Sea Peoples. The intimate underPalace decoration in western standing of the Oriental world by
arrival of the chariot in the Mediterranean area and its spread to Asia is treated next, beginningwith Cretans and Mycenaeanswas never
Egypt and the Aegean in the seven- the Mari paintings. The style of recaptured once interrupted, for
teenth century b.c. forms a special these is essentially Mesopotamian, the Greeks developed new ways of
link among the three regions. The but details suggest exchanges with thinking during the Dark Ages and
part played by the manufacture of western Asia, Egypt and the Ae- the epoch of vigorous exchange of
glazed faiences,starting with Syria gean. The degree of exchange gave which Smith writes was ended.
225

Archaeology Magazine - June 1967

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1967