Bronze Age Bibliography

This is a selection of recommended works within a number of key topics. The list emphasises books aimed at non-academic readers, but academic works are by no means excluded, and further relevant papers of interest will be added in due course.

The Mycenaeans

  • Chadwick, John, The Mycenaean World (1976), Cambridge University Press.
  • Chadwick, John, The Decipherment of Linear B (1967), Cambridge University Press.
  • Cline, Eric (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (2010), Oxford University Press.
  • Dirlik, Nil, The Tholos Tombs of Mycenaean Greece (2012), Master’s Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University. READ ONLINE
  • Fields, Nic, Mycenaean Citadels c.1350-1200 BC (2004), Osprey Publishing, Oxford.
  • Galaty, Michael L; Parkinson, William A (Eds.) Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces (Second Edn. 2007), Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.
  • Kelder, Jorrit M; Waal, Willemijn JI (Eds.), From ‘LUGAL.GAL’ to ‘WANAX’: Kingship and Political Organisation in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (2019), Sidestone Press, Leiden.
  • Kelder, Jorrit M, The Kingdom of Mycenae: A Great Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age Aegean (2010), CDL Press, Bethesda.
  • Kramer-Hajos, Margaretha, Mycenaean Greece and the Aegean World: Palace and Province in the Late Bronze Age (2016), Cambridge University Press.
  • Molloy, Barry, Swords and Swordsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age (2010), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 114, No. 3, pp.403-428. READ ONLINE
  • Molloy, Barry Martial arts and materiality: a combat archaeology perspective on Aegean swords of the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BC (2008), World Archaeology, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp.116–134. READ ONLINE
  • Rutter, Jeremy B Review of Aegean Prehistory II: The Prepalatial Bronze Age of the Southern and Central Greek Mainland (1993), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 97, pp.745-797.
  • Schofield, Louise, The Myceneans (2007), British Museum Press, London.
  • Shelmerdine, Cynthia W (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (2008) Cambridge University Press.
  • Shelmerdine, Cynthia W, Review of Aegean Prehistory VI: The Palatial Bronze Age of the Southern and Central Greek Mainland (1997), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 101, pp.537-585. READ ONLINE
  • Stocker, Sharon R; Davis, Jack L, The Combat Agate from the Grave of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos (2017), Hesperia, Vol. 86, Iss. 4. READ ONLINE

The Trojan War

  • Bryce, Trevor, The Trojans and Their Neighbours (2006), Routledge, Abingdon.
  • Cline, Eric, The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction (2013), Oxford University Press.
  • Fields, Nic, Troy c.1700-1250 BC (2004), Osprey Publishing, Oxford.
  • Hope Simpson, Richard, Mycenaean Greece and Homeric Tradition (2016) Kingston, Ontario. READ ONLINE
  • Latacz, Joachim, Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery (2005), Oxford University Press.
  • Wood, Michael, In Search of the Trojan War (1985), BBC Books, London.
  • Villing, Alexandra; Fitton, J. Lesley; Donnellan, Victoria; Shapland, Andrew, Troy: myth and reality (2019), Thames & Hudson, London.

The Minoans

  • Alexiou, Stylianos, Minoan Civilization (1964), Heraklion Press.
  • Cline, Eric (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (2010), Oxford University Press.
  • Fitton, J Lesley, Minoans (2002), British Museum Press, London.
  • Rehak, Paul; Younger, John G, Review of Aegean Prehistory VII: Neopalatial, Final Palatial and Postpalatial Crete (1998), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 102, pp.91-173. READ ONLINE
  • Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (2008) Cambridge University Press.
  • Watrous, L Vance, Review of Aegean Prehistory III: Crete from Earliest Prehistory through the Protopalatial Period (1994), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 98, pp.695-753. READ ONLINE

The Cyclades

  • Brookbank, Cyprian, An Island Archaeology of the Early Cyclades (2000), Cambridge University Press.
  • Cline, Eric (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (2010), Oxford University Press.
  • Davis, Jack L. Review of Aegean Prehistory I: The Islands of the Aegean (1992), American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 96, pp.699-756. READ ONLINE
  • Renfrew, Colin, The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium BC (1972), Methuen, London.
  • Renfrew, Colin, The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium BC (Second Edn. 2009), Oxbow Books, Oxford.
    Note Avoid the Kindle version: very poor typesetting!
  • Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (2008) Cambridge University Press.

The Hittites

  • Beckmann, Gary, The Trials of Tudhliya IV (2019), Acts of the IXth International Congress of Hittitology, pp.125-133, Ankara. READ ONLINE
  • Beckmann, Gary, Hittite Chronology (2000), Akkadica 119-120, pp.19-32. READ ONLINE
  • Beckmann, Gary, Hittite Diplomatic Texts (1996), Scholars Press, Atlanta.
  • Bryce, Trevor, Warriors of Anatolia (2019), Bloomsbury, London.
  • Bryce, Trevor, Hittite Warrior (2007), Osprey Publishing, Oxford.
  • Bryce, Trevor, The Kingdom of the Hittites (2005), Oxford University Press.
  • Bryce, Trevor, Life and Society in the Hittite World (2002), Oxford University Press.
  • Cline, Eric; Beckmann, Gary; Bryce, Trevor, The Ahhiyawa Texts (2011), Scholars Press, Atlanta.
  • Güterbock, Hans Gustav, The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as Told by His Son, Mursili II (1956), Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 2 (pp.41-68), 3 (pp.75-98), 4 (pp.107-130). READ ONLINE
  • Hawkins, J. David, The Arzawa Letters in Recent Perspective (2009) British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan Vol. 14, pp73–83. READ ONLINE
  • Hawkins, J. D, Tarkasnawa King of Mira ‘Tarkondemos’, Boǧazköy Sealings and Karabel (1998) Anatolian Studies Vol. 48, pp.1-31. READ ONLINE
  • Mountjoy, P. A., The East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface in the Late Bronze Age: Mycenaeans and the Kingdom of Ahhiyawa (1998) Anatolian Studies Vol. 48, pp.33-67. READ ONLINE

Pre-Hittite Anatolia

  • Şahoğlu, V, The Anatolian Trade Network and the Izmir Region During the Early Bronze Age (2005) Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24(4), pp.339-361. READ ONLINE

The Luwians

  • Woudhuizen, Fred C, The Luwians of Western Anatolia: Their Neighbours and Predecessors (2018), Archaeopress, Oxford.

The End of the Bronze Age and the Sea Peoples

  • Cline, Eric, 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (2015), Princeton University Press.
  • Yassur-Landau, Assaf, The Philistines and Aegean Migration at the End of the Late Bronze Age (2010), Cambridge University Press.

The Near East

  • Brereton, Gareth (Ed.), I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria (2018), Thames & Hudson, London.
  • Bryce, Trevor, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History (2014), Oxford University Press.
  • Cotterell, Arthur (Ed.), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations (1988) Penguin Books, London.
  • Kriwaczek, Paul, Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization (2012), Atlantic Books, New York.

The Wider Mediterranean

  • Abulafia, David, The Great Sea (2014), Penguin, London.
  • Brookbank, Cyprian, The Making of the Middle Sea (2013), Oxford University Press.
  • Mellis, Paolo, The Nuragic Civilization (2003), Carlo Delfino Editore, Sassari.

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