A Bronze Age Bibliography

This is a selection of recommended works organised within a selection 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. Use the menu bar above to jump to key topics.

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.
  • Feuer, Bryan, Mycenaean Civilization: An Annotated Bibliography (2002) McFarland & Co., Jefferson, North Carolina.
  • 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, London.
  • 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.
  • Branigan, Keith, The Foundations of Palatial Crete (1970), Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
  • 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 Archaeology of 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

Anatolia Before the Hittite Empire

  • 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.

The Luwian Seal of Tarkasnawa, Last King of the Bronze Age Anatolian land of Mira The Luwian Seal of Tarkasnawa, Last King of the Bronze Age Anatolian land of Mira
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