New light on a dark age

These essays, by some of the most prominent scholars in the field, reflect a diversity of approaches to studying the development of the early Iron Age. They cover four major topics: evidence for the rise of the polis, sources and uses of artistic form and iconography, developments in cults around Greece, and issues of poetry and narrative.

Linking these topics are the themes of social change; mortuary practices; growth and use of sacred places; social, literary, and artistic applications of style; and Greece and the outside world. Focusing specifically on developments within Greece and incorporating critical new assessments of archaeological, artistic, and literary evidence, New Light on a Dark Age makes an important contribution to the rapidly changing study of the Dark Age in Greece.