Carl W. Blegen
Personal and Archaeological Narratives
Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan editor Jack L Davis editor Vasiliki Florou editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Lockwood Press
Published:26th Feb '15
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Carl Blegen is the most famous American archaeologist ever to work in Greece, and no American has ever had a greater impact on Greek archaeology. Yet Blegen, unlike several others of his generation, has found no biographer. In part, the explanation for this must lie in the fact that his life was so multifaceted: not only was he instrumental in creating the field of Aegean prehistory, but Blegen, his wife and their best friends, the Hills ('the family'), were also significant forces in the social and intellectual community of Athens. Authors who have contributed to this book have each researched one aspect of Blegen's life, drawing on copious documentation in the United States, England and Greece. The result is a biography that sets Blegen and his closest colleagues in the social and academic milieu that gave rise to the discipline of classical archaeology in Greece.
‘Effectively illustrated with photographs and drawings, this book illuminates the interpersonal and professional relationships of Blegen and his associates and provides insights important for both students and scholars.’
Mary C. Sturgeon, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 121, No. 4 (October 2017)
‘This handsome volume [offers] many pleasures that normal biographies rarely provide. For one thing its generous illustrations include facsimiles of correspondence and reproductions of Piet de Jong's wonderful cartoons of famous Aegean scholars (one of these forming the cover of the book). [...]The main service provided by this book is to remind us all that real advances in our understanding of the ancient world are always, to a greater or lesser extent, archaeological; that archaeological fieldwork requires determination, application, cultural sensitivity and a skill set (in excavation and stratigraphy) that few classicists possess.’
James Whitley, Cardiff University, Journal of Hellenic Studies
'The contributions...[include] praise, some light-duty prosopography linking Blegen and friends to their equally distinguished peers (and occasionally to students), some veiled references to Blegen household arrangements (and equally broad assurances), and enough references to intrigue Blegenophiles and historians of American archaeology alike.' (Bill Caraher, The Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, March 11, 2015)
ISBN: 9781937040222
Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 17mm
Weight: 615g
252 pages