Art in the Hellenistic World : An Introduction

This textbook offers a new thematic, contextualized, and richly illustrated approach to Hellenistic art for advanced undergraduate and pre-MA students in art history, classics, history, and humanities. Helpful ancillary features include maps, excerpts from Hellenistic literature, appendices, a glossary, a timeline, biographies of key figures, and suggestions for further reading.

What was Hellenistic art, and what were its contexts, aims, achievements, and impact? This textbook introduces students to these questions and offers a series of answers to them. Its twelve chapters and two 'focus' sections examine Hellenistic sculpture, painting, luxury arts, and architecture. Thematically organized, spanning the three centuries from Alexander to Augustus, and ranging geographically from Italy to India and the Black Sea to Nubia, the book examines key monuments of Hellenistic art in relation to the great political, social, cultural, and intellectual issues of the time. It is illustrated with 170 photographs (mostly in color, and many never before published) and contextualized through excerpts from Hellenistic literature and inscriptions. Helpful ancillary features include maps, appendices with background on Hellenistic artists and translations of key documents, a full glossary, a timeline, brief biographies of key figures, suggestions for further reading, and bibliographical references.