The Bull of Minos: The Discoveries of Schliemann and Evans

I acquired this several years ago. It's written by a journalist who took the time to study the field. He's also good at creating feel rather than just documenting facts. As a result, the book is interesting, accurate and puts the reader on site. Definitely one of the better layperson's books on the subject, and a good study of both the archaeologists involved (and their techniques) and the Minoan culture. Well worth reading.

This is a great book by Leonard Cotrell, maybe even better than "Los Egipcios" , which I had to read in primary school and which I loved so much as a kid that I read it three times. The author's name stayed in my mind and when I saw this book I immediately bought it and I'm glad I did. Leonard Cottrell was a commentator and producer at the BBC, so he travelled across the Mediterranean to get material for his program. This book is about his travel to Greece (Knossos) and Turkey on the footsteps of two archeologists, Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans, who found lost cities during their searches and excavations. The book merges three time periods, the ancient Greek world, the world of the 19th century archeologists and the early 20th century of Cottrell, while the story goes back and forth mainly between the first two. It explains to some detail the rudimentary archeological methods at the disposal of the before mentioned archeologists and how their passion for finding their dream, as well as the deep faith of Schliemann in the accuracy of Homer's works helped him through his early disappointments in his quest for finding Troy. The findings of these archeologists are taken back in time to explain the history of the buried cities and their inhabitants, their myths and their social life, as well as their relations to other cultures of the Mediterranean like the Egyptians. The book reads like a novel, but has a lot of historic details, as well as an explanation of how the findings relate to Homer's great works of literature, like for example Homer's description of round warrior shields, which were thought to be coming out of his lucid imagination, but which proved to exist according to some archeological findings. It's a pity that almost all of Cottrell's books are apparently out of print.

This book is almost impossible to put down. The author discusses ancient Greek history and archaeology through the work of two famous pioneers in this field: Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans. The main sites focused upon are Troy, Mycenae and Knossos; however, many more sites are discussed, both in Crete and mainland Greece. This is obviously a work of love for the author; the passion with which he writes about this subject is spellbinding. Although written in 1953 (revised in, probably, the late 1950s - this isn't clear), the historical facts surrounding the principal personages remain valid; only the interpretations of the findings (and those unearthed since then) have evolved. I heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in truly ancient (pre-classical) Greece and in the pioneers who led its discovery and excavation.