John Boardman (1) (1927–2024)

British art historian John Boardman published this book in 1964, but it remains the standard work on ancient Greek art. This is, of course, because it has been updated repeatedly over the decades. I read the fifth and final edition from 2016 (Boardman died in 2024), and of course, I didn't compare, but you can tell the revision was taken seriously. Only the bibliography reveals a much older origin.
Boardman focuses primarily on the Archaic (8th-6th century BCE) and Classical (5th-4th century show more BCE) periods, which is understandable. However, it is unfortunate that he covers the Hellenistic period only very briefly. Even though this book inevitably has a certain encyclopedic slant, Boardman has succeeded in delivering a readable and insightful overview.
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This is a fascinating look at the flickerings of Greek artistic influence in Central Asia and India. There are some astonishing artworks here showing how Greek imagery and mythology survived much longer and much farther to the east than one might have expected. It's a shame that these intriguing visuals are for the most part mute and that there is scant literary record of the Asian Hellenes.

This is mostly an examination of the physical culture associated with the hero cults of the classical Greeks. The relevant insight is that because of the near total loss of continuity with the Bronze Age Greeks and Minoans, Iron Age Greeks had to essentially create a history for the remnants they found of this culture, as opposed to the Egyptians and cultures of the Fertile Crescent, which did not lose contact with their Bronze Age roots to nearly the same degree. There's also the relevant show more aside that this was much more of a popular culture, as opposed to an ideology handed down from the center, making for a much more color and variation in how it was experienced. show less

This is very much an introductory book where each chapter ends with a list of further reading, which meant that it didn't really tell me things I didn't already know, but it was a good refresher and kept me interested all the way through.