Debating Orientalization: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Processes of Change in the Ancient Mediterranean

Initially coined by art historians in the second half of the nineteenth century to denote an ambivalent artistic style and period, 'Orientalizing' has been invariably used to describe a phenomenon, a revolution, or a movement. Regional developments and innovations in the ancient Mediterranean have been explained by reference to an Orient, the metaphorical bazaar containing the artistic opulence and social sophistication that spread to the West and changed it. Debating Orietalization brings together papers presented at a symposium held in Oxford in 2002 to debate the theme of ancient Orientalization. The volume reassesses the concept of Orientalizing, questioning whether it is valid to interpret Mediterranean-wide processes of change in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages by the term Orientalization. Like the ancient Mediterranean itself, the list of contributors is multicultural, and their contributions multidisciplinary, combining various strands of archaeological and textual evidence with different methodological approaches.

Edited by:

Corinna Riva

University College London

Corinna Riva is Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean Archaeology at University College London. The co-editor of two previous books on ancient Italy and the antique Mediterranean, she is also author of The Urbanisation of Etruria: Funerary Practices and Social Change, 700-600 BC (2010)

Nicholas C. Vella

University of Malta

Nicholas C. Vella is Senior Lecturer in Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta.