Near Eastern art in the Iron Age Mediterranean

This chapter provides a few examples to demonstrate the diverse purposes to which Near Eastern ivories and metalwork were put by the peoples of the Mediterranean. These examples include as follows: first Crete, particularly the Idaean Cave sanctuary and the cemeteries of Knossos; within the Aegean world, Attica, Euboia, Corinthia, and the sanctuaries of Olympia and the Samian Heraion; and in the West, Latium and southern Etruria. Multiple examples of “Phoenician” bronze bowls have been found in the cemeteries of Knossos. These bowls are the most sensitive index of the various ways in which different peoples of the Mediterranean responded to Near Eastern art, and in Crete most appear in the Idaean Cave. The chapter finally summarizes in tabular form, by area, the types of Oriental objects found—Cypriot bronzes, Phoenician bowls, Nimrud ivories and griffin auldrons—and their contexts of deposition