George R. H. Wright Knihy

The papers collected in „Cypriot Connections“ were written by G. R. H. Wright, a Cyprus resident of more than 50 years, during the latter half of the last century when the island was experiencing major changes. The selection was chosen to encompass every designated period in the archaeological classification of Cypriote antiquity, and to illustrate modern concerns with Cyprus in antiquity. It represents an important tribute to the personality of the Island of Cyprus and to its long and idiosyncratic history. Cyprus is a land of astounding variety within a narrow compass: quiet coastal plains, embattled mountain ranges, desert tracts, and a snow capped massif. These landscapes sound many tones with one deeper tone sustained, recognized by the ancients as the 'Cypriot Character'. The papers are chosen for their variety of subject. They include studies of the history of ceramics, building and religion, and of political and legal history. They are arranged in chronological order, extending over a span of 10,000 years. Thus, they afford some idea of the Cypriot character as it has endured across the ages.

Ancient Building Technology is the first modern English-language survey of building technology in a period from prehistory to the end of the Classical World in the region of Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. After an historical survey of construction from first shelters to late antique building, the volume considers materials of construction, structural systems (framed, load-bearing etc.), processes of construction (project drawings, site preparations, equipment and works organisation), forms of constructions (foundations, walls, floors etc.) and concludes with a discussion of the evolution and diffusion of building technology and of the role of social and technical factors, culture and civilisation in its development.