The discoveries in Crete, Greece, and the Aegean islands that began a century ago were nothing less than stunning, and seemed to give shape and substance to tales of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, of Theseus and Ariadne, of Minos and Icarus. Ancient Aegean Art is the first comprehensive historical introduction to the art and architecture Crete, mainland Greece, and the Cycladic islands in the Aegean, beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and ending at the dose of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age of Hellenic Greece (c.1000 BCE).