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Helene Whittaker
Professor Emerita
Department of Historical StudiesAbout Helene Whittaker
My research is mainly concerned with the Greek Bronze Age, in particular Mycenaean and Minoan religion. My doctoral dissertation dealt with Mycenaean cult buildings (published in a revised form as Mycenaean Cult Buildings. A Study of their Architecture and Function in the Context of the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, The Norwegian Institute at Athens 1997). Much of my later research has concentrated on social and ideological aspects of religious beliefs and practice. In my book Religion and Society in the Middle Bronze Age and Early Mycenaean Periods (Cambridge University Press 2014), I review and discuss the evidence for religion in the Middle Helladic and early Mycenaean periods. A major premise is that religion should not be discussed in isolation from its social, political, and cultural context.
I have also published on the Aegean in the wider European context during the Bronze Age, with a particular focus on the ways in which Aegean material and research are used in interpretations of material found in Scandinavia and central Europe (eg. The Aegean Bronze Age in Relation to the Wider European Context. Papers from a Session at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Cork, 5-11 September 2005, Archaeopress 2008).
My educational background is in Classical philology and I have also published on a variety of topics within different areas of Greek and Roman history, literature, and culture. My publications on the Imperial Cult and on Greece in the Roman period reflect my interest in combining archaeological and textual evidence. I also have strong research interests in Neoplatonism and in pagan and early Christian asceticism. At present, I am working on a monograph on the transition from the Greek Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
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The Temple of Ares in the Agora in its Athenian
Context
Helene Whittaker
Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia - 2024 -
Det medeltida
Troja
Helene Whittaker
Medusa. Svensk tidsskrift för antiken - 2024 -
Review of Eric H. Cline, 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed (Revised and updated), Princeton University Press 2021
(2014)
Helene Whittaker
Medusa. Svensk tidsskrift för antiken - 2023 -
Dimitra P. Rousioti, Ιερά και θρεσκέυτικες τελετόυργιες στην ανακτορική και μετανακτορική μυκηναική περίοδο/Sanctuaries and Rituals in the Mycenaean Palatial and Postpalatial Periods (Maistros) Athens
2018
Helene Whittaker
Bryn Mawr Classical Review - 2023 -
Το Αρχαιολογικό Πρόγραμμα «Βλοχός» 2016–2018: Τα δύο πρώτα χρόνια της Ελληνοσουηδικής συνεργασίας στον Βλοχό, Π.Ε.
Καρδίτσας
Robin Rönnlund, Helene Whittaker, Richard Potter, Maria Vaiopoulou, Fotini Tsiouka, Johan Klange, Derek Pitman
Αρχαιολογικό Έργο Θεσσαλίας και Στερεάς Ελλάδας 6 - 2022 -
Diana L. Stein, Sarah Kielt Costello, Karen Polinger Foster (eds), 2021: The Routledge Companion to Ecstatic Experience in the Ancient
World
Helene Whittaker
Clara: Classical Art and Archaeology - 2022 -
The Palaikastro Kouros and Iconoclasm in the Wider Mediterranean
Area
Helene Whittaker
European Review - 2022 -
Animals are Good to Think with. Some Thoughts on the Religious Meanings Associated with Animals in the Neopalatial
Period
Helene Whittaker
Zoia : Animal-Human Interactions in the Aegean Middle and Late Bronze Age ; Proceedings of the 18th International Aegean Conference, originally to be held at the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, in the Department of Classics, the University of Texas at Austin, May 28-31, 2020 / edited by Robert Laffineur and Thomas G. Palaima - 2021 -
Døden ved spillebordet. Fra Albertus Pictor til
Eksekias
Helene Whittaker
Hellenika - 2021 -
The 2016–2018 Greek-Swedish archaeological project at Thessalian Vlochos,
Greece
Maria Vaïopoulou, Helene Whittaker, Robin Rönnlund, Fotini Tsiouka, Johan Klange, Derek Pitman, Richard Potter, Lawrence Shaw, Josephine Hagan, Ellen Siljedahl, Matilda Forssén, Sujatha Chandrasekaran, Sotiria Dandou, Veronica Forsblom Ljungdahl, Asta Pavilionytė, Hayden Scott-Pratt, Elisabet Schager, Harry Manley
Opuscula: Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome - 2020 -
Forms and Functions of Mycenaean
Furniture
Helene Whittaker
Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Bern 4-8 September 2019 - 2019 -
Memory and Figured Worlds in the Minoan Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
MNHMH / MNEME. Past and Memory in the Aegean Bronze Age Proceedings of the 17th International Aegean Conference, University of Udine, Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Humanities, 17-21 April 2018 / edited by Elisabetta Borgna, Haria Galoi, Filippo Maria Carinci and Robert Laffineur. - 2019 -
Approaches to Popular Religion in Late Bronze Age
Greece
Helene Whittaker
Popular Religion and Ritual in Prehistoric and Ancient Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean / edited by Giorgos Vavouranakis, Konstantinos Kopanias and Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos. - 2018 -
Krig, död och manlighet vid
spelbrädet
Helene Whittaker
Allvarligt talat : berättelser om livet / red. Maria Sjöberg. - 2018 -
Horns under the Axe: Horn-Shaping in the Ancient Eastern
Mediterranean
Helene Whittaker
European Association of Archaeology 24th Annual Meeting. Barcelona, 5-8 September 2018 - 2018 -
Jacqueline Fabre-Serris and Alison Keith, Eds. Women and War in Antiquity. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
2015
Helene Whittaker
Polis, The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought - 2018 -
Memory and "Figured Worlds" in Minoan
Crete
Helene Whittaker
MNHMH / Mneme. Past and Memory in the Aegean Bronze Age, 17th International Aegean Conference, Udine & Venice 17-21 April 2018 - 2018 -
Stones with depressions in Bronze Age
Crete
Helene Whittaker
Rock Art Worldings, Kalmar 23-27 October 2017 - 2017 -
The Sea Peoples and the Collapse of Mycenaean Palatial
Rule
Helene Whittaker
"Sea Peoples" Up-To-Date. New Research on Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th - 11th Centuries BCE. Proceedings of the ESF-Workshop held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna 3-4 November 2014 - 2017 -
Stones with Depressions in Bronze Age
Crete
Helene Whittaker
14th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium, University of Oslo, June 6 - June 10, 2017 - 2017 -
Ideological and Religious Aspects of Warfare in the Aegean Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
Warfare, Environment, Social Inequality and Peace Conference. May 25-28, 2017, Seville, Spain - 2017 -
The North from the Perspective of the Greek Mainland in the Late Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
New Perspectives on the Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Gothenburg 9th to 13th June 2015 / edited by Sophie Bergerbrant and Anna Wessman - 2017 -
Knossos
Helene Whittaker
Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Eric Orlin (red.) - 2016 -
Horns and
Axes
Helene Whittaker
Metaphysis. Ritual, myth and symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. / Authors: Alram Stern, Eva Blakolmer, Fritz Deger-Jalkotzy et al. - 2016 -
Cave
Sanctuaries
Helene Whittaker
Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions / general editor Eric Orlin ; associate editors Lisbeth S. Fried, Jennifer Wright Knust, and Michael L. Satlow - 2016 -
Mycenaeans
Helene Whittaker
Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions - 2016 -
Review of Tradition and Innovation in the Mycenaean Palatial Polities: Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Aegean and Anatolia Department, Vienna, 1–2 March,
2013
Helene Whittaker
European Journal of Archaeology - 2016 -
Review of KE-RA-ME-JA: Studies Presented to Cynthia
Shelmerdine
Helene Whittaker
American Journal of Archaeology - 2016 -
The Temple to Ares in the Agora in its Athenian
Context
Helene Whittaker
Classical Association Conference 2016, Edinburgh 6-9 April - 2016 -
Pithos Burials on the Greek Mainland during the Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
ICAANE 2016, Vienna 25-29 April - 2016 -
Mycenaean Religion in the 21st
Century
Helene Whittaker
Mycenaeans Up To Date. The Archaeology of the North-Eastern Peloponnese — Current Concepts and New Directions / edited by Ann-Louise Schallin and Iphiyenia Tournavitou - 2015 -
Horns under the
Axe
Helene Whittaker
Aigeus Aegean Lecture, December 4, Athens - 2015 -
Collapse and Continuity on the Greek Mainland in the Last Phase of the Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
21st Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, 2-5 September 2015, Glasgow - 2015 -
Symbolic Aspects of Warfare in Minoan
Crete
Helene Whittaker
Ancient Warfare. Introducing Current Research / edited by Geoff Lee, Helene Whittaker and Graham Wrightson - 2015 -
The North from the Perspective of the Greek Mainland in the Late Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium, 9-13 June 2015, Gothenburg - 2015 -
The Hidden Ruler: Art and Politics in Minoan
Crete
Helene Whittaker
Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections - 2015 -
Ancient Warfare. Introducing Current
Research
Helene Whittaker, Geoff Lee, Graham Wrightson
2015 -
Horns and Axes. A Contribution to the Discussion of the Relationship between Humans and Animals in
Prehistory
Helene Whittaker
Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference 2014. Manchester 15-17 December 2014 - 2014 -
The Sea Peoples and the Collapse of Mycenaean Palatial
Rule
Helene Whittaker
ESF Workshop on the Sea Peoples Up-to-Date. New Research on the Migration of Peoples in the 12th Century BCE. Vienna 3-4 November 2014 - 2014 -
Horns and
Axes
Helene Whittaker
Metaphysis. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. Vienna 22-25 April 2014 - 2014 -
Religion and Society in Middle Bronze Age
Greece
Helene Whittaker
2014 -
The Role of the Built Environment in Negotiating Social Relations in Bronze Age
Crete
Helene Whittaker, Ann-Louise Schallin, Madelaine Miller
Urban Variation. Utopia, Planning and Practice, Göteborg 19-22 February 2013 - 2013 -
Symbolic Aspects of Warfare in the Bronze Age
Aegean
Helene Whittaker
International Ancient Warfare Conference 18-20 September 2013. Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales - 2013 -
Approaches to Popular Religion in Late Bronze Age
Greece
Helene Whittaker
Popular Religion and Ritual in the East Mediterranean from the 3rd Millennium BC to the 5th Century AD. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens 10-11 December 2013 - 2013 -
Maritim kult och religion under den minoiska
bronsåldern
Helene Whittaker
En maritim värld — från stenåldern till idag - 2013 -
The Function and Meaning of Writing in the Prehistoric Aegean: Some reflections on the social and symbolic significance of writing from a material
perspective
Helene Whittaker
Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium / Edited by Kathryn E. Piquette and Ruth D. Whitehouse - 2013 -
Some Reflections on the Use and Meaning of Colour in Dress and Adornment in the Aegean Bronze
Age
Helene Whittaker
Aegaeum - 2012 -
The Construction of Memory in Caesar's Bellum
Civile
Helene Whittaker
In Memoriam Commemoration, Communal Memory and Gender Values in the Ancient Graeco-Roman World - 2011 -
Introduction
Helene Whittaker
Commemoration, Communal Memory and Gender Values in the Ancient Graeco-Roman World - 2011 -
In Memoriam. Commemoration, Communal Memory and Gender Values in the Ancient Graeco-Roman
World
Helene Whittaker
2011
More publications
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