This volume considers not only the art historical meaning of a representative selection of ancient artifacts, but also their wider meaning. The authors have tried to make clear how these pieces reveal the religion, social values, political events, and commerce of the Mediterranean world. These objects, most made by anonymous craftsmen, are a record of peoples' beliefs and desires in the form of marble sculpture, bronze work, gold, and ceramics.Extending from the oldest Mediterranean civilizations of Egypt and the Near East, through Greek, Etruscan, and Roman arts, the book concludes with illustrations of the classical heritage in later European and American art.