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Ten Discoveries that Rewrote History
"If any global archaeologist were asked to name the top ten archaeological discoveries that have made the greatest impact on archaeology and history, most lists would be likely to unanimously mention the following huge impact discoveries: the Rosetta Stone, Pompeii, Nineveh, Troy, King Tut's Tomb, Machu Picchu, Thera-Akrotiri, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Olduvai Gorge starting with the Leakey Era and the Tomb of the Ten Thousand Warriors in China. This exciting book, written with a taut narrative, relates the dramatic moments of these discoveries, whether by professional archaeologists or by amateurs' accidents, and highlights their significance to history."
Published by Penguin / Plume Publishers
Released Fall, 2007 and on Amazon.com
Go to: www.tendiscoveries.com now!
--- Reviews ---
"...Hunt writes colorfully and enthusiastically...an enjoyable,
wide-ranging introduction to the importance of archaeology in
writing-or rewriting-history."
-- Library Journal, Aug, 2007
"...A concise, well-written, and engrossing read." -- Manhattan Public Library, Dec, 2008
"...Ten monumental discoveries -- some accidental, some deliberate --
that have historically acted like searchlights illuminating the
historical record of particular eras." -- Steve Goddard's History Wire, Jan, 2008
"...Captivating volume catalogs ten earth-shaking archaeological finds
brought to light in only the relatively recent past. The accounts
skillfully convey the excitement of discovery..."
-- Social Studies School Service, 2008
"...brilliant book..." -- The Daily Galaxy, Sept 2007
Amazon.com -- 5 Star Ratings! Customer Reviews |

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Renaissance Visions: Myth and Art
RENAISSANCE VISIONS: MYTH AND ART details selected ekphrases of great
painters such as Titian, Mantegna, Leonardo, Bruegel, Michelangelo,
among others, on myth. It explores the extensive background and
legend surrounding twelve favorite works of Renaissance art, such as
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Caravaggio's Narcissus. Here are vivid
interpretations of these classic representations of Greek and Roman
myth, taking into account the ambiguity of the original stories and
the subsequent variety of perspectives on their meaning. In
conversational prose that invites the reader to delve into the book,
the book transports the reader into an era devoted to beauty and myth.
Available March, 2008 at Stanford Bookstore, internet and Amazon.com |
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Myths For All Time
Timeless Greek myths retold as stories are never out of fashion. These
familiar tales form a priceless treasure that became one of the
foundations for Western culture, art and history. Without Greek myths,
our history, our imagination and our art would be that much poorer.
With these myths, we better understand our own time and place. Nearly
every great writer for thousands of years has somehow made direct
reference or alluded to Greek myths, incorporating some of the stories
into many an individual corpus of literature. These watershed myths
became vehicles for expressing some of our deepest ideas in metaphor.
Greek myths are essentially metaphysical stories where almost anything
can happen, unfolding in twists of plot that employ such universal themes
as hope, destiny, love, despair and judgment. In addition to
iconographic background and structural analyses, twelve selected myths
appear here told in the medium of short story with lively dialogue and
riveting action.
The myths selectively told in this book are Orpheus and Eurydice,
Midas' Golden Touch, Daedalus and Icarus, Narcissus and Echo, Heracles
at Olympia, Demeter and Persephone, Dionysus and the Pirates, Achilles
and Penthesilea, Apollo and Daphne, Oedipus and the Sphinx, Pandora's
Box and Endymion and Artemis
Book released Fall 2007 from Ariel Books, New York.
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Alpine Archaeology
Alpine archaeology is a specialized field, where normal archaeological
principles apply (stratigraphy, pedology, data recording, anthropogenic
features, materials analyses, etc.) but where circumstances can be
considerably different. Higher altitude with a cold climate impacts
archaeological research and its practice in different ways, and they also
have bearing on the survival of materials, especially organic or metal
objects, which could be better preserved due to inhibited decomposition and
corrosion from less oxidation and lower diffusion rates. Montane soil and
soil chemistry may also be far more geologically-derived than produced by
plant decay. The spectacular find of the 5000 year old "Otzi the Ice Man"
is an illustration of some of this difference relative to temperate zone
archaeology, where his body was frozen in an glacial context for millennia.
This book mostly addresses the author's research in the Alps for over a
decade, conducted while directing the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project.
Online previews of some of the chapters can be found below on Archaeolog, a
Stanford University internet resource.
Now Available at
the Stanford University Bookstore and on Amazon.com by mid-April or early May).
Buy this book on Amazon.com
photo © Marlin Lum |
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Rembrandt
This book is now available at the Stanford Bookstore!
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) is the sublime and paradoxically familiar artist. Only the Greatest Masters and Geniuses of the first rank are easily called by one name. Yet even among these peers, few have the distinction of being household names and so often taken for granted as Rembrandt. Both the Romantic and Impressionist movements in art would be unlikely without him. Certainly the Baroque Era in which he lived emulated as well as eventually abandoned him within his poignant and troubled lifetime. Few artists are overshadowed by their own fame in their teens, only to be ignored in their old age like Rembrandt.
Which is the real Rembrandt? Genius, Curmudgeon, Master Engraver, Biblical Master, Hero Cult Figure, Vain, Miser, Greedy, Extravagant Spendthrift, Failed Businessman, Vindictive and Petty are just a few of the nouns and adjectives used to describe Rembrandt even in his own day. Perhaps all of these descriptions are “true” in one way or another. Although it would be impossible to prove many of these somewhat troubling descriptions, they are not necessarily contradictory. It must be one of the greatest paradoxes in art that Rembrandt, like Caravaggio before him, is known for being among the greatest of all religious painters while not being particularly outwardly religious. Rembrandt left no manual of his art, no revelatory journal of his life or handbook of his artistic techniques and very little correspondence has survived beyond little more than a handful of letters and a few brief notes, yet his work has profoundly influenced every generation of artists after him.
Released : Ariel Books, New York, November, 2006
Buy Now! Buy the book now at the Stanford Bookstore
REMBRANDT 2nd edition now available.
Buy this book on Amazon.com
--- Reviews ---
"...Hunt sensitively considers how the circumstances of Rembrandt's
life affected his art...for specialists this book has some ideas worth
noting and that deserve to be more widely known...a highly readable
and accessible work for the general public and an unexpected source of insight for scholars..."
-- from the A.L.A. journal 'CHOICE' (American Library Association)
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Caravaggio (Life & Times)
Born Michelangelo Merisi, as an adult he became known by the name
of his birthplace. Caravaggio (1571-1610) was the most
revolutionary artist of the Italian Baroque. Consistently emphasizing
the humanity of his religious subjects, he established a new way of
painting. The intensity of his chiaroscuro style is matched only by the
drama of his life. Outlaw, heretic, murderer, and sensualist were a few
of the charges brought against him by his contemporaries. Patrick
Hunt’s wide-ranging professional and personal scholarship allows him
to interpret Caravaggio’s complicated religious and classical imagery
while anchoring his art in his life.
CARAVAGGIO was shortlisted for the Saroyan International Prize 2005.
Buy this book at Amazon.com
The Art Newspaper, London, Dec 2004, "... first class ... a rattling good yarn"
The Independent, London, March 2005, "strong narrative"
The Times of London, March 2005,"... the book is one in a series of useful short biographies"
CARAVAGGIO from MERCURY NEWS Ltd, Australia, "In Print Attitude", "Part of the Life and Times series, this superb biography is an excellent introduction to the most revolutionary artist of the late Renaissance. Hunt's grasp of the facts is firm and he never lets the melodrama of Caravaggio's life get out of hand."
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Read six poems excerpted from HOUSE OF THE MUSE |
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House of the Muse, Poems from the British Museum
How do ancient works of art continue to inspire new art? The great poet
Keats must have seen panels of the Parthenon Frieze masterminded by the
Greek artist Pheidias in the new British Museum and probably wrote his
great poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" from that inspiration. Some ancient myths
are so moving that every generation revisits them in new ways, including
music, art, literature, dance, theater and now cinema. We know Homer
inspired Virgil. Ovid inspired Titian. Titian
inspired Rembrandt. Rembrandt inspired Van Gogh, and so on. Inspiration is
not limited to themes or ideas and may sometimes be found in small objects
rarely seen or not always deemed major works.
Many know that a museum is a Temple to the Muses, especially the Muse of
History. This is a book of poetry about monuments and artifacts, some
large, some small. History. Archaeology. It is a reflective response to
these survivors of past cultures. Gathered from around the world and
sometimes well known for millennia, the individually selected subjects of
these poems have been looked at, walked around, and studied in various
light at different hours of day for years, encountered countless times by
many. They have stories to tell, not only the tales suggested here from the
most likely facts of ancient and even imaginary history as told and drawn by
an archaeologist-poet, but other stories many others could tell from similar
or different encounters.
These survivors belong not to one culture or time and place but to the world
and all of history. The poems here date over about a decade and have been at
times reworked and polished lovingly like lapidary stones. They are
dedicated to all lovers of history and art, but especially to those who
have curated and safeguard them, often for centuries.
View Example Illustrations from 'House of the Muse'
Read six poems excerpted from HOUSE OF THE MUSE
This book is now available for sale from August 5, 2005 onward exclusively at
the Stanford Bookstore (by purchase online or in person) and from Iconoclast Books, Ketchum, Idaho (see website Links) from August 19 onward.
Buy this book on Amazon.com
Stanford bookstore : (650) 329-1217
Iconoclast Books in Sun Valley : tollfree (877) 726-1564
Published through Ariel Books, New York
Printed in Canada
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Atlas of Archaeology in the Alps
Archaeology in the Alps is a topic of research covering millennia of
occupation and transit through these formidable mountains, from at least
the Mesolithic Era circa 9000 BCE when the European glaciers began to
sufficiently recede to allow hunting and temporary camps as well as stone
tool acquisition. With spectacular finds like "Otzi" the Ice Man in 1991,
Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Ages are followed by Iron Age (specifically
Hallstat and La Tene cultures) as well as the Celtic tribes concurrent with
Greek trade and early Roman expansion. Roman control of the Alps eventually
succumbed to Barbarian intrusions as in Langobard and Burgundian
occupation. Not since Ludwig Pauli's seminal 1984 study has a book
addressed the long record of human prehistory and history in the Alps,
although much archaeological material has been discovered since.
published by L'Erma di Bretschneider in RomeISBN pending
Available through publisher and
at Stanford University Bookstore.
Due out in 2009
Learn and see how Cultural Heritage Imaging and the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project worked together to digitally document Roman artifacts and objects from the collection Archeologique du Musee de l'Hospice du Grand St. Bernard.
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Poetry in the Song of Songs
Patrick Hunt has written a comprehensive literary analysis of the Classical
Hebrew poetry in the biblical SONG OF SONGS - known in Hebrew as SHIR
HA-SHIRIM. For the first time, every figurative language device in this
Hebrew poetry is annotated and examined (e.g., simile, metaphor,
paronomasia, euphemism, hyperbole, etc.) and often compared to Classical
literature. He has also rediscovered two Hebrew literary devices never
before known except in Classical Hebrew, although apparently lost for
millennia to literary criticism, and never before published elsewhere
(except in several articles of Patrick's previous publications with Peter
Lang Verlag in Frankfurt, BEATAJ 20 & 28). He has named these rediscovered
literary devices as 'concealed paronomasia' and 'multiple sensory clusters'
as the ancient literary criticism does not appear to have known Hebrew names
for them. This new book on the dense, subtle and likely erotic Hebrew poetry
of the SONG OF SONGS suggests parallels to much of the world's most
beautiful poetry both before and after and offers compelling reasons why
this biblical poetry is so rich.
Peter Lang Publishing
New book by Patrick Hunt
Due out in 2008
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Myths of the Ancient Greeks
(Illustrations by Patrick Hunt)
Richard Martin's 2003 book (New American Library/Penguin Books) fuses
dramatic retellings of myth expertly woven by Martin, noted mythologist,
with drawings by Hunt interspersed. Each of the 20 drawings is executed in
a style from Greek vases, either Black Figure or red Figure style. The
first of Hunt's gallery images linked here, the Death of Sarpedon as told
from Homer's ILIAD, was originally done by the Greek artist Euphronios (c.
510 BC) whose early Red Figure style Hunt has simulated in a line drawing.
The second of Hunt's gallery images linked here, Achilles and Ajax Playing
a Board Game, was orignally done by the Greek artist Exekias (c. 540 BC)
whose Black Figure style Hunt has also simulated in a line drawing. The
third of Hunt's gallery images linked here shows a Red Figure line drawing
simulation of a Classical Greek artist (c. 450 BC) portraying Gaia (Earth)
presenting Athena with the snake-child Erechthonios.
View Example Illustrations
Buy this book at alibris.com. |
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