A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Division of the Humanities in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures

By Helene J. Kantor

© 1945 All Rights Reserved
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
University of Chicago


EXPLANATION OF REISSUE OF THIS MANUSCRIPT 1999

An expanded book length manuscript was among the papers that Helene J. Kantor left to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. She received the Ph. D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1945 on the basis of a summary of the contents of this manuscript and in the expectation that the thesis would be published as a book. Instead, a long article, 'The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium B. C." was published in American Journal of Archaeology 51:1-103 in 1947. It was later issued (and recently reprinted) as The Archaeological Institute of America Monograph No. 1. Some of the contents of this article were reworked from Sections II and III of this book length manuscript.

For many years Miss Kantor collected photographs and made sketches to illustrate the points she emphasized in the manuscript, but other commitments (her archaeological excavations at Chogha Mish, for instance) kept her from being able to revise, rewrite and complete the manuscript for publication.

Under the direction of John Larson, Museum Archivist, and with the much appreciated help and advice from John Sanders, Head of the Oriental Institute Computer Laboratory, Charles Jones, Research Archivist, Emily Teeter, Associate Curator of the Oriental Institute Museum, and Thomas Urban, Oriental Institute Publications, this manuscript has been transcribed by Oriental Institute volunteers Peggy Grant and Mary Shea . The footnotes have been completed as far as possible, and most of Miss Kantor's "draft sketches" reproduced. It must be emphasized that these sketches were not intended for publication. If the thesis had been printed, the sketches would have been professionally drawn. The sources of the sketches as identified by Miss Kantor are given at the end of each chapter. Although obviously out of date, the careful and detailed research should prove valuable to contemporary scholars in the field of ancient Near Eastern art.

ACCESS TO THE MANUSCRIPT

Processing of the manuscript into a form accessible over the Internet is has been done under the auspices of the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute. We are providing the manuscript in twenty one Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format files in addition to this introductory statement and table of contents. Links to the .files will be found in the table of contents below. As printed, the manuscript covers xv + 850 pages and includes 1321 illustrations.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

* PRELIMINARY PAGES
* CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

SECTION I. EGYPT

* CHAPTER II. THE SWAMP PLANTS
* CHAPTER III. THE SOUTH FLOWER
* CHAPTER IV. ROSETTES
* CHAPTER V. CYPERUS ALOPECUROIDES ROTTB. AND THE EGYPTIAN VOLUTE
* CHAPTER VI. THE FLORIST'S TRADE IN EGYPT AND ITS REFLECTION IN DECORATIVE WORK
* CHAPTER VII. THE SOUTH-FLOWER HYBRIDS

SECTION II. THE AEGEAN

* CHAPTER VIII. THE DECORATIVE FLORA OF CRETE AND THE LATE HELLADIC MAINLAND
* CHAPTER IX. THE FIRST GREAT EXPANSION OF AEGEAN COMMERCE
* CHAPTER X. THE AEGEAN RELATIONS OF THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE
* CHAPTER XI. THE PROBLEM OF THE PALMETTE

SECTION III. WESTERN ASIA IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM

* CHAPTER XII. GLEANINGS FROM EGYPT
* CHAPTER XIII. "CANAANITE" ARTS AND CRAFTS BEFORE THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY
* CHAPTER XIV. MITANNI
* CHAPTER XV. AEGEAN TRADERS
* CHAPTER XVI. MIDDLE ASSYRIA
* CHAPTER XVII. "CANAANITE" PLANT ORNAMENT DURING THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH DYNASTIES
* CHAPTER XVIII. LATE ASSYRIAN ORNAMENT
* CHAPTER XIX. THE EPIGONOUS ARTS OF WESTERN ASIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM
* CHAPTER XX. THE TRANSITION TO GREECE