Alexandre Farnoux is a French historian, a specialist on the

Minoan civilisation The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

and Delos.

Career

Alexandre Farnoux studied at the

French School at Athens The French School at Athens (french: École française d’Athènes, EfA; el, Γαλλική Σχολή Αθηνών ''Gallikí Scholí Athinón'') is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. History ...

, he became director of this institute in September 2011. He is professor of Greek archaeology at

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

and also teaches Greek history at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. He conducts research in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

on the Minoan civilisation and is director of the excavation of a residential quarter in the Minoan city of Mallia.

An overview of the archaeological discoveries made in

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

, from the beginning of the 20th century, especially by the British archaeologist

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on ...

, a wealthy Englishman, who found the legendary palace of

King Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...

. From a plethora of

bric-à-brac Bric-à-brac () or bric-a-brac (from French), first used in the Victorian era, around 1840, refers to lesser objets d'art forming collections of curios. The French phrase is now obsolete, dating from the 16th century, then meaning "at random, ...

—frescoes, ceramics, clay tablets covered with unknown writings—Evans recreated an immense civilisation, totally original. A peaceful world which flourished some forty centuries ago, long before

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; grc, Μυκῆναι or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos; and south of Corinth. Th ...

, radiated throughout the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. Alexandre Farnoux retraces step by step the rigorous and inspired work of Arthur Evans—the excavations, interpretations, restorations, which will remain, with regard to History, the magician of Knossos—in this pocket-sized volume entitled (lit. 'Knossos: The Archaeology of a Dream'; UK edition – ''Knossos: Unearthing a Legend''; US edition – ''Knossos: Searching for the Legendary Palace of King Minos''), published by

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

. It was released in 1993 in the series of Gallimard's " Découvertes"

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

. According to standards of the collection, the book is profusely illustrated with colour plates—Minoan frescoes, maps, drawings, paintings, photographs of artefacts and excavations, etc.—and printed on glossy paper. The book opens with a "

pre-credit In film production, the pre-credit is the section of the film which is shown before the opening or closing credits are shown. Many films will by common convention have a short scene before the credits to introduce characters who may, or may not, ...

", which is a series of full-page illustrations showing some drawings and photographs of the palace of Knossos. The first chapter "" presents

, the Greek island as an unknown land at the end of 19th century when Knossos was approached by Evans. The second chapter "Impatience" tells the works of archaeologists. "In the Land of the Griffin" (chap. III) recounts the excavations at Knossos. "The Magician of Knossos" (chap. IV) traces the rebirth of the palace of Knossos thanks to the dream of the English archaeologist. The last chapter "Minoan Art Nouveau" is about the exoticism and the surprising familiarity of the Cretan discoveries, which together presented a sort of ideal image of a modern-day antiquity: In its second part—the "Documents" section—the book provides a compilation of excerpts divided into eight parts: 1, In the Labyrinth; 2, The return of the Minotaur; 3, The past informs the present; 4, Archaeology and imagination; 5, The Minoan world today; 6, The Minoans in the headlines; 7, Forgers in the realm of Minos; 8, Cretan writing. The book closes with a list of further reading, chronology, list of illustrations, an index and a full-page photograph of Arthur Evans at Knossos. It has been translated into American and British English, Italian and South Korean.

Selected publications

;As author * ''Cnossos : L'archéologie d'un rêve'', collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 175), série Archéologie. Éditions Gallimard, 1993 ** UK edition – ''Knossos: Unearthing a Legend'', ' New Horizons' series. Thames & Hudson, 1996 ** US edition – ''Knossos: Searching for the Legendary Palace of King Minos'', "

Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, Wi ...

" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1996 * '' Homère : Le prince des poètes'', collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 555), série Littératures. Éditions Gallimard, 2010 ;As contributor * , ''Delvaux and Antiquity'', Exhibitions International, 2010 ;As editor * With

Nicoletta Momigliano Nicoletta Momigliano is an archaeologist specialising in Minoan Crete and its modern reception. Early life and education Momigliano was born in Milan, Italy, in 1960, where she attended primary and secondary school. She read Classics (Letterat ...

, ''Cretomania: Modern Desires for the Minoan Past'', Routledge, 2016 * With

Katherine Harloe Katherine Harloe is Professor of Classics and Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Previously she was Professor of Classics at the University of Reading. She is an expert on the history ...

and Nicoletta Momigliano, ''Hellenomania'', Routledge, 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnoux, Alexandre French archaeologists Minoan archaeologists French art historians 20th-century French non-fiction writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)