This study is part of a series which‎,‎ after describing the social‎,‎ political‎,‎ religious and intellectual climate in which the visual arts developed in a particular period‎,‎ traces the genesis and attainments of the painting‎,‎ sculpture‎,‎ architecture and luxury arts of the period‎,‎ the features that distinguish its style and the artists who practised it‎.‎ This volume examines the flowering of styles of art which took place in the ancient civilizations of Egypt‎,‎ Mesopotamia and the Aegean‎,‎ especially Minoan Crete‎.‎ There are chapters on architecture‎,‎ sculpture in the round‎,‎ relief sculpture and painting‎,‎ vase painting and wall painting‎.‎ These three artistic traditions whose influence has spread to Western art are also compared with one another‎.‎