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.