Gemstones of Ancient Anatolia, the Dodecanese and Cyprus

Ivan Mrázek

This publication is a loosely connected continuation of the successful book Gemstones of Ancient Civilizations. It offers a detailed introduction to the remarkable civilizations and cultures of Anatolia, the Dodecanese, and Cyprus. This region – forming a “bridge” between East and West – has always been a vibrant crossroads of overland and maritime long‑distance trade routes and a meeting point of civilizational currents that brought new cultural and technological impulses and continually interacted and overlapped. Through precious stones, highly sought after and valued since time immemorial as symbols of beauty, rarity, wealth, and power, we gain insight into a region that played a significant role in the history of humankind.

RNDr. Ivan Mrázek, a respected geologist, mineralogist, and gemologist, is the award‑winning author of numerous scholarly and popular publications. His books include Drahé kameny Českomoravské vrchoviny (1991, co-author L. Rejl), Kamenná tvář Brna (1993), Drahé kameny v pravěku Moravy a Slezska (1996), Drahé kameny ve středověku Moravy a Slezska (2000), Drahé kameny Moravy a Slezska (2010, co-author L. Rejl) a Drahé kameny Moravy a Slezska od renesance po secesi (2017). His richly illustrated volume Gemstones of Ancient Civilizations (Munipress, 2013) was nominated for the Magnesia Litera Award, received the Josef Hlávka Prize for Scientific Literature, and was selected as the most beautiful book of the 23rd Autumn Book Fair in Havlíčkův Brod.