The Greek Chest (English language edition)

For many centuries, the chest was the only piece of storage furniture to be found in the Greek home. Highly valuable as a functional item, its connection with a wide range of everyday events and the most important stations in a person's life (birth, marriage and death) gave the chest, at a very early date, a more profound, symbolical meaning in the imagination of the Greek people. Using this observation as their starting point, the authors of the book go beyond the systematic presentation of the general typological features of Greek chests and their local variations. Drawing on rich seams of Greek folklore and the fruits of many years of field research in every corner of Greece, they offer an in-depth interpretation of the wealth of decoration found on chests, in the hope of providing a key that will unlock the secrets of these forgotten pieces of furniture and draw out the treasures of the Greek psyche that lie concealed within them.