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These plank idols are from the early Bronze
Age, about 2000 BC. The Bronze Age nearly literally put Cyprus on the map;
its name probably derives from the word that means "copper."
Copper, a component of bronze, was abundant on the island. Cyprus was a
major supplier of copper to Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and
Persians, and was almost the sole source of copper for the Romans. |
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| The chronological table shown at
right is in the Pierides Archaeological Museum in Larnaca. The poster
shows each historical era with one of the representative objects inside
the museum. Note that from the Neolithic Age through the Roman period
ending 395 AD, the objects are useful and beautiful and become more
sophisticated. Then, during the Byzantine period, 395-1185, or coinciding
with some of the medieval period, the object is a simple oil lamp, not
very different from those you'd see in a Bronze Age display. It seems to
demonstrate the lack of progress in a civilization over hundreds of
years. It seems an apt metaphor that the flicker of a light is a
reminder of how dark the Dark Ages probably were. |
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Mosaics are preserved in many places in
Cyprus. This one, called "The Four Seasons", is in the town of
Paphos. This ancient Roman residence, with thirty-four rooms, was
discovered by accident in 1962. It's called the House of Dionysus,
referring to the many mosaics featuring the god of wine.
The mosaics are still in place in spite of the efforts of the once-US
consul to Cyprus, a man named Luigi Palma di Cesnola. He removed about
35,000 artifacts from 70,000 tombs, and many of these now reside in the
New York Metropolitan Museum, of which he himself was director some years
later. |
| These bronze cauldrons were
discovered in the royal necropolis (tombs) at Salamis, an ancient city we
visited when we were in the northern part of the island.
The larger, decorated with sirens and griffins, was in a tomb dating
from the eighth century BC. The smaller one has two handles and is
decorated with bulls and the head of the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor,
whose domain included the sky, women, fertility and love. |
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These sgraffito plates were created during the
Venetian rule of 1472-1570. Sgraffito means "scratched" and the
designs are made by painting a color on the plate and then scratching the
design through a contrasting color.
The primitive designs are similar to some of the most modern art, or
even cartoons. One of the plates we saw looked like a portrait of Wilma
Flintstone. Maybe it was; she lived in Bedrock before the fifteenth
century, after all. |
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