DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4759#0018
INTRODUCTION. XV11
Dipylon type (e.g. the great vase found at Curium), dating from the ninth and
eighth centuries B.C. The first Hellenic settlements in Cyprus seem to have
followed more or less immediately after the Dorian invasion, on the sites of
Salamis, Curium, Amathus, Paphos, and others which afterwards became the
capitals of small Hellenic kingdoms.
On the other hand, the Phoenician thalassocracy, which began about the
ninth century B.C., never had much foothold in Cyprus, less at any rate than was
formerly supposed. Politically at all events the Phoenician influence was
comparatively small, even in their settlements at Kition and Amathus.1
Expeditions were made from Tyre in the tenth and eighth centuries with the
object of forcing Kition to pay tribute ; but subsequently the Phoenicians
were compelled by the Assyrian domination under Sargon to retreat westwards,
In the seventh century a new power arose, namely that of Egypt, and in the
sixth Cyprus became a tributary of Amasis.2 Throughout, however, relations
with Greece were maintained, and in 501 B.C. the Cypriote princes joined the
Ionians in their revolt against Persia, a fact which shows the strength of the
Hellenic element.
Nevertheless the term " Graeco-Phoenician," which has been adopted to
describe the art of this period, is convenient, and can hardly be improved upon,
if we bear in mind that the term " Phoenician " really represents the combination
of Egyptian and Assyrian elements of art which filtered through that race into
Cyprus, and in which sometimes the one, sometimes the other, has the
predominance. This is seen perhaps more clearly in the sculpture, metal-work,
and terra-cottas, as for instance in the incised bronze and silver bowls,3 than in
the pottery. Painted pottery was never a feature of Oriental art, and the
Phoenician influence in the pottery is confined to borrowed motives of Oriental
character, like foreign words in a language. Another proof of the resistance of
Cyprus to the Phoenician domination is afforded by the curious fact that though
the Greeks of the mainland adopted the Phoenician alphabet entirely, in Cyprus
on the other hand—where above all we should have expected to find it—its
place is taken by a syllabary. That this syllabary, which is universally
employed for inscriptions down to the fourth century, is of a very high antiquity,
is shown by its close affinities with the Cretan script, and by the fact that single
characters of a similar type are often found engraved on the handles of
Mycenaean vases in Cyprus.
Mycenaean art, as we have seen, was slow to die out in Cyprus, and the
pottery is no exception. Its influence is seen not only in the patterns, such as
the concentric circles—an invention of the Cypriote-Mycenaean potters, which
forms a favourite and almost universal motive at a later date—but in the forms,
1 See Hogarth, Ionia and the East, p. 86; Athen. Mitt., xi. (1S86), p. 248; cf. also Meursius,
Cyprus, i., chap. 10, p. 31 ; Ilcuzey, Cat. des fig. ant. du Louvre, p. 116.
2 Cypriote pottery has been found at Nebesheh in the Egyptian Delta (cf. C 794, 796). It was
brought by ihe Cypriote mercenaries enrolled by Psammetichus in the seventh century (Tanis II.,
pl. 3, p. 20).
3 Perrot, Hist, de I Art, iii., p. 769 ff,
B
Dipylon type (e.g. the great vase found at Curium), dating from the ninth and
eighth centuries B.C. The first Hellenic settlements in Cyprus seem to have
followed more or less immediately after the Dorian invasion, on the sites of
Salamis, Curium, Amathus, Paphos, and others which afterwards became the
capitals of small Hellenic kingdoms.
On the other hand, the Phoenician thalassocracy, which began about the
ninth century B.C., never had much foothold in Cyprus, less at any rate than was
formerly supposed. Politically at all events the Phoenician influence was
comparatively small, even in their settlements at Kition and Amathus.1
Expeditions were made from Tyre in the tenth and eighth centuries with the
object of forcing Kition to pay tribute ; but subsequently the Phoenicians
were compelled by the Assyrian domination under Sargon to retreat westwards,
In the seventh century a new power arose, namely that of Egypt, and in the
sixth Cyprus became a tributary of Amasis.2 Throughout, however, relations
with Greece were maintained, and in 501 B.C. the Cypriote princes joined the
Ionians in their revolt against Persia, a fact which shows the strength of the
Hellenic element.
Nevertheless the term " Graeco-Phoenician," which has been adopted to
describe the art of this period, is convenient, and can hardly be improved upon,
if we bear in mind that the term " Phoenician " really represents the combination
of Egyptian and Assyrian elements of art which filtered through that race into
Cyprus, and in which sometimes the one, sometimes the other, has the
predominance. This is seen perhaps more clearly in the sculpture, metal-work,
and terra-cottas, as for instance in the incised bronze and silver bowls,3 than in
the pottery. Painted pottery was never a feature of Oriental art, and the
Phoenician influence in the pottery is confined to borrowed motives of Oriental
character, like foreign words in a language. Another proof of the resistance of
Cyprus to the Phoenician domination is afforded by the curious fact that though
the Greeks of the mainland adopted the Phoenician alphabet entirely, in Cyprus
on the other hand—where above all we should have expected to find it—its
place is taken by a syllabary. That this syllabary, which is universally
employed for inscriptions down to the fourth century, is of a very high antiquity,
is shown by its close affinities with the Cretan script, and by the fact that single
characters of a similar type are often found engraved on the handles of
Mycenaean vases in Cyprus.
Mycenaean art, as we have seen, was slow to die out in Cyprus, and the
pottery is no exception. Its influence is seen not only in the patterns, such as
the concentric circles—an invention of the Cypriote-Mycenaean potters, which
forms a favourite and almost universal motive at a later date—but in the forms,
1 See Hogarth, Ionia and the East, p. 86; Athen. Mitt., xi. (1S86), p. 248; cf. also Meursius,
Cyprus, i., chap. 10, p. 31 ; Ilcuzey, Cat. des fig. ant. du Louvre, p. 116.
2 Cypriote pottery has been found at Nebesheh in the Egyptian Delta (cf. C 794, 796). It was
brought by ihe Cypriote mercenaries enrolled by Psammetichus in the seventh century (Tanis II.,
pl. 3, p. 20).
3 Perrot, Hist, de I Art, iii., p. 769 ff,
B