DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0089
MINOAN CYPRUS AND THE INSULAR SCRIPTS 75
of Paphos, bore such Arcadian names as Etevandros,1 it is with Kinyras himself, who coloniza-
represents the older stock in the island and whose relations are rather to be sought on Cyp^g.
the Cilician side, that the Poet of the Iliad has to do. It is from this indigenous
Cypriote prince, moreover, that Agamemnon receives the breastplate - with ribs plated
with gold and tin and inlaid with kyanos that suggests traditional Minoan handicraft.
It is certain that in legendary history the colonization or conquest of Cyprus Greek
took place after the fall of Troy. Though the story lies beyond the scope of the t«msagas.
Iliad itself, more than one of the Achaean chiefs are traditionally made to direct
their course from captured Troy to the Cyprian coast. Teukros founds Salamis;
the Arcadian leader Agapenor New Paphos; the seed of Theseus Soloi and Chytroi.
Agamemnon himself, according to one legend/1 captures Amathus, and after driving
out Kinyras and his people divides it among his followers, and the name of Aegisthos
attaches itself to the royal house of Idalion.4 It is perhaps noteworthy as indicating
a comparatively recent conquest that in the Odyssey Dmetor of the royal Argive
race of Iasos, who had intimate relations with the Delta, is spoken of as 'reigning
by force' (a recurring epic phrase) over Cyprus as a whole.5 At the dawn of history
we find the island broken up into a series of small principalities.
There is a piece of Egyptian evidence which seems to indicate that several of
the Cypriote cities known to later history, including some afterwards regarded as
Greek foundations, were already in existence by the first quarter of the twelfth
century before our era. This is the mention in the triumphal list of Rameses III,
on a pylon of the Temple of Medinet Habu of names of cities, such as Salomaski,
Katian, Saii and Ital, in which Brugschs has very reasonably recognized the
Cypriote cities of Salamis, Kition, Soli, and Idalion. It will be seen that, though
Kition must be regarded as a Phoenician centre, three of these, namely Salamis, Soli,
and Idalion, correspond with cities included in the Greek foundation sagas. They
are, moreover, described as belonging to the Ha Nebu, a name which, though also
used to include the Carians, is specially applied in later times to the Greeks.7
1 For the Greek names of the Kinyrad Priest-Kings, E Hist, of Egypt (Engl, transl., ed. 2, pp. 158,159, and
from theeighth century onwards, see Enmann, Kypros,&.c, Troy and Egypt in Schliemann, 7/«w, p. 749. Wiedemann,
p. 30, and compare Busolt, Gr. Cesch. (2nd ed.), p. 330, n. 5. Ag. Gesch., i. p. 500, n. 2, expresses doubts about these
2II si. 19 seqq. Cf. my Myc. Cyprus, pp. 213, 214. attributions. Cf. too E. Meyer, Gesch. Ag., p. 319.
Breastplates are represented on a series of clay tablets 7 The earliest direct mention of the inhabitants of a
with the linear script B from the Palace at Knossos- Cypriote town is contained in the Golenischeff Papyrus
A Cypro-Minoan example is seen on an ivory mirror- (seebelow,pp. 79,8o),describingthevoyageoftheTheban
handle from Enkomi (op. ciL, p. 209, Fig. 5; from Excava- temple official Wen Amon, about 1100 b.c. The town
Horn in Cyprus, PI. II, 872 a). where Wen Amon landed is given the name of Alashia,
3 In the Cyprian poem of Theopompos ; in Pkotios, 12; a general name for Cyprus, common to both Egyptians
cf. Engel, Kypros, i. 228. and Assyrians, which recurs in the Tell el-Amarna letters.
* An Aegisthos, king of Idalion, appears, under the The government of the place is in the hands of a Princess
form Ikistusu, among the tributary Cypriote princes on Ha-ti-bi, in which W. Max Muller detects a Phoenician
the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings Assurhaddon and name (Mitth. d. vorderasiat Ges., 1900, p. 26, n. z). There
Assurbanipal (G. Smith, History of Assurbanipal, p. 31; are further indications of a very close connexion with
cf. Busolt, Gr. Gesckichte, i. 322).' Byblos. It looks as if some Phoenician plantation, per-
6 Od. xvii, 442: haps at Kition, already existed at this time.
Avr&p Up ('[ Kiin-pot £fiVu Suaav avttaaairti,
A/iiJTOpi 'ioo-iBij, Ss Kimpov *cpi araaotv.
of Paphos, bore such Arcadian names as Etevandros,1 it is with Kinyras himself, who coloniza-
represents the older stock in the island and whose relations are rather to be sought on Cyp^g.
the Cilician side, that the Poet of the Iliad has to do. It is from this indigenous
Cypriote prince, moreover, that Agamemnon receives the breastplate - with ribs plated
with gold and tin and inlaid with kyanos that suggests traditional Minoan handicraft.
It is certain that in legendary history the colonization or conquest of Cyprus Greek
took place after the fall of Troy. Though the story lies beyond the scope of the t«msagas.
Iliad itself, more than one of the Achaean chiefs are traditionally made to direct
their course from captured Troy to the Cyprian coast. Teukros founds Salamis;
the Arcadian leader Agapenor New Paphos; the seed of Theseus Soloi and Chytroi.
Agamemnon himself, according to one legend/1 captures Amathus, and after driving
out Kinyras and his people divides it among his followers, and the name of Aegisthos
attaches itself to the royal house of Idalion.4 It is perhaps noteworthy as indicating
a comparatively recent conquest that in the Odyssey Dmetor of the royal Argive
race of Iasos, who had intimate relations with the Delta, is spoken of as 'reigning
by force' (a recurring epic phrase) over Cyprus as a whole.5 At the dawn of history
we find the island broken up into a series of small principalities.
There is a piece of Egyptian evidence which seems to indicate that several of
the Cypriote cities known to later history, including some afterwards regarded as
Greek foundations, were already in existence by the first quarter of the twelfth
century before our era. This is the mention in the triumphal list of Rameses III,
on a pylon of the Temple of Medinet Habu of names of cities, such as Salomaski,
Katian, Saii and Ital, in which Brugschs has very reasonably recognized the
Cypriote cities of Salamis, Kition, Soli, and Idalion. It will be seen that, though
Kition must be regarded as a Phoenician centre, three of these, namely Salamis, Soli,
and Idalion, correspond with cities included in the Greek foundation sagas. They
are, moreover, described as belonging to the Ha Nebu, a name which, though also
used to include the Carians, is specially applied in later times to the Greeks.7
1 For the Greek names of the Kinyrad Priest-Kings, E Hist, of Egypt (Engl, transl., ed. 2, pp. 158,159, and
from theeighth century onwards, see Enmann, Kypros,&.c, Troy and Egypt in Schliemann, 7/«w, p. 749. Wiedemann,
p. 30, and compare Busolt, Gr. Cesch. (2nd ed.), p. 330, n. 5. Ag. Gesch., i. p. 500, n. 2, expresses doubts about these
2II si. 19 seqq. Cf. my Myc. Cyprus, pp. 213, 214. attributions. Cf. too E. Meyer, Gesch. Ag., p. 319.
Breastplates are represented on a series of clay tablets 7 The earliest direct mention of the inhabitants of a
with the linear script B from the Palace at Knossos- Cypriote town is contained in the Golenischeff Papyrus
A Cypro-Minoan example is seen on an ivory mirror- (seebelow,pp. 79,8o),describingthevoyageoftheTheban
handle from Enkomi (op. ciL, p. 209, Fig. 5; from Excava- temple official Wen Amon, about 1100 b.c. The town
Horn in Cyprus, PI. II, 872 a). where Wen Amon landed is given the name of Alashia,
3 In the Cyprian poem of Theopompos ; in Pkotios, 12; a general name for Cyprus, common to both Egyptians
cf. Engel, Kypros, i. 228. and Assyrians, which recurs in the Tell el-Amarna letters.
* An Aegisthos, king of Idalion, appears, under the The government of the place is in the hands of a Princess
form Ikistusu, among the tributary Cypriote princes on Ha-ti-bi, in which W. Max Muller detects a Phoenician
the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings Assurhaddon and name (Mitth. d. vorderasiat Ges., 1900, p. 26, n. z). There
Assurbanipal (G. Smith, History of Assurbanipal, p. 31; are further indications of a very close connexion with
cf. Busolt, Gr. Gesckichte, i. 322).' Byblos. It looks as if some Phoenician plantation, per-
6 Od. xvii, 442: haps at Kition, already existed at this time.
Avr&p Up ('[ Kiin-pot £fiVu Suaav avttaaairti,
A/iiJTOpi 'ioo-iBij, Ss Kimpov *cpi araaotv.