DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25181#0020
Ancient Tombs in the Island of Cyprus.
141
a band of pine-cones, lemons, or pomegranates. The two following legends are
selected as specimens occurring on these stehe :—
The character of the writing would lead one to assign a date as late as the
Christian era to the former at least of these inscriptions.
Before closing this paper I am anxious to correct an impression which has
obtained currency amongst several savants interested in Cyprian antiquities,
owing to statements put forth by the present American Consul in Cyprus,
General di Cesnola, who, more than any other person, has been instrumental in
uncovering the archaeological treasures of the island. In a biography of him,
published in Italian, his native language, it is stated on his authority that the
ancient tombs which I have placed in the third class, but which he supposes
were Phoenician, were discovered by him as lying many feet underneath the more
modern ones containing glass, and he adduces this as a proof of their great
antiquity. This statement is repeated with fuller details in an introduction to a
catalogue of antiquities belonging to M. di Cesnola, recently sold in Paris. The
following is the passage :—
“D’apres une observation fort curieuse de M. di Cesnola, les tombeaux Grecs
etaient places audessus de la necropole phenicienne, car, en fouillant le sol, on
trouvait, a deux ou trois metres plus bas, des sepultures renfermant des objets de
l’ancien style; puis d’autres, plus anciens encore, et ainsi de suite jusqu’a une
profondeur de 42 pieds. Les generations successives avaient etabli lh leurs champs
de repos, sans se douter peut-etre que leurs ancetres, que d’autres nations, bien
des siecles auparavant, avaient deja fait de meme.”
This appears to be a mistake. In the first place the cemeteries in the neighbour-
hood of Idalium, to which the writer refers, are not in one spot, but in many,
most of them separated from each other by intervals of 100 or 200 yards, a fact
to which I can testify from having repeatedly gone over the ground and made
excavations in these cemeteries myself. In one place a Cyprian burial-ground
containing pottery classified under the third class of tombs lies on a hill-side
close to a more modern one containing glass, and here a certain intermingling of
tombs occurs on which the theory of the American Consul is founded. I went
carefully over the ground in company with workmen who had excavated for
APTGMIAUJpe
KTNIire XPHCT6
XA1P6
AIIOAUJ
NIAH
XPHCTE
XAIPE
141
a band of pine-cones, lemons, or pomegranates. The two following legends are
selected as specimens occurring on these stehe :—
The character of the writing would lead one to assign a date as late as the
Christian era to the former at least of these inscriptions.
Before closing this paper I am anxious to correct an impression which has
obtained currency amongst several savants interested in Cyprian antiquities,
owing to statements put forth by the present American Consul in Cyprus,
General di Cesnola, who, more than any other person, has been instrumental in
uncovering the archaeological treasures of the island. In a biography of him,
published in Italian, his native language, it is stated on his authority that the
ancient tombs which I have placed in the third class, but which he supposes
were Phoenician, were discovered by him as lying many feet underneath the more
modern ones containing glass, and he adduces this as a proof of their great
antiquity. This statement is repeated with fuller details in an introduction to a
catalogue of antiquities belonging to M. di Cesnola, recently sold in Paris. The
following is the passage :—
“D’apres une observation fort curieuse de M. di Cesnola, les tombeaux Grecs
etaient places audessus de la necropole phenicienne, car, en fouillant le sol, on
trouvait, a deux ou trois metres plus bas, des sepultures renfermant des objets de
l’ancien style; puis d’autres, plus anciens encore, et ainsi de suite jusqu’a une
profondeur de 42 pieds. Les generations successives avaient etabli lh leurs champs
de repos, sans se douter peut-etre que leurs ancetres, que d’autres nations, bien
des siecles auparavant, avaient deja fait de meme.”
This appears to be a mistake. In the first place the cemeteries in the neighbour-
hood of Idalium, to which the writer refers, are not in one spot, but in many,
most of them separated from each other by intervals of 100 or 200 yards, a fact
to which I can testify from having repeatedly gone over the ground and made
excavations in these cemeteries myself. In one place a Cyprian burial-ground
containing pottery classified under the third class of tombs lies on a hill-side
close to a more modern one containing glass, and here a certain intermingling of
tombs occurs on which the theory of the American Consul is founded. I went
carefully over the ground in company with workmen who had excavated for
APTGMIAUJpe
KTNIire XPHCT6
XA1P6
AIIOAUJ
NIAH
XPHCTE
XAIPE