Kourion Complex (Stadium) “Fluted Columns in Cypress” Benson c. 1955Jack L. Benson

Spirally Fluted Columns in Cyprus

by J.I. Benson

More than a century ago, some spirally fluted columns: [handwritten: einige spiralförmige] [handwritten: cannelirte Säulen aus blaulichem Marmor], were observed among the ruins of the city of Curium, on the southwest coast of Cyprus. Their observer was Ludwig Ross^1, that nineteenth century Pausanias. It is not possible to be certain from his statements exactly where the columns lay. They are described as being at the inner end of the city, [handwritten: 2] that is, toward the interior of the city. This presumably means at the east or southeast end, which would be in the general area of the theatre, although Ross does not bring them into connection with the theatre but rather, by implication, with the better residences. Neither does he give their size. Still, it is quite possible to relate the situation described by him to the known situation today.

The present facts as I know them are as follows. On the site of Curium there are two examples of this type of column. One good-sized fragment of a rather large spirally fluted column, D (fig.1 [handwritten: and 2] /Pl./) is lying in the orchestra of the theater. This may possibly have been one of those seen by Ross, although his own statement, as noted, does not constitute evidence for this. According to the foreman, Christos Grigoriou, of the Curium Expedition of the University Museum, Philadelphia, which excavated the theater in 1934, the column in the orchestra was actually about one-third above ground, but virtually hidden by underbrush, at the time of the excavation.^3 Another fragment of a considerably smaller column, C (fig.2 Pl. [handwritten: 3] ), lies now in open ground about one hundred yards south of the basilica, and has presumably always been visible. However, this is at a considerable distance west of the area where Ross presumably saw the columns he mentioned.