Series·Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Soli: the city and its surroundings

48 field photographs · 1927–31

Sites: Soli, Vouni, Kition

These 48 field photographs show the site and surroundings of ancient Soli, on the bay of Morphou, during the Swedish Cyprus Expedition's work there between 1927 and 1931 under Alfred Westholm. Most come from the museum's folder "Soli Topographi etc" (31 prints).

They show the acropolis hill from the north-west, the road and the mountains behind, excavations in the fields, and the top terrace with its temple. SCE III describes the temple on the summit as badly destroyed, reconstructed with caution as a Greek temple with antae about 24 m long and 10 m wide. Westholm traced the city wall over the acropolis and down to the river, and suggested that buildings on the broad terrace below the summit were the royal palace of Soli. Other prints show people working in Ibrahim's field, a work group of men and women, the slaughter of a feast goat, and kleftiko being cooked. Two prints belong to the Pezoullia excavation of spring 1928, and two show Vouni.

Westholm's diaries are D II:2a and D II:2b. See also the theatre and Cholades temples, and The Temples of Soli.

Sources

Gjerstad, E., Lindros, J., Sjöqvist, E. and Westholm, A. 1937. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927–1931, vol. III. Stockholm, pp. 399–415.
Westholm, A. 1936. The Temples of Soli: Studies on Cypriote Art during Hellenistic and Roman Periods. Stockholm, pp. 7 and 12–13.