Limestone inscribed relief - image 1

Hellenistic

Limestone inscribed relief

The relief depicts Apollo seated before a group of worshipers. Below is a dedication in the local Cypriot syllabic script, which can be read as "Onasidikos dedicates this [votive] to the great god Apollo in his sanctuary in good fortune." At the time of its discovery in 1870 Cesnola identified the site as the temple of Aphrodite, but this and other inscriptions found there show that the sanctuary was probably dedicated to Apollo. Overall: 7 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/8 in. (18.4 x 28.6 x 2.9 cm)

Date

299 - 200 BC

Accession No.

74.51.2368

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance

  • Said to be from the sanctuary of Ayios Photios, Golgoi, Cyprus

References

  • Doell, Johannes. 1873. Die Sammlung Cesnola. no. 765, p. 48, pl. XI.1, St. Petersburg: L’Académie Impérial des Sciences.Hall, Isaac H. 1874. "Cypriote Inscriptions of the Di Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 10: no. 1, pp. 205-6, pl. I.Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1877. Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence in That Island. pl. XLVIII.1-.2, London: John Murray.Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. LXXXV.558, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1903. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 3. pl. CXXX.2, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1871, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Masson, Olivier. 1961. Les Inscriptions Chypriotes Syllabiques: Recueil Critique et Commenté. no. 265, pl. XLVII, Paris: E. de Boccard.Karageorghis, Vassos. 1998. Greek God and Heroes in Ancient Cyprus. p. 187, fig. 137, Athens: Commerical Bank of Greece.Neumann, Gunter. 1999. "Beitrage zum Kyprischen XVIII." Kadmos: Zeitschrift für vor- und frühgrieschische Epigraphik, 38: pp. 256-7, pl. 1.Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 415, pp. 256-7, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Karageorghis, Vassos. 2006. Aspects of Everyday Life in Cyprus: Iconographic Representations. no. 211, pp. 213-4, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 450, pp. 322-23, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.