Topic
Foreign Contacts
Relations between Cyprus and Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, the Aegean and later empires, traced through imports, exports, texts and shared styles.
81 entries in 9 sections
Pottery
42 entriesSection overview
Red Polished Philia WareThe hand-made, red-slipped and polished pottery of the Philia facies, strikingly uniform across Cyprus at the opening of the Bronze Age.Early Bronze Age
Red Slip WareRed Slip is the name of three separate Cypriot wares with an all-over red slip, one Middle Cypriot, one Late Cypriot wheelmade and one Iron Age.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Base Ring WareThe thin-walled, hand-made Late Bronze Age pottery of Cyprus with dark lustrous surfaces imitating metal, widely exported as jugs and juglets.Late Bronze Age
Monochrome WareAn undecorated, handmade Late Cypriot ware with a red to brown slip, best known from small carinated bowls with wishbone handles found at Enkomi and across the Levant.Late Bronze Age
Red Lustrous Wheelmade WareA fine, wheel-thrown, red-burnished Late Bronze Age ware of spindle bottles, flasks and arm-shaped vessels, found in Cyprus, the Levant, Egypt and Anatolia.Late Bronze Age
White Slip WareThe hand-made Late Bronze Age tableware with a thick white slip and dark painted decoration, mostly hemispherical bowls, widely exported from Cyprus.Late Bronze Age
White Shaved WareA Late Bronze Age Cypriot ware of pale handmade dipper juglets, shaved vertically with a knife to a pointed base and widely exported to the Levant.Late Bronze Age
Plain White WareThe undecorated, pale-surfaced pottery of Middle and Late Bronze Age Cyprus, made by hand and later wheel-shaped, the first Cypriot ware formed with the wheel.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Bucchero WareA Late Cypriot ware of jugs and juglets with vertically ribbed bodies, close to Base Ring II, handmade at first and wheelmade by Late Cypriot III.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Mycenaean Imports and Local ImitationsMycenaean pottery, mostly made in the north-east Peloponnese, was the largest body of imported fine ware in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, and Cypriot potters copied some of its shapes.Late Bronze Age
White Painted Wheelmade WareThe locally made, wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Aegean inspiration that became the standard Cypriot tableware in Late Cypriot IIC and IIIA.Late Bronze Age
Proto-White Painted WareThe wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Late Cypriot IIIB, c. 1125–1050 BCE, which merged earlier Aegean-style wares and led into Iron Age White Painted I.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Bichrome WareBichrome is Cypriot pottery painted in black and red on a light surface, first a Late Bronze Age export ware and later a long-lived Iron Age class.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Black-on-Red WareBlack-on-Red is a Cypriot Iron Age wheel-made fine ware with black geometric decoration on a burnished red slip, widely exported from about 900 BCE.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Grey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome WaresGrey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome are minor wheel-made Cypriot wares of the Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods, defined by Gjerstad in 1948.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Hellenistic and Roman Pottery in CyprusCyprus used a succession of slipped fine wares from c. 310 BCE to the 7th century CE, some made on the island and many imported from Syria, Cilicia and Pamphylia.HellenisticRoman
Greek Pottery in CyprusGreek painted and black-gloss pottery reached Cyprus from the late tenth century BCE, rising from a few Euboean and Attic cups to a flood of Attic ware by the fifth century.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
AmphoraA closed jar with two opposed handles, made in Cyprus in belly-handled and vertical-handled painted series and as a basket-handled transport jar.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
BottlesA narrow-necked closed vessel with no handle or with two, made in Cyprus from the Early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period, mostly as a small container for liquids.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
CirclesConcentric circles, disks, spirals and pendent semicircles, the leading geometric motif of Cypriot Iron Age painted pottery and of Gjerstad's Western style.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
CupsA small open vessel with one or two handles, made for drinking; in Cyprus it runs from Bronze Age handled cups to Iron Age skyphoi and kantharoi.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Fish and Sea CreaturesFish and other sea creatures in Cypriot art, from Late Bronze Age Aegean-style kraters to the Cypro-Archaic bird-and-fish jugs and Paphian fish-cups.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
FlasksA closed vessel flattened from side to side, common in Cyprus from the Middle Bronze Age, revived as the lentoid pilgrim flask in the Late Bronze Age and made in the Iron Age.ChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Free-Field Style: Birds, Bulls and Lotus on Cypro-Archaic JugsA layout of Cypriot Iron Age vase painting in which a single figure or motif is set on the bare, unframed body of a jug, usually opposite the handle.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
From Bronze to Iron: Cypriot Pottery c. 1300–950 BCEThe change in Cypriot fine pottery between c. 1300 and 950 BCE, from handmade Base Ring and White Slip to wheelmade White Painted and Bichrome.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Goats, Deer and IbexWild goats and stags, the commonest wild animals in Cypriot vase decoration, from modelled Bronze Age figures to painted Iron Age friezes and free-field jugs.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Guilloche and SpiralsTwo linked-band ornaments of Cypriot art, the Late Bronze Age running spiral of Aegean origin and the Cypro-Archaic guilloche of Near Eastern origin.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Archaic
Horses and ChariotsThe horse and the two-wheeled chariot as images in Cypriot art, from imported Late Bronze Age kraters to Iron Age clay and limestone models.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Iron Age Painting StylesThe figured repertoire and the two regional pictorial styles, Salamis and Amathus, into which scholars sort Cypriot vase painting of c. 1050-480 BCE.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
JugletsA juglet is a small one-handled jug with a narrow neck, made in Cyprus in most wares and widely exported as a container for perfumed oil.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Jugs and JugletsA one-handled vessel with a neck, the commonest closed shape in Cypriot pottery, made from the start of the Bronze Age to the Cypro-Classical period.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
KratersA large open vessel for mixing and serving drink, imported from the Aegean and made locally in Cyprus from the Late Bronze Age onwards.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicHellenistic
LampsA small hand-held vessel that burned oil or fat on a wick, made in Cyprus as an open saucer from the Late Bronze Age and as a closed lamp from the Hellenistic period.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Lions, Sphinxes and GriffinsLions, sphinxes and griffins, a borrowed Near Eastern repertoire used in Cyprus on seals, gold, pottery, metal bowls and limestone sculpture.Late Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Lotus Flowers and Lotus Friezes on Cypriot Iron Age PotteryThe lotus flower and lotus-and-bud frieze, the chief plant motif of Cypriot Iron Age painted pottery, of Egyptian and Phoenician derivation.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Plants, Trees and Palms on Cypriot PotteryTrees, date palms, branches and the goat-and-tree or sacred-tree composition on Cypriot pottery and related media, from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Archaic period.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
RosettesThe rosette, a radiating flower ornament that became a standard motif of Cypriot painted pottery in Cypro-Archaic I under renewed influence from Syria.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
StrainersAny vessel with deliberate perforations that let liquid through and hold solids back, from Base Ring strainer jars to Iron Age strainer jugs and bronze strainers.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
SwastikasA cross with arms bent at right angles, a frequent painted ornament on Cypriot Iron Age pottery whose meaning is still debated.Early Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
The Pictorial StyleFigured painting on Late Bronze Age kraters found in Cyprus, first on Mycenaean imports and then on the locally made Rude or Pastoral Style kraters.Late Bronze Age
The Tree and the Sacred TreeThe tree motif in Cypriot art, alone or flanked by animals as a sacred tree, on seals, gold, silver bowls, stone and painted pottery from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Classical period.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Wavy HooksWavy lines ending in a hook or spiral, found on Mycenaean imports at Enkomi, Cypro-Archaic White Painted IV juglets and Bichrome plates.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Archaic
Statues
5 entriesSection overview
Archaic Limestone StatuesThe limestone votive statues and statuettes dedicated in Cypriot sanctuaries of the Cypro-Archaic period, many in Egyptianizing dress.Cypro-Archaic
Base Ring Figurines (Astarte Type)Handmade Base Ring ware terracotta figurines of nude women from Late Bronze Age Cyprus, found in tombs and houses and often linked to Astarte.Late Bronze Age
Herakles-MelqartA Cypriot limestone sculptural type of a god wearing a lion skin and often brandishing a club, fusing the Greek Herakles with the Phoenician Melqart.Cypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Large Terracotta SculptureLarge hollow clay statues and heads, from about half life-size to over life-size, made in Cyprus from the mid-7th century BCE for sanctuaries.Cypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
Reliefs and StelaeCarved limestone reliefs, funerary stelae and relief plaques from Cyprus, made from the 6th century BCE into the early Roman period.Cypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Jewelry
2 entriesSection overview
SealsEngraved stone stamps and cylinders used in Cyprus from the Late Chalcolithic to the Classical period, often worn or set in gold.ChalcolithicLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
The Jewelry of Ancient CyprusSectionThe personal ornaments of ancient Cyprus, from Chalcolithic picrolite pendants to Late Bronze Age goldwork and the jewellery of the city-kingdoms.ChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Tools and Technologies
6 entriesSection overview
Faience in Ancient CyprusA glazed quartz-paste material found on Cyprus as beads, vessels and amulets from the Chalcolithic onward, though no local workshop has been identified.ChalcolithicMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Gold, Silver, Tin, Arsenic and Iron in Ancient CyprusThe metals other than copper used by Cypriot smiths from the Philia facies to the Hellenistic period, including arsenic, tin, gold, electrum, silver, lead and iron.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
Metal VesselsBowls, cauldrons, jugs, cups, strainers and the bronze stands that carried them, made in Cyprus from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Archaic period.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Seafaring and Ships in Ancient CyprusThe evidence for boats and seafaring around Cyprus from the first crossings to the Classical period, from anchors, models and graffiti to wrecks and shipsheds.NeolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Stone VesselsContainers ground or carved from stone, the main vessel type of Neolithic Khirokitia and a prestige and cosmetic class again in Late Bronze Age Cyprus.NeolithicChalcolithicLate Bronze AgeCypro-Classical
Weights and IngotsCopper ingots, miniature votive ingots, balance weights and scale pans in Cyprus, from the Late Bronze Age into the Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic periods.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Cultures
10 entriesSection overview
Achaemenid PersiaThe Persian Empire, which held the Cypriot city-kingdoms as tribute-paying client states from c. 545 or 525 BCE until 332 BCE.Cypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
EgyptAncient Egypt, Cyprus's partner in copper, pottery and prestige goods from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemies, who annexed the island.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
Hittite Empire and CyprusThe Late Bronze Age Anatolian empire that claimed Alashiya as a tributary but left almost no material trace on Cyprus.Late Bronze Age
Neighboring CulturesSectionCyprus's relations with Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, the Aegean and the Near Eastern empires, from the Chalcolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period.ChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Neo-Assyrian Empire and CyprusThe Mesopotamian empire to which the Cypriot kings submitted around 709 BCE, ruling them indirectly as tribute-paying clients.Cypro-Archaic
The MinoansThe palatial Bronze Age civilization of Crete, which took Cypriot copper and passed writing to Cyprus in the early Late Bronze Age.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze Age
The Mycenaeans and CyprusThe palatial Late Bronze Age societies of mainland Greece, whose pottery flooded Cypriot coastal towns in the 14th and 13th centuries BCE.Late Bronze Age
The PhilistinesThe 12th-century BCE newcomers to the southern Levantine coast, whose Aegean-style pottery, hearths and houses derive most directly from Cyprus.Late Bronze Age
The PhoeniciansThe Iron Age city-states of the Levantine coast, whose traders and settlers made Kition a Phoenician kingdom and shared a hybrid culture with Cyprus.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Ugarit and the LevantThe Syrian port kingdom of Ugarit and the wider Levantine coast, Cyprus's closest Bronze Age trading partners across the water.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Architecture
6 entriesSection overview
Early and Middle Bronze Age HousesFrom about 2400 BC Cypriot villagers built rectangular, multi-roomed houses, usually a walled courtyard with two or three roofed rooms behind it.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age
Iron Age Cities and PalacesThe capitals of the Iron Age kingdoms of Cyprus, their palaces at Vouni, Amathus, Idalion and Palaepaphos, their houses, and the volute and Hathor capitals of the period.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Ashlar MasonrySquared, dressed stone used on Cyprus from about 1500 BC for gateways, tombs and the largest buildings of the Late Bronze Age towns, set below walls of mudbrick.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Bronze Age Sanctuaries and TemplesCypriot cult buildings of the Bronze Age, from the clay sanctuary model of Vounous to the walled courts, altars and inner rooms of the Late Cypriot temples.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze Age
Iron Age SanctuariesThe Cypriot Iron Age sanctuary was a walled open-air court with an altar, sacred trees and small roofed rooms; Greek-style temples arrived only under Rome.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Royal and Built TombsTombs built of cut stone in Cyprus, from the ashlar tombs under Late Bronze Age houses at Enkomi to the royal tombs of Salamis and Tamassos and the rock-cut courts of Nea Paphos.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
Daily Life
3 entriesSection overview
Mirrors, Combs and Toilet ObjectsGrooming tools from ancient Cyprus, from Bronze Age razors, tweezers and pins to Late Cypriot mirrors and combs and the strigils of the Archaic to Roman periods.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Music and Musical Instruments in Ancient CyprusLyres, double pipes, frame drums, cymbals and clay rattles in Cyprus from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Classical period, known mostly from terracotta musicians.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Writing and Literacy in Ancient CyprusThe scripts of ancient Cyprus, from undeciphered Cypro-Minoan to the Cypriot Syllabary, Eteocypriot, Phoenician and the Greek alphabet, and who used them.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenistic
Chronology
5 entriesSection overview
Late Bronze Age CyprusThe Late Cypriot period, c. 1650–1050 BCE, when copper exports made Cyprus an urban, literate trading power before the crisis around 1200 BCE.Late Bronze Age
Cypro-Geometric CyprusThe Early Iron Age of Cyprus, c. 1050–750 BCE, of new dromos tombs, early ironworking, the Cypriot Syllabary and the debated origins of the city-kingdoms.Cypro-Geometric
Cypro-Archaic CyprusThe age of the Cypriot city-kingdoms, c. 750–475 BCE, under Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian overlordship, with rural sanctuaries and regional pottery styles.Cypro-Archaic
Cypro-Classical CyprusThe last phase of the Cypriot city-kingdoms, c. 480–310 BCE, under loose Persian overlordship, ending when Ptolemy I abolished the kings.Cypro-Classical
Hellenistic CyprusThe Ptolemaic period in Cyprus, c. 310–31 BCE, when the city-kingdoms were abolished and the island was governed as one province from Nea Paphos.Hellenistic
Materials
2 entriesSection overview
Ivory, Bone, Shell and WoodIvory, bone, shell and wood were the organic raw materials of ancient Cypriot craft; the first three often survive, while wood is known mostly from traces.NeolithicChalcolithicLate Bronze AgeCypro-Archaic
MaterialsSectionWhat Cypriot objects were made of, from Troodos copper and local limestone to imported faience, glass and ivory, and where to browse each material in the catalogue.ChalcolithicMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalRoman