Amathus: Department excavations on the acropolis slope and the Early Christian basilica, 1960–1961

A thick dump of Archaic pottery and figurine fragments lay behind a dressed-limestone wall on the west slope of the acropolis of Amathus, and in 1960 the Department of Antiquities collected part of it. The deposit held Cypriot Archaic pottery, including wares described as Amathus style, imported Greek pottery, especially Rhodo-Ionian, and terracotta and limestone figurine fragments. The building the wall belonged to was not identified, and the deposit was not fully cleared.¹ Among the pieces were fragments of a Fikellura-style vase with a banqueting scene and a frieze of partridges, and a Rhodian dinos with friezes of goats and other animals. One fragment of the Fikellura vase was in the possession of V. Vlamis of Limassol.¹

In 1961 the team opened a vertical trench in another part of the dump and added Rhodian vessels, Rhodo-Ionian cups, Attic black- and red-figure sherds, more local pottery and terracottas, and sherds inscribed in the Cypriot syllabary.² Karageorghis proposed that the material could come from a sanctuary, perhaps that of Aphrodite, and presented this as a suggestion.² He also asked whether a major destruction of the acropolis, possibly Onesilos' siege, lay behind the deposit, and argued that the imports show closer relations between Amathus and the Greek world.¹

The same year the Department made soundings before the realignment of the Nicosia-Limassol road and exposed part of a basilica south-east of the acropolis. Kyriakos Nicolaou directed the basilica excavation, and the report says the rest was to be excavated later.² Only foundations survived in the excavated part, lying shallowly below ground. The finds were marble Corinthian capital fragments, opus sectile flooring, tesserae, painted stucco, tiles and plaster relief fragments with a hunting scene, which Nicolaou's report dated to the mid-fifth to early sixth century AD. The central nave and south aisle were exposed, and a later Byzantine church had been founded over the south aisle.²