Idalion: the Swedish Cyprus Expedition

In summer 1928 Erik Sjöqvist excavated the top plateau of the western acropolis at Ambelleri and dug trial trenches below it for the Swedish Cyprus Expedition. The excavators encountered a fortified sanctuary, and the trenches located what they identified as the royal palace of Idalion. The expedition hoped to return but did not.¹

Einar Gjerstad later described the aim as uncovering the history of the site, and described sections through cultural strata as important to understanding the sequence.² He assigned the oldest remains on the acropolis to the final phase of the Late Bronze Age, 1200–1050 BC: a fortified settlement with mudbrick walls on rubble-stone foundations, small houses and a two-room cult chapel, with votive objects including terracotta bulls, seals, a cult axe and an ivory bull.² The Swedish excavators identified a fortified sanctuary of Anat-Athena in use from 1200 to 470 BC; Gjerstad described a later open temenos with an altar and chapel, and major construction in the Early and Late Archaic periods. Gaber summarizes the Swedish interpretation as a re-fortification and new shrine in Cypro-Geometric III, continuing into the early Cypro-Classical period.^1,2,3 The votives he reported included bronze and iron weapons, lamps, silver jewellery, seals, vessels, an iron coat of mail and an ivory plaque.²

Gjerstad said the cult ceased when Idalion ceased to exist as a free state, placing the Kition conquest at about 470 BC. Hermary notes that the latest Idalion coin type found in sanctuary period 6 places the abandonment after the beginning of Stasikypros' reign, and cites the proposed interval of 470–450 BC for Kition's domination.^2,4 Gjerstad's report, "Idalion. The Western Acropolis", appeared in 1935 in volume II of The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, pp. 460–628.⁵