Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Colonial administration

Ottoman administration of Cyprus

OTTOMAN · closed 1878

Colonial administration. 5 people in the register connected with it.

History

  1. 1862
    Edmond Duthoit uses an Imperial firman to take an inscription built into a peasant's house and to override the local Madi's objections to his removing stones at Soloi. Stanley-Price cites this as an example of the firman system that the 1869 regulation formalised.

    SoloiEdmond DuthoitTatton-Brown 2001, p. 290

  2. 1860s
    On Cesnola's own account, the Caimakam of Larnaca, Genab Effendi, jails two of his diggers for digging without a firman and is then dismissed from office after Cesnola wins US diplomatic support. Known only from Cesnola.

    LarnacaGenab EffendiLuigi Palma di CesnolaCesnola 1878

  3. 1869
    Règlement sur les objets antiques (seven articles): requests to excavate go to the Minister of Public Instruction; a request by a foreign power needs a special Imperial iradé; export of finds from authorised excavations (coins excepted) is forbidden, though they may be sold within the Empire to individuals or the State; finds on private land belong to the landowner (art. 3). It replaced the earlier practice of individual Imperial firmans.

    Tatton-Brown 2001, pp. 289-290

  4. 1869
    The Imperial Museum is formally established at Constantinople; Goold is made director and publishes a catalogue in 1871.

    ConstantinopleGooldTatton-Brown 2001, p. 290

  5. 1870
    On Cesnola's account, the Caimakam of Larnaca, Arif Effendi, rides to Athienou to seize the antiquities from the Aghios Photios site but arrives after Cesnola has bought the ground and moved the finds to the American consulate.

    AthienouArif EffendiLuigi Palma di CesnolaCesnola 1878, p. 155

  6. March 1874
    Règlement sur les antiquités (36 articles; Reinach, cited by Stanley-Price, says it was drawn up by Dethier, director of the Imperial Museum). All antiquities in the ground belong to the Government (art. 3); permits only through the Porte on the Minister of Public Instruction's approval (art. 8); finds divided in thirds between Government, finder and landowner, or two thirds to a landowner who is also finder, on a duplicate inventory (art. 14); export allowed with the Minister's permission, the Government buying what the Imperial Museum wants; illegal diggers lose all finds and are fined 1 to 5 Turkish pounds or jailed 3 days to a week (art. 7); one excavator may not dig at two points at once (art. 19); a permit cannot be transferred (art. 18).

    Philipp DethierTatton-Brown 2001, pp. 289-291

  7. 1877
    Alessandro Palma di Cesnola stops digging at Kourion after opposition by villagers; by his own admission his activity was the subject of an official complaint from the Ottoman to the Italian Government.

    KourionAlessandro (Alexander) Palma di CesnolaTatton-Brown 2001, p. 291

  8. 13 July 1878
    Cyprus passes under British administration under the Convention of Defensive Alliance but remains formally Ottoman; the Ottoman law in force on 13 July 1878, including the 1874 antiquities regulation, stays in force and is applied by the British for more than twenty years. The 1882 Cyprus Courts of Justice Order confirms it for actions where the defendant is an Ottoman subject.

    Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 289

  9. August 1878
    Wolseley bans all excavations in Cyprus, on Perrot's account after a formal order from England; the ban lapses with his departure in May 1879. Stanley-Price notes Ohnefalsch-Richter had to wait two years for a permit.

    Garnet Joseph WolseleyMax Ohnefalsch-RichterTatton-Brown 2001, p. 291

  10. October 1878
    Alessandro Palma di Cesnola is tried at Larnaca for digging near Enkomi without a firman; under article 7 of the 1874 law his antiquities are confiscated and he is fined 4 pounds, the fine then remitted.

    LarnacaAlessandro (Alexander) Palma di CesnolaTatton-Brown 2001, p. 291

  11. 1884
    A new Ottoman law, under Osman Hamdi Bey as museum director, repeals the liberal export terms and strictly forbids all export of antiquities. The Ottoman Foreign Minister later asked that exports from Cyprus stop, citing it; High Commissioner Sendall replied via Layard that the law post-dated the occupation and did not apply to Cyprus (date of the exchange not given in the pages read).

    Osman Hamdi BeyWalter SendallAusten Henry LayardTatton-Brown 2001, p. 290

People

5 people

Staff and members · 5

Sources

  1. 1.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  2. 2.L. P. di Cesnola (1878). Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples.
  3. 3.L. P. di Cesnola (1878). Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples.
  4. 4.R. H. Lang (1878). Cyprus: Its History, Its Present Resources and Future Prospects. London, Macmillan.
  5. 5.A. G. Marangou (ed.) (2000). The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and Deeds.