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Epigrapher · Scholar · Traveller / antiquarian · Donor

Archibald Henry Sayce

1845–1933 · United Kingdom

Oxford Assyriologist whom Cypriot collectors and excavators asked to read their cylinder seals and inscriptions, and who left Cypriot pieces to the Ashmolean.

Biography

Archibald Henry Sayce was the Oxford orientalist whom collectors and excavators in Cyprus asked to read the cuneiform and other inscriptions they found. Born at Shirehampton on 25 September 1845 (some records give 1846), he died at Bath on 4 February 19331. Masson describes him as an Oxford teacher who was interested in Cyprus and visited it10.

On 20 August 1880, writing from Queen's College, he thanked Alexander Palma di Cesnola for showing him his collection, remarked that the terracotta goddesses had features of Hittite art, and looked forward to publication of the inscriptions; Alexander printed the letter in Cyprus Antiquities (1881)2. The preface to Salaminia says the album's pieces were chosen with Samuel Birch, Sayce and Charles Newton, and Alexander thanks Sayce for the translation of an inscription from Salamis3. Luigi Palma di Cesnola credits his reading of the cuneiform legends on the Kourion treasure cylinders4.

On 29 December 1886 Sayce wrote to Max Ohnefalsch-Richter about a cylinder of a royal scribe, but a fire at Queen's College destroyed his manuscript and Ohnefalsch-Richter's report7. David George Hogarth thanked him in Devia Cypria (1889) for strong encouragement to travel in the Carpass8. In 1900 a Baltimore newspaper reported that he had examined the inscribed scarabs of Warren, though it placed him at Cambridge; Masson corrects this to Oxford10.

The Ashmolean Museum records a horse-and-rider figurine of the Cypro-Archaic I period presented by him in 1893 (AN1893.163) and a Black on Red juglet from Kition bequeathed by him in 1933 (AN1933.423)11,12.

Life and work

  1. 1876–1878
    Read the cuneiform legends on the Assyrian cylinders of the Kourion 'treasure' (appendix to Cesnola's Cyprus, 1878).

    Cesnola 1878

  2. 20 August 1880
    Letter to Alexander Palma di Cesnola thanking him for showing and explaining his collection of Cyprian antiquities; praised its value for art history and epigraphy, noted Hittite-looking terracotta goddesses, and looked forward to publication of its inscriptions. Printed in Cyprus Antiquities (1881).

    OxfordCesnola 1881

  3. 1880–1884
    Read most of the Cypriote and Phoenician inscriptions and translated the Salamis inscription for Salaminia (2nd ed.); helped choose the pieces for the album with Birch and Newton. Alexander's preface thanks him.

    Cesnola 1884

  4. December 1884
    Dated the Babylonio-Assyrian cylinder mounted in gold that Ohnefalsch-Richter found at Ayia Paraskevi (for the Cyprus Museum) before 2000 BC; Birch put it before 1500 BC. Evans later cited the cylinder, 'reported by Professor Sayce', as evidence for an early Cypriot script; Dikaios notes it is disputed and probably Late Bronze Age.

    NicosiaMasson & Hermary 1988Dikaios 1940

  5. 29 December 1886
    Wrote to Ohnefalsch-Richter that a cuneiform-inscribed cylinder (royal scribe) was to be published by the Society of Biblical Archaeology; a fire at Queen's College later destroyed his manuscript on it and Ohnefalsch-Richter's illustrated report.

    OxfordOhnefalsch-Richter 1893, p. 83

  6. January 1888
    In Cyprus. Hogarth cites a letter by Sayce to the Academy of March 1888 on the Kouklia temple remains and says Sayce gave him strong encouragement to travel in the Carpass. Per Hogarth's diary he was the source of a rumour that Dorpfeld had German plans to dig at Kouklia.

    Hogarth 1889Schmid 2025

  7. 1893
    Presented a Cypro-Archaic I horse-and-rider figurine to the Ashmolean (AN1893.163).

    OxfordAshmolean Museum AN1893.163, Horse…

Connections

5 people
Max Ohnefalsch-RichterAlessandro (Alexander) Pa…Falkland WarrenDavid George HogarthSamuel BirchArchibald Henry Sayce
ScholarshipColleagues

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

Sources

  1. 1.Archibald Sayce (Wikidata/GND authority record). Online
  2. 2.A. P. di Cesnola (1881). Lawrence-Cesnola Collection. Cyprus Antiquities excavated by Major Alexander Palma di Cesnola, 1876 to 1879. London, W. Holmes & Son.
  3. 3.Alexander Palma di Cesnola (1884). Salaminia (Cyprus): The History, Treasures, and Antiquities of Salamis in the Island of Cyprus. London, Whiting and Company.
  4. 4.L. P. di Cesnola (1878). Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples.
  5. 5.O. Masson, A. Hermary (1988). “Le voyage de Ludwig Ross à Chypre en 1845 et les antiquités chypriotes du Musée de Berlin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 9, 3-10. Online
  6. 6.P. Dikaios (1940). “The Excavations at Vounous-Bellapais in Cyprus, 1931-2”. Archaeologia 88, 1-174.
  7. 7.Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1893). Kypros, the Bible and Homer. London, Asher & Co.. Online
  8. 8.D. G. Hogarth (1889). Devia Cypria. London.
  9. 9.Stephan G. Schmid (2025). “Was there an official German interest in the archaeology of Cyprus between 1878 and 1914?”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960, 69-92. Leiden, Sidestone Press.
  10. 10.O. Masson (1989). “Le colonel Falkland Warren à Chypre, 1878-1890”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 29-34. Online
  11. 11.Ashmolean Museum AN1893.163, Horse and rider figurine. Online
  12. 12.Ashmolean Museum AN1933.423, Black on Red juglet. Online
  13. 13.A. H. Sayce (1923). Reminiscences. London, Macmillan.