Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Scholar · Cataloguer · Archaeologist

Hartmut Matthäus

fl. 1980–2016 · Germany

Erlangen archaeologist who wrote the 1985 catalogue of Cypriot metal vessels and, after Hans-Günter Buchholz died in 2011, became co-editor of the further Tamassos volumes.

Biography

Hartmut Matthäus wrote the catalogue of Cypriot metal vessels that later publications cite for individual bowls: Metallgefässe und Gefässuntersätze der Bronzezeit, der geometrischen und archaischen Periode auf Cypern (Prähistorische Bronzefunde II,8, Munich 1985)10. Catling cites it for the silver and bronze bowls from the Evreti tombs at Kouklia4, and Hans-Günter Buchholz cites its no. 415 for the bronze phiale from Amathus in Vienna, which Max Ohnefalsch-Richter sold to the Vienna museums3.

With Hans-Günter Buchholz he published Zyprische Bronzeschalen der geometrischen und archaischen Periode in 2003, a study of typology, chronology, epigraphy and diffusion8. In 2005 he returned to the subject after finding in the Cyprus Museum stores a bronze bowl from Tavrou in the Karpas9. From 2004 he organised Cyprus congresses at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and edited the 2005 proceedings with Vassos Karageorghis and Sabine Rogge11.

Buchholz had worked at Tamassos for the German Archaeological Institute from 1970 to 1980, preparing Ohnefalsch-Richter's manuscript on Tamassos and Idalion for publication. After his death in 2011 the further volumes were edited by Matthäus and Matthias Recke5. Matthäus published "The Royal Tombs of Tamassos" in 200712. His 2014 chapter on the metal finds from the tombs Ohnefalsch-Richter opened there in 1889, now in Berlin, is described by Hermary as a fundamental reference on symbols of power in Archaic royal tombs6. In 2016 he published the Cypriot objects found in the Siderospilia cemetery at Prinias in Crete14.

Life and work

  1. 1985
    Published Metallgefässe und Gefässuntersätze der Bronzezeit, der geometrischen und archaischen Periode auf Cypern (PBF II,8), the standard catalogue of Cypriot metal vessels and stands. Later catalogues cite it for individual bowls (for example the Kouklia-Evreti tomb finds and the Amathus phiale in Vienna).

    MunichHermary 1986Catling 2020, pp. 78Hermary 1990

  2. 1985
    In PBF II,8 (p. 153-154, no. 415) catalogued the bronze phiale from Amathus in Vienna (inv. VI 4988/16134) which Max Ohnefalsch-Richter sold to the Vienna museums.

    Buchholz 1989, p. 14Hermary 1990

  3. 2003
    With H.-G. Buchholz published the study Zyprische Bronzeschalen der geometrischen und archaischen Periode (typology, chronology, epigraphy and diffusion of Cypriot bronze bowls); dedicated to the memory of Olivier Masson.

    Buchholz & Matthäus 2003, pp. 99-148

  4. 2004
    Began organising, from Erlangen, a series of Cyprus congresses (the first in 2004), including the symposium whose proceedings he co-edited with V. Karageorghis and S. Rogge (2005).

    ErlangenRecke 2012, p. 105, n. 68

  5. 2005
    Nachtrag to the 2003 bowl study: the rediscovery in the Cyprus Museum stores of a bronze bowl found at Tavrou (Karpas) allowed him to return to the Cypriot bowl form, its chronology and diffusion.

    Matthäus 2005

  6. 2007
    Published 'The Royal Tombs of Tamassos: Burial Gifts, Funeral Architecture and Ideology' (CCEC 37, pp. 211-230).

    Matthäus 2007, pp. 211-230

  7. 2011
    Wrote the obituary 'In Memoriam Hans-Günter Buchholz (1919-2011)' and, after Buchholz's death, took over with M. Recke the editing of the Tamassos final publication; also co-edited the volume Der Orient und die Anfänge Europas (Marburg) with N. Oettinger and S. Schröder.

    Recke 2012, p. 89, nn. 736

  8. 8 May 2013
    Took part in the Berlin conference 'Cypriote Antiquities in Berlin in the Focus of New Research'; Merrillees records Matthäus, with Karageorghis, making the closing remarks together with him.

    BerlinMerrillees 2012

  9. 2014
    Published the metal finds from the tombs Ohnefalsch-Richter opened in 1889 at the Tamassos-Chomazoudia royal cemetery (now in Berlin), 'Metal Finds from the Royal Cemetery of Tamassos' (pp. 103-135); Hermary calls it a fundamental reference on symbols of power in Archaic 'royal' tombs, including the reconstructed grave-gift layout of tomb 12.

    BerlinKarageorghis et al. 2014Merrillees 2012

  10. 2016
    Published 'Kypriaka in der Siderospilia-Nekropole von Prinias, Mittelkreta' (CCEC 46, pp. 175-200): with G. Schumacher-Matthäus he studied, at the invitation of D. Palermo and the Italian mission, the metal finds from over 600 early Iron Age tombs at Siderospilia, Prinias, Crete, for Cypriot imports.

    Prinias, CreteMatthäus 2016

Connections

6 people
Vassos KarageorghisMax Ohnefalsch-RichterHans-Günter BuchholzSabine RoggeMatthias ReckeKatja WalcherHartmut Matthäus
Scholarship

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

On Ancient Cyprus

1 page

Sources

  1. 1.Antoine Hermary (1986). “Chronique d'archéologie chypriote (1984-1985)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 5.
  2. 2.Antoine Hermary (1990). “Ohnefalsch-Richter à Amathonte”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 13, 21-26.
  3. 3.H.-G. Buchholz (1989). “Max Ohnefalsch-Richter als Archäologe auf Zypern”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 3-27.
  4. 4.H. W. Catling (2020). Kouklia: Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Tombs at Palaepaphos 1951-1954. Oxford, BAR Publishing.
  5. 5.Matthias Recke (2012). “Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen Disziplin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
  6. 6.V. Karageorghis (ed.), E. Poyiadji-Richter (ed.), S. Rogge (ed.) (2014). Cypriote Antiquities in Berlin in the Focus of New Research.
  7. 7.Robert Stuart Merrillees (2012). “'Cypriote Antiquities in Berlin. In the focus of new research': An Anniversary Conference in Berlin, 8 May 2013”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42, 3-4.
  8. 8.H.-G. Buchholz, H. Matthäus (2003). “Zyprische Bronzeschalen der geometrischen und archaischen Periode. Eine Studie zu Typologie, Chronologie, Epigraphik und kultureller Außenwirkung zyprischen Metallhandwerks des frühen ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr.”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 33, 99-148. Online
  9. 9.H. Matthäus (2005). “Zyprische Bronzeschalen der geometrischen und archaischen Periode. Ein Nachtrag”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 35. Online
  10. 10.H. Matthäus (1985). Metallgefässe und Gefässuntersätze der Bronzezeit, der geometrischen und archaischen Periode auf Cypern, mit einem Anhang der bronzezeitlichen Schwertfunde auf Cypern. Munich, C. H. Beck.
  11. 11.V. Karageorghis (ed.), H. Matthäus (ed.), S. Rogge (ed.) (2005). Cyprus: Religion and Society. From the Late Bronze Age to the End of the Archaic Period. Proceedings of an International Symposium on Cypriote Archaeology, Erlangen, 23-24 July 2004. Möhnesee-Wamel, Bibliopolis.
  12. 12.H. Matthäus (2007). “The Royal Tombs of Tamassos: Burial Gifts, Funeral Architecture and Ideology”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 37, 211-230.
  13. 13.H. Matthäus (2014). “Metal Finds from the 'Royal Cemetery' of Tamassos: Local Traditions, Phoenician and Greek Cultural Influences in Archaic Cyprus”. Cypriote Antiquities in Berlin in the Focus of New Research, 103-135. Münster and New York.
  14. 14.H. Matthäus (2016). “Kypriaka in der Siderospilia-Nekropole von Prinias, Mittelkreta”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 46, 175-200. Online