Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Excavator · Cataloguer

Jean-Yves Empereur

fl. 1980–2018 · France

French archaeologist who directed the École française d'Athènes excavation of the ancient harbour of Amathus from 1984 to 1986 and edited its two-volume final report.

Biography

Jean-Yves Empereur directed the French School at Athens' underwater work on the ancient harbour of Amathus. Members of the French mission under him made a preliminary survey in 1982, and excavation followed from 1984 to 19861,5. Vertical air photographs gave a provisional plan of installations covering about five hectares, and trial excavations suggested that the quays were built at the end of the 4th century BC; three wells just to the north were also dug1. In 1986 the Chronique of excavations in Cyprus listed it as a second French School mission, beside Antoine Hermary's on the town site2. Stella Demesticha gives the direction as Empereur and C. Verlinden6.

Vassos Karageorghis, reviewing the French School's work in Cyprus in 1996, called it the first in-depth study of an ancient port on the island, noted that the surveys and excavation had been finished several years earlier without publication, and wrote that his co-operation with the School had averted a modern marina over the ancient harbour4. Empereur and Verlinden published an account of the excavation in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology in 198710.

The final report came in two volumes of Études Chypriotes, funded by the Honor Frost Foundation: volume 1, Architecture and History, edited with T. Kożelj in 2017, and volume 2, on the artefacts, edited by Empereur in 20188,9. Volume 2 runs to 218 pages and contains the Hellenistic amphorae chapter by Empereur himself8.

Life and work

  1. 1982
    Preliminary survey of the ancient harbour of Amathus by members of the French mission under Empereur (reported BCH 1983, 967-9 per Symons).

    AmathusSymons 1986-1987

  2. 1984–1986
    Three seasons of underwater excavation of the Hellenistic harbour of Amathus for the French School at Athens (1984, 1985, 1986). Vertical air photographs gave a provisional plan of installations covering about five hectares; trial excavations showed the quays probably built at the end of the 4th century BC; three wells were excavated just to the north. The BCH Chronique for 1986 lists it as a second EFA mission, under Empereur, beside Hermary's mission on the town site.

    AmathusSymons 1986-1987Karageorghis 1987Hadjikoumis 2018, p. 8

  3. 1984–1985
    Hermary's Chronique notes the ancient harbour of Amathus 'is now studied by a French mission directed by J.-Y. Empereur'.

    AmathusHermary 1986

  4. 1987
    With C. Verlinden published the underwater excavation of the ancient port of Amathus (IJNA 16(1), 7-18; a note 'Le port' in BCH 111 is also cited). Demesticha gives the 1984-86 direction as 'J.-Y. Empereur and C. Verlinden'.

    Demesticha 2021, p. 1Fourrier et al. 2020, p. 75

  5. 1996
    Karageorghis, surveying the EFA in Cyprus, calls the Amathus harbour work pioneering: the first in-depth study of an ancient port in Cyprus, with surveys and excavation finished several years earlier but unpublished; he hoped it would not share the fate of the Kyrenia ship excavation, and records that his co-operation with the EFA averted a modern marina over the ancient harbour.

    AmathusKarageorghis 1996

  6. 2017
    Edited with T. Kożelj the final report, vol. 1 Architecture and History (Études Chypriotes 19), funded by the Honor Frost Foundation.

    Demesticha 2021, p. 1Fourrier et al. 2020, p. 75

  7. 2018
    Edited vol. 2, Artefacts Found during Excavation (Études Chypriotes 20): Hellenistic pottery (F. Alabe), 'Persian bowls' (C. Harlaut), Hellenistic amphorae by Empereur himself, metal artefacts (M. Michael), plus Late Roman well material; 218 pages.

    Empereur 2018, p. 4Demesticha 2021, p. 1

Connections

5 people
Tony KożeljC. VerlindenVassos KarageorghisAntoine HermaryFrançoise AlabeJean-Yves Empereur
ScholarshipColleagues

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.D. J. Symons (1986-1987). “Archaeology in Cyprus, 1981-85”. Archaeological Reports 33, 62-77.
  2. 2.V. Karageorghis (1987). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1986”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 111.
  3. 3.Antoine Hermary (1986). “Chronique d'archéologie chypriote (1984-1985)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 5.
  4. 4.V. Karageorghis (1996). “L'École française d'Athènes à Chypre”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 120.
  5. 5.A. Hadjikoumis (2018). “A Late Roman faunal assemblage (Amathus harbour wells)”. The Hellenistic Harbour of Amathus, vol. 2.
  6. 6.Stella Demesticha (2021). “"In every harbor there is a longing": The enigmatic history of the harbor of Amathus, Cyprus”. Journal of Roman Archaeology 34, 433-440. Online
  7. 7.Sabine Fourrier, Alexandre Rabot, Bérénice Chamel (2020). “Un puits à roue élévatrice de Kition-Bamboula”. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 144, 705-776. Online
  8. 8.J.-Y. Empereur (ed.) (2018). The Hellenistic Harbour of Amathus: Underwater Excavations, 1984-1986. Volume 2: Artefacts Found during Excavation. Athens, École française d'Athènes.
  9. 9.J.-Y. Empereur (ed.), T. Kożelj (ed.) (2017). The Hellenistic Harbour of Amathus: Underwater Excavations, 1984-1986. Volume 1: Architecture and History. Athens, École française d'Athènes.
  10. 10.J.-Y. Empereur, C. Verlinden (1987). “The underwater excavation at the ancient port of Amathus in Cyprus”. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 16, 7-18.
  11. 11.J.-Y. Empereur (1985). “Le port d'Amathonte”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 109, 984-989.
  12. 12.J.-Y. Empereur (1995). “Le port hellénistique d'Amathonte”. Cyprus and the Sea, 131-138. Nicosia, University of Cyprus.
  13. 13.I. Nicolaou, J.-Y. Empereur (1986). “Amphores rhodiennes au Musée de Nicosie”. Recherches sur les amphores grecques, 515-533.