Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Collector

William Sidney Smith

Sir William Sidney Smith

fl. 1799–1815 · United Kingdom

Royal Navy commodore who raised the siege of Acre, landed in Cyprus in 1799 and 1802, and was named in 1801 as having removed inscribed marbles from Paphos.

Biography

One sentence puts Sir Sidney Smith's name to the removal of inscriptions from Paphos. In June 1801 Edward Daniel Clarke, calling at Cyprus, wrote that "a few inscribed marbles were removed from Baffa by Sir Sidney Smith"; he examined two of them, an epitaph in Greek hexameter and pentameter and a text recording public benefits conferred by one of the Ptolemies5. Clarke gives no date for the removal, no names of those who carried it out and no destination, and he did not himself reach Paphos, because of plague5. Later writers repeat Clarke without adding a destination1.

Smith, a Royal Navy commodore, had raised the siege of Acre on 19 May 1799. In October of that year a mutiny of Janissaries, Arnauts and Albanians in Cyprus, in which the Turkish vice-admiral was assassinated, brought him ashore from the Tigre; Archbishop Chrysanthos gave him an episcopal cross, and Lord Elgin complained in January 1800 that he was acting in Cyprus without authority6. Maier and Vassos Karageorghis write that he landed "under a somewhat dubious pretext" and made Andreas Zimbulaki, a Kephalonian Greek living at Yeroskipou, his agent at Paphos1. Hill dates the patent making Zimbulaki commissary for provisioning the fleet to 15 August 18006.

On 10 August 1802 the Tigre anchored at Katopaphos for oxen. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall visited Kouklia on two days and on a third was lent the large ship's boat and a crew with picks. The next morning a panel with two inscribed stones and two large pieces of mosaic were brought aboard. Smith gave away the larger stone; the smaller, of red marble, is in the Antikenkabinett in Vienna2.

Life and work

  1. 1799
    Raised the siege of Acre (19 May 1799). Hill (1952) summarises Smith's own later account: after a Janissary/Arnaut/Albanian mutiny in Cyprus (the Turkish vice-admiral was assassinated 18 Oct 1799) he landed from the Tigre as the Sultan's representative, disbanded the mutineers and visited Nicosia, where Archbishop Chrysanthos gave him an episcopal cross. Maier and Karageorghis say that during this stay he appointed Andreas Zimbulaki, a Kephalonian Greek of Yeroskipou, his agent at Paphos.

    CyprusMaier & Karageorghis 1984, p. 354Hill 1952, pp. 147-149

  2. 1799 – June 1801
    Removal of inscribed marbles from Baffa (Paphos). Clarke, writing of his visit of 6-16 June 1801: 'A few inscribed marbles were removed from Baffa by Sir Sidney Smith. Of two that the Author examined, one was an epitaph, in Greek hexameter and pentameter lines; and the other commemorated public benefits conferred by one of the Ptolemies.' Later in the same chapter Clarke repeats that 'Sir Sidney Smith removed some inscriptions already alluded to' from Baffa. Clarke did not himself go to Baffa (he gave up the idea 'on account of the plague, then raging over all the western part of Cyprus'); he does not say when, by whom, in what manner or to where the marbles went, nor where he saw the two. Maier and Karageorghis read the passage as showing that Smith was 'perhaps' the first named Paphian antiquary; Ulbrich and Kiely say Smith 'collected' alphabetic Greek inscriptions from Paphos; the Blue Guide adds that Smith 'established an Agent' there in 1799 and removed the marbles.

    PaphosCobham 1908, pp. 381Maier & Karageorghis 1984, p. 354Ulbrich & Kiely 2012

  3. 14 February 1800
    W. M. Leake, passing through Cyprus, found Sir Sidney Smith 'with his small squadron' at Larnaca; Smith had just signed the treaty for the French evacuation of Egypt, and on 15 Feb Leake dined aboard the Tigre with Generals Junot and Dupuy.

    LarnacaCobham 1908, p. 339

  4. 15 August 1800
    Date of Smith's patent appointing Andreas Zimbulaki commissary for provisioning the fleet, as cited by Hill from a 1829 certificate (FO 329/15). Hill describes the post as British agent at Paphos 'chiefly for the provisioning of British ships of war'; Gunnis (cited by Hill) says vice-consul.

    PaphosHill 1952, p. 149

  5. June 1801
    Clarke's frigate Ceres was at Cyprus 6-16 June 1801 (Cobham's headnote). Besides the Smith marbles Clarke records that the English Consul at Larnaca (Peristiani, in the first passage) dug up over thirty idols and presented Clarke 'the hand of a colossal marble statue, found there [at Baffa]'.

    LarnacaCobham 1908, pp. 379

  6. 10 August 1802
    His ship of the line Tigre anchored at Katopaphos to load oxen; at Hammer-Purgstall's request he lent the big ship's boat and a crew with picks to dig up a mosaic floor and take it, with inscribed stones, aboard. Hammer's account: two inscription stones and two large pieces of mosaic reached the Tigre; the larger stone (Topographische Ansichten no. 50) was given away by Sir Sidney, the smaller of red marble (no. 49) is in the Imperial Antiquities Cabinet, Vienna. A companion, Bromley, smashed much of the mosaic. Hammer names Keith and Bromley as companions in the boat. Maier does not say who received the larger stone or where it went.

    KoukliaTatton-Brown 2001, pp. 70-71Maier 2004

  7. March–May 1806
    Ali Bey (Domingo Badia) lodged at Yeroskipou with 'Andrea Zimbolaci', 'an agent of the English Consulate, whose flag was flying above the roof', who had adopted the costume and manners of an Englishman.

    YeroskipouCobham 1908, p. 405

  8. 20 October 1815
    William Turner, at Hieros Kypos, lodged with 'Signor Andrea, an old Zantiote, who has for many years been English consular agent for Baffo, and who asked me after Sir Sidney Smith with great earnestness.'

    YeroskipouCobham 1908, p. 440

Connections

3 people
Joseph von Hammer-Purgsta…Andreas ZimbulakiEdward Daniel ClarkeWilliam Sidney Smith
FieldworkDisputes

Fieldwork & employment

Disputes & the law

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Red marble inscribed stone (Hammer, Topographische Ansichten no. 49) removed from Kouklia

    From Kouklia (Palaipaphos)Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Imperial Antiquities Cabinet)1802Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 71

  • Larger inscribed stone (Topographische Ansichten no. 50) removed from Kouklia

    From Kouklia (Palaipaphos)1802Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 71

Sources

  1. 1.F. G. Maier, V. Karageorghis (1984). Paphos: History and Archaeology. 383 pp.. Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation.
  2. 2.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  3. 3.F. G. Maier (1992). “A tomb of Paphian Kings: the 'Spilaion tis Regainas' at Kouklia-Arkalon”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 18. Online
  4. 4.Anja Ulbrich, Thomas Kiely (2012). “Britain and the Archaeology of Cyprus. I. The long 19th century”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42. Online
  5. 5.C. D. Cobham (1908). Excerpta Cypria: Materials for a History of Cyprus. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Online
  6. 6.George Hill (1952). A History of Cyprus. Volume 4: The Ottoman Province, The British Colony, 1571-1948. Cambridge University Press.
  7. 7.F. G. Maier (2004). Guide to Palaipaphos (Kouklia). Nicosia, Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
  8. 8.Cyprus (Blue Guides).