The Amathus sarcophagus is arguably the single most important object in the Cesnola Collection and unique among ancient Cypriot sculptures in its monumentality and in the preservation of its polychromy. The primary scenes on the long sides show a procession of chariots escorted by attendants on horseback and followed by foot soldiers. The main personage is probably the driver, who is standing under a parasol in the first chariot. His horses, as the others, are richly caparisoned; his chariot resembles the others also, except that the wheel has fewer spokes. The decoration of the short ends consists of a row of Astarte figures, nude except for their double necklaces and ear caps, and a row of Bes figures. The choice of these two deities, one Near Eastern, the other Egyptian, suggests the importance of procreation to the deceased. The figural panels are framed by a variety of vegetal ornaments, while the gabled lid once featured a pair of sphinxes and a palmette at each end. The sarcophagus probably belonged to one of the kings of Amathus. The procession scenes provide a glimpse into his world. The iconography as a whole, moreover, documents the thorough integration of Greek, Cypriot, and Oriental features in works of high quality at the middle fifth century B.C.
#1105. Limestone sarcophagus: the Amathus sarcophagus, Part 1
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1105. Limestone sarcophagus: the Amathus sarcophagus, Part 1
1195. Limestone sarcophagus: the Amathus sarcophagus, Part 2
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Title:Limestone sarcophagus: the Amathus sarcophagus
Period:Archaic
Date:2nd quarter of the 5th century BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Hard limestone
Dimensions:62 × 90 × 43 in., 2705 lb. (157.5 × 228.6 × 109.2 cm, 1227 kg)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Object Number:74.51.2453
From the north necropolis of Amathus
Until 1874, Cesnola Collection, excavated by General Cesnola in Amathus, Cyprus; acquired 1874, purchased from General Luigi Palma di Cesnola.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1877. Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A Narrative of Researches and Excavations During Ten Years' Residence in That Island. pp. 249ff., pls. 14, 15, London: John Murray.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. CXLIX.1184, .1185, pl. CL.1186, .1187, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Myres, John L. 1912. "Sarcophagus from Amathus." Antike Denkmäler, III(1). pls. 1–4.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1912. "Recent Accessions and Notes: Sarcophagi from Amathus and Golgoi." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 7(4): pp. 76, 78–79.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1365, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1936[1934]. A Guide to the Collections, Part 1: Ancient and Oriental Art, 2nd edn. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1939. Guide to the Collections: Ancient and Oriental Art--Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman Far Eastern, Near Eastern Oriental Armor, Vol. 1, World's Fair Edition. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi. 1958. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale, Vol. 1. pp. 300–2, 748-50, figs. 434, 945, Rome: Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi. 1958. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale, Vol. 2. pp. 66, 636, figs. 112, 865, Rome: Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Nickel, Helmut. 1969. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. p. 25, p. 25, ill, New York: Atheneum.
McCann, Anna Marguerite. 1978. Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 16–7, fig. 2, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sophocleous, Sophocles. 1985. ""Atlas des représentations chypro-archaiques des divinités." Master's Diss.." Master's Diss. no. 3, pp. 169–70. Paul Aströms Förlag.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1986. Vol. 3: Atherion-Eros. "Bes," p. 105, no. 96; "Bes (Cypri et in Phoenicia)," p. 110, no. 25, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. no. 5, pp. 18–19, 21, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Howard Kathleen. 1994. Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide: Works of Art Selected by Philippe De Montebello. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hermary, Antoine. 1995. "Une tête de Bès chypriote au musée de Cannes." Cahier du Centre d' Etudes Chypriotes, 23. p. 6, fig. 6.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 330, pp. 201–4, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lightfoot, Christopher S. 2000. "The New Cypriot Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Minerva, 11(3): no. 3: 20, fig. 9.
Tatton-Brown, Veronica. 2000. "The New Galleries of Cypriot Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Apollo, 152:
Hendrix, Elizabeth. 2001. "Polychromy on the Amathus Sarcophagus: A "Rare Gem of Art." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 36. pp. 43–58, figs. 3–8.
Crouwel, Joost H. 2002. "Chariots in Iron Age Cyprus." Selected Writings on Chariots, Other Early Vehicles, Riding and Harness, Peter Raulwing, ed. pp. 149, 155, 157, 158, pl. 21, Leiden: Brill.
Petit, Thierry. 2004. "Images de la royauté amathousienne: Le sarcophage d'Amathonte." Iconographie impériale, iconographie royale, iconographie des élites dans le monde gréco-romain, Yves Perrin and Professor Thierry Petit, eds. pp. 49–96, figs. 1-4, Saint-Étienne: Université de Saint-Etienne.
Karageorghis, Jacqueline. 2005. Kypris: the Aphrodite of Cyprus: Ancient Sources and Archaeological Evidence. pp. 98–9, fig. 94, Nicosia, Cyprus: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Petit, Thierry. 2006. "“Oedip et le Chéubin”." Kernos: Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique, 19: p. 326 n 47.
Petit, Thierry. 2006. "Malika: L'identité composite du Dieu-Roi d'Amathonte sur le sarcophage de New York." Identités croisées en un milieu méditerranéen, le cas de Chypre : Antiquité-Moyen âge pp. 63–99, figs. 1-4.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 294, pp. 252–53, 464-65, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Stylianou, Andreas and Patrick Schollmeyer. 2007. "Der Sarkophag aus Golgoi." Dynastensarkophage mit szenischen Reliefs aus Byblos und Zypern: Der Sarkophag aus Amathous als Beispiel kontaktinduzierten Wandels, 2. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
Centre D'etudes Chypriotes. 2007. "Tamassos and Amathous - Afterlife and Apotheosis." Cahier du Centre d' Études Chypriotes, 37. pp. 219–20, 230, fig. 13.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. p. 67, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 490, p. 353–63, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Satraki, Anna. 2013. "The Iconography of Basileis in Archaic and Classical Cyprus: Manifestations of Royal Power in the Visual Record." Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, 370: pp. 132, 136, fig. 7.
Papantoniou, Giorgos. 2013. "Cypriot Autonomous Polities at the Crossroads of Empire: The Imprint of a Transformed Islandscape in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 370: pp. 173–74, 176, n. 13.
Tassignon, Isabelle. 2013. "Le "Seigneur aux lions" d'Amathonte : étude d'iconographie et d'histoire des religions des statues trouvées sur l'agora." Études Chypriotes, 18: p. 21, fig. 9.
Karageorghis, Jacqueline. 2014. "À Propos Du Sarcophage D'Amathonte." Cahier du Centre d' Études Chypriotes
, 44. pp. 385–98, figs. a–c, n. 1.
Faegersten, Fanni and Carolina Lopez-Ruiz. 2023. "Beyond “Volute Capitals”: Materials, Meaning, and
Adaptations of a Phoenician Motif." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 11, (2–3): pp. 244, 246, fig. 14.
Editorial Assistant Rachel High speaks with Antoine Hermary and Joan Mertens, authors of the recently published catalogue The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Stone Sculpture, about the publication and the collection that inspired it.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
