Geometric and Archaic Cyprus

Thematic Essay Categories

• Recent Additions
• All Thematic Essays
• African Art
• Central Africa
• Eastern Africa
• Southern Africa
• Western Africa
• American Art
• Colonial Art
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Art of the Americas
• Asian Art
• China
• Japan
• Korea
• South & Southeast Asia
• Byzantine Art
• Egyptian Art
• European Art
• Renaissance
• Seventeenth & Eighteenth Centuries
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Greek and Roman Art
• Islamic Art
• Early Period
• Medieval Period
• Later Period
• Medieval Art
• Oceanic/Pacific Art
• Prehistory

Sort Thematic Essays by:

The most important development on Cyprus between about 1200 and 1050 B.C. was the arrival of successive waves of immigrants from the Greek mainland. These newcomers brought with them, and perpetuated, Mycenaean customs of burial, dress, pottery, production, and warfare. At this time, Achaean immigrants introduced Greek to Cyprus. An Achaean society, politically dominant by the eleventh century B.C., most likely created the independent kingdoms ruled by wanaktes, or kings, on the island. The Greeks progressively gained control of major communities, such as Salamis, Kition, Lapithos, Palaeopaphos, and Soli. In the mid-eleventh century B.C., the Phoenicians occupied Kition on the southern coast of Cyprus. Their interest in Cyprus derived mainly from the island's rich copper mines and its forests, which provided an abundant source of timber for shipbuilding. At the end of the ninth century B.C., the Phoenicians established a cult for their goddess Astarte in a monumental temple at Kition.

Related

Timelines (2)

• • The Eastern Mediterranean, 2000–1000 B.C.
• • The Eastern Mediterranean, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Thematic Essays (22)

• • The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.)
• • Ancient Greek Bronze Vessels
• • Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art
• • Ancient Greek Dress
• • Athenian Vase Painting: Black– and Red–Figure Techniques
• • The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolian Museum
• • Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–ca. 310 B.C.)
• • Cyprus—Island of Copper
• • Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece
• • Egypt in the Late Period (ca. 712–332 B.C.)
• • Geometric Art in Ancient Greece
• • Greek Art in the Archaic Period
• • Greek Terracotta Figurines with Articulated Limbs
• • Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus
• • List of Rulers: The Ancient Greek World
• • Mycenaean Civilization
• • The Phoenicians (ca. 1500–300 B.C.)
• • Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture
• • Roman Glass
• • Tanagra Figurines
• • Warfare in Ancient Greece
• • Women in Classical Greece

Maps (5)

• • Europe Map, 2000–1000 B.C.
• • Europe Map, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • West Asia Map, 2000–1000 B.C.
• • West Asia Map, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • World Map, 2000–1000 B.C.

Index Terms (13)

Geography/Place

• • Africa, Egypt
• • Europe, Balkan Peninsula (including Greece)
• • West Asia, Eastern Mediterranean

Material and Technique

• • Metalwork, Gilt Silver
• • Sculpture, In the Round, West Asia
• • Vessel, Shallow, West Asia
• • Vessel, Tall, West Asia

Object

• • Architectural Elements, Temple
• • Architectural Elements, Temple, West Asia
• • Sarcophagus

Subject Matter/Theme

• • Funerary Art
• • Funerary Art, West Asia
• • Rulers, Lists

A stele found at Kition reports the submission of the Cypriot kings to Assyria in 709 B.C. Under Assyrian domination, the kingdoms of Cyprus flourished and Cypriot kings enjoyed some independence as long as they regularly paid tribute to the Assyrian king. A seventh-century B.C. inscription records that there were ten kings of Cyprus who ruled over ten separate kingdoms. Some of these kings had Greek names, others had names of Semitic origin, testifying to the ethnic diversity of Cyprus in the first half of the first millennium B.C. Royal tombs at Salamis suggest both the wealth and foreign connections of these rulers in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.

In the sixth century B.C., Egypt, under King Ahmose II, took control of Cyprus. Although the Cypriot kingdoms continued to manage relative independence, a significant increase of Egyptian motifs in Cypriot works of art from this period reflects the intensification of Egyptian influence. Elements such as the head of Hathor appeared in quantity for the first time, especially at Amathus.

In 545 B.C., under Cyrus the Great (r. ca. 559–530 B.C.), the Persian empire conquered Cyprus. The new rulers, however, did not interfere with established Cypriot institutions and religious practices. Cypriot troops participated in Persian military campaigns, the independent kingdoms paid the customary tribute, and Salamis ranked as the foremost kingdom. By the late sixth century B.C., Persian control over Cyprus tightened, so that by the beginning of the fifth century B.C. the island was an integral part of the Persian empire.

Citation for this page

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Geometric and Archaic Cyprus". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gcyp/hd_gcyp.htm (October 2004)

Suggested Further Reading(s) Find these publications in a library

Bonfante, Larissa, and Vassos Karageorghis, eds. Italy and Cyprus in Antiquity, 1500–450 B.C. . Nicosia: Costakis and Leto Severis Foundation, 2001.
Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. . The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3d ed., rev. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Karageorghis, Vassos, and Nikolaos Stampolidis. Eastern Mediterranean: Cyprus, Dodecanese, Crete, 16th–6th century B.C.. Athens: University of Crete / A. G. Leventis Foundation, 1998.
Karageorghis, Vassos, in collaboration with Joan R. Mertens and Marice E. Rose. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
Meyers, Eric M., ed. . The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

More Information on www.metmuseum.org
    Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

    Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus

Learn more on www.metmuseum.org

Greek and Roman Art: Features & Exhibitions; Permanent Collection; Online Resources (links); Books in the Met Store