: 05366

Metropolitan Museom of Art.

GUIDE

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Metropolitan Museum of Art.

GUIDE

Cesnola Collection,

Scale, y3 J'eet to one inch.

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

GUIDE

Cesnola Collection OF
ANTIQUITIES FROM THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS,
Exhibited at 128 West 14th Street.

WITH A PRELIMINARY NOTICE OF THE
RESEARCHES IN CYPRUS.

Printed hy order of the
Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

NEW YORK :
Francis & Loutkel, Stationers and Printers,
45 Maiden Lane,
l'-77.

No. 75.

Preliminary Notice.

The Cypriote antiquities were discovered by General Louis
Palma di Cesnola, an Italian nobleman by birth, a graduate of
the Royal Military Academy of Turin, a soldier of the Italian
Revolution of 1848, of the Crimea, and of our civil war. In
1865 he became an American citizen, and was appointed consul
to Cyprus. He had hardly settled in the consulate at Larnaca
when he was impressed by the thought that Cyprus was the
great central meeting point of the ancient races, and that the
Greek settlements there, in the heroic period, must have derived
from Phoenicia and Egypt the old Eastern civilization. He
soon found Larnaca (the site of ancient Citium) to be what its
name signifies— the " place of the tombs " — and during the winter
of 1865-6 he opened several hundred tombs in its vicinity, and
carried on excavations at the Salines, the ancient port. ..arnaca
and the Salines were rich in terra-cotta vases and statuettes.
During the year 1866 he visited the supposed sites of Golgos
and Idalium, identified the latter, and commenced that most
remarkable disentombment of treasures, from eight thousand
tombs, which he continued, at favorable seasons, for three years.
These treasures consist of coins, glass, statues, inscriptions, bas-
reliefs, bronzes, jewelry, statuettes, terra-cotta vases and pottery.
Here were found the first known works of Phoenician art, the
finest extant collection of Greek glass, and some of the most
interesting vases the modern world has yet seen. It is an
impressive fact, that to the custom of securely burying with the
dead favored objects of the fine and industrial arts, inscribed
and uninscribed, we owe much of what we know of the social
and national life and history of ancient nations. The various
tombs of Cyprus are sepiilchres of the ages. Cyprus is in itself
one vast necropolis, that unfolds to us the history of ancient
civilization. The Greek graves and tombs on the hill-slope of
Idalium, were three feet below the surface. Then six and a-half

c
£|eet below them were the Phfjenician tombs. The Phoenicians
commenced at the foot of the hill and made a square excavation
into the bank, from the east, then a further excavation of an
oven-shaped chamber, which they plastered with earth. A tomb
was constructed for one or three persons. If for one, there was
a platform a few inches high on the West side, upon which the
body was placed, facing the East. If for three, the platform
extended on the North, West and South sides, and the bodies on
the North and South sides were placed with their heads to the
East. In some cases the tomb was a small, low one, just large
enough to contain one person in a sitting posture. In all cases
the tombs were wholly or partially filled with works of art and
utility. When a tomb was fully occupied the entrance was
closed with a large rough stone. Upon opening these tombs, it
was found that the rains of ages had percolated through them,
conveying dissolved earth which, in most cases, completely filled
them. The carrying on of this work of excavation, on so large
a scale, with only ignorant native assistants, with inadequate
tools, revealed the patience and ingenuity of General di Cesnola,
combined with an enthusiastic love of the work, a personal
magnetism and knowledge of human nature, rarely to be met
with. At first there was necessarily some breakage, but soon
the men were restricted to the use of the hands, a knife and a
basket; and then, with care, all objects were saved intact. In
addition to the implements above mentioned, the only ones used
in the excavations in Cyprus were the common pick-hoe of the
East, a rude wood shovel, and improvised levers of iron and
wood. The Phoenician Idalium was probably destroyed in the ninth
century, B. C; and the debris of the structures near the top of the
necropolis, and a portion of the hill itself were carried by the
work of centuries down the slope, covering so completely the
tombs that in after ages the Greeks were not aware that their
necropolis reposed upon another and an older citv of the dead.
In the winter of 1869-70, di Cesnola again turned his attention
to Golgos, whose temple had been the objective point of much
fruitless research. Among the great difficulties of Cyprus inves
tigations is the want of reliable historical data, of correct tradition,
of original names and of surface ruins. But, in spite of difficulties,
Golgos was defined; and in March, 1870, the great efforts and

sound judgment of the General were rewarded by the discovery
of the Temple of Venus. This renowned temple, which in its
unique sculptures has so grandly illustrated to us the ancient
religions and the history of sculpture itself, had been sought as
a Greek structure upon an acropolis; but he found it more a
Phoenician sanctuary, among the extinct groves and fountains of
the valley, clustered about vvith tombs. The foundations were
t en ahd a-half feet below the surface.
In 1869-70, di Cesnola verified and surveyed the sites of
Paphos, Soli, Ormidia, Poli and Amathunta.
Modern scholarship is looking to Cyprus as to the key of ; the
origin and development of Greek civilization. These remarkable
monuments discovered in Cyprus — so remarkable in the history
of art — illustrate, better than scholastic theories and traditions,
the manner in which the civilization, religion and arts of Egypt
and Assyria were transmitted by the Phoenicians and adopted
by the Greeks. H. H.
Note. — After visiting America in 1872, General di Cesnola
returned to Cyprus and resumed his explorations in 1873, con
tinuing them till late in 1S76. The results of these labors were
acquired by purchase and added to the Cesnola Collection in
1876. They are however so extensive that it has been folind
impossible to arrange them in the present building of the Museum,
with the exception of the Treasures found in the vaults of the
Temple at Curium, which have been placed in the Northeast
room on the second floor. These include Phoenician, Grjeco-
Phoenician and Archaic Greek work, in gold, silver, engraved
gems, pottery, bronze, alabaster, rock-crystal and other materials.
For a description of the later explorations of General Cesnola
and their results, a Catalogue of the engraved gems by the Rev.
C. W. King, M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a note
on some of the pottery, ^by Mr. A. S. Murray of the British
Museum, the visitor is referred to General Cesnola's published
work, "Cyprus: its Ancient Cities, Tombs and Temples." —
New York, Harper cs' Brothers.

The Cesnola Collection.

This collection occupies rooms A, B, and C, the whole of the
first floor. Eastern side of the building, including the conservatory
and the passage which connects it with the picture gallery on the
ground floor; also the northwest room (N) and part of the adjoining
middle room (M) on the first floor, Western side of the building,
and the Northeast room on the second floor.
The conservatory is on the first floor; and is entered from the
rear of the large hall.
Before giving a general description of the objects contained
in the different rooms, a few remarks concerning the past history
of Cyprus are deemed necessary, in order that the visitor may be
enabled to understand the importance of this collection, and its
bearing upon the history of ancient art.
Cyprus is one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea,
only a few hours distant from the coast of Syria, and forms part
of the Turkish dominions.
There is no work extant on ' the ancient history of Cyprus,
and what little is known of its past is only to be found in the
annals of other nations, and in the monuments buried in the
island, and elsewhere in the East.
The visitor will identify Cyprus with the Kittim, or Chittim,
of the Bible.
Its earliest inhabitants seem to have belonged to the Japhetic
race. The Phoenicians of Tyre being the nearest neighbors to
Cyprus, were, in all probability, the first colonists of the island,
but whether they were governed by rulers of their own choice, or
were tributaries to the kings of Tyre, is not yet .known.
From an Egyptain stela discovered at Thebes, and now depos
ited in the Museum at Cairo, and also from other monuments in
that Museum, it is known that Thothmes IIL, an Egyptian king
of the eighteenth dynasty, made the conquest of Cyprus 1440
years, or thereabouts, before the Christian era, and Egypt seems
to have kept it till the end of the twelfth century before Christ.
All the monuments of this great king, which are found through
the whole valley of the Nile, exhibit Egyptian art in great perfection.

10
We next find Cyprus paying tribute to King Hiram of Tyre,
the contemporary of Solomon, till B. C. 725.
It is known from a cylinder in the British Museum, found by
Mr. Layard at Nineveh, and also from a monumental stela now
in the BerHn Museum, discovered in Larnaca (the site of the
ancient Citium), in 1846, that the Assyrian King Sargon received
tribute from the seven kings of Cyprus from B. C. 708 to 550.
The island passed under the Egyptian rule, for a second time,
during the reign of King Amasis, but only for a short period,
that is, from B. C. 550 to B. C. 525.
The Persian King Cambyses conquered Cyprus from Psam-
metticus, the son and successor of Amasis, and annexed it to
his empire by incorporating it with the fifth Satrapy or Persian
province, B. C. 525.
The history of Cyprus after this date has been buried in
obscurity, until modern exploration has begun to throw light on
it. By the aid of Cypriote and Phoenician inscriptions, on coins
and stones, part of which are in this collection, and which have
been deciphered only recently, detached portions of the history
have- been rescued. There was a dynasty of Kings of Citium
(Greek) or Kitti (Phoenician) extending from about 450 to 410
B. C. We have the names of Az-baal, Baal-Melek, and .-Xbdemon,
the last being from Tyre.
After this dynasty came Evagoras, succeeded by his son
Nicocles. These two, reigning from about 410 to 385 B. C, were
either Greeks, or Phoenicians with Greek tastes. They encour
aged Greek styles, and from the scanty materials for judgment
which we possess, appear to ha\e preferred the tTreek alphabet
to the Cypriote.
They were succeeded by a dynasty of kings of " Kitti and
Idal," or Citium and Idalium, who, later, took the title " King of
Kitti, Idal, and Tamash," the latter being the Tamassus of the
Greeks. Of these kings we know the following : (i) Meliki-athon,
son of Baal-ram (about 385 to 375 B. C), whose name appears
in several inscriptions in the collection. (2) Pumi-athon, called
by the Greeks Pumntos, son of the preceding (about 375 to 325
B. C). He purchased the dominion of Tamash from Pasikyprus,
King of .Imathus, for fifty talents. In his reign, Alexander the
Great besieged Tyre, 332 B. C, and also placed Pnytagoras, King
of Salamis, oyer 'I'amash. Inscriptions of this king are in the
collection. (3) Pygmalion, who was probably the successor of

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Pumi-athon. He seems to have reigned from about 325 to 312
B. C. The kings of Cyprus had acknowledged allegiance to
Alexander after his conquests on the Asiatic mainland,, and after
the death of Alexander, Ptolemy Soter obtained possession of
Cyprus, and probably removed Pygmalion.
The period which follows is called, or dates from " The Era
of the Citiensians," the 57th year of which corresponds to the
31st of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and therefore 254 B. C, as we
learn from a Phoenician inscription recently found and now in
the British Museum.
The ruler, under the Ptolemies, united in his person the
military and civil authority, and was also High Priest of Paphos.
The Ptolemies continued to hold the island till B. C. 58, in
which year it was reduced to a Roman province, withoat any
resistance. In the autumn of B. C. 34, Anthony, in the infatu
ation caused by his passion for Cleopatra, ceded to her the island,
without having any right to give away a Roman province ; he
thus furnished Octavius with thejprefext for a declaration of war,
for which he had long been waiting. Cyprus returned soon after
wards to its allegiance to Rome, and, up to the time when Con
stantine (called the Great) removed the capital from Rome to
Byzantium, was governed by Proconsuls or Governors sent di
rectly from Rome.
By Constantine and his successors Cyprus was considered
one of the brightest jewels of the Byzantine crown; and the
Christian seed sown by St. Paul and Barnabas began to produce
good fruits. The iconoclast Theodosius found in Cyprus his
most faithful adherents and agents in destroying heathen temples
and their contents, of which the visitor will perceive the traces in
some of the statues.
The last Byzantine Ruler of Cyprus was Isaac Comnenos,
from whom Richard of England (the Lion-hearted), on his way
to the Holy Land, took the Island, and sold it to the Templars.
These latter, half priests and half soldiers, being unable to rule
it, were compelled to sell it again, a year later, to Richard, who
gave it to a French Crusader of the noble family of Lusignan.
This family reigned peaceably for several centuries over the
whole island, and under these kings Cyprus enjoyed both peace
and prosperity ; at last, for want of male issue, the island, though
belonging of right to the Duke Lodovic of Savoy, the lawful

12
husband of Charlotte of Lusignan, passed into the hands of a
natural brother of hers, at whose death it became a possession
of the then powerful Republic of Venice.
The Republic seems to have governed it but feebly, and the
island had seen her best days. At the memorable seige of Fama-
gousta the Lion of St. Mark was vanquished by the Turkish Cres
cent; and ever since, Cyprus has been a possession of the Osmanli.
In earlier times Cyprus had a population of over four millions.
In the last census, taken by order of the Venetian Republic, in
the year 1542, the island still contained nearly a million of in
habitants ; but at the present day, if a census could be taken, the
entire population, both Turkish and Greek, would not amount to
one hundred and forty thousand souls in all.

This collection is the result of seven years explorations and
researches in the island.
Some of the objects have been labeled, until a full catalogue
of the collection can be prepared.
Rooms A, B and C contain ancient vases and sepulchral
lamps of earthenware, and copper and bronze utensils. For
want of space, the larger vases have been placed temporarily
upon the shelves over the cases ; they are at present too high for
the visitor to be able to inspect them closely, but when trans
ferred to their permanent repository, they will be placed at a
convenient height.
The conservatory and the adjoining room on the ground floor
contain all the statuary found in the Temple at Golgos, with the ex
ception of small objects, such as little statuettes, bas-reliefs, inscrip
tions, and some duplicate heads, which, for want of space in the con
servatory, have been placed in rooms N and M, on the first floor.
The statues and heads have been arranged, as far as practicable,
in a chronological order, and according to their style of art begin
ning with the early Egyptian and ending with the late Greco- Roman.
In the small room on the ground floor there are also some
bas-reliefs and Greek inscriptions, and some sepulchral columns
or stelas, upon which are engraved in Greek letters the names
and titles of the deceased.
Each column has been labeled, and a free translation made
of the inscription. These stelre were all, with the exception of one,
found in a Greco- Roman cemetery, in the neighborhood of Citium.

13
Room N contains a very rich and valuable collection of glass
ware, chiefly- Greek, numbering 1,672 pieces, and a case with
gold and silver mortuary ornaments and precious stones. These
objects were deposited in the same room because, with few
exceptions, they were found together in Greek tombs, both at
Idalium and Citium.
The same room contains terra-cotta heads, and duplicate
heads, a rich collection of terra-cotta statuettes and small heads,
besides votive offerings and inscriptions.
The two cases in the center of the room contain a variety of
valuable articles in bronze, alabaster, ivory, stone, &c.
FIRST FLOOR.— Room A.
Cases Nos. i to 12, and the shelves around the room, contain
vases of earthenware discovered in ancient tombs at Idalium, a
Phoenician city which was conquered by the Greek colonists of
Cyprus several centuries before the Christian era.
The perfect state of preservation of these vases, the freshness
of their color, and the great variety of their shapes, is quite
extraordinary, and will afford the visitor ample material for study.
Many of these shapes we find perpetuated, with shght varia-
, tions, in our own houses at the present day. One of the remark
able features of this collection of vases, which numbers over
4,000, is the fact that they have been made according to the
fancy of the potter, without regard to any particular rule as to
their size or capacity, as scarcely any two specimens can be prop
erly said to be exactly alike.
The colors used were generally only two, a dark brown, almost
black, and a purple red. The latter color seems to be an oxide
of copper, the brown is from a kind of earth very abundant in
Cyprus, called by the natives " Terra'd'Ombra " (Umber), large
quantities of which are annually exported to Europe.
These colors resist the effect of acids, showing that they must
have been appHed to the vase before it was baked.
The pattern which has been more generally used in decorating
these vases, is one of concentric circles and chequered designs,
intermingled, in rare instances, with the lotus flower, and other
ornamental designs.
Cases Nos. 13, 14. 15, contain a collection of pateras, bowls
and dishes. They are painted with the same colors as the vases.

14
both inside and outside. The ornamentation is very similar to
that on the vases, with the addition, in some instances, of some
thing looking like a Maltese cross, which may be meant, however,
to represent the vanes of a windmill — so much in use, even at the
present day, in Cyprus and throughout the whole East.
Although these objects have been discovered in tombs and
with lustral vases, yet they seemed to have been used for house
hold purposes. . One of the most interesting specimens is a three-
handed colandar. No. 2,937, upon which there are still visible
traces of a whitish matter, a portion of which having been ana
lyzed was declared to be milk.
Cases Nos. 16 and 17 contain objects in copper and bronze,
such as mirrors, armlets, rings, knives, javelins, spear heads,
bowls, pateras and workmen's tools, found in tombs at Alambra,
on the slope of a hill opposite the village.
Case No. 17 contains objects in serpentine stone, such as
pateras, tripods and cones (emblems of Venus in Cyprus) ; these
latter were found in separate tombs at Idalium, with the vases in
room C, Case No 2.
Case No. 18, near the window, contains the rarest specimens
of ancient pottery in the room. The most important and valu
able among these is the vase. No. 257, with chequered designs,
having two bulls' heads in relief, the horns of which form the
handles. This vase has a Phoenician inscription burnt in when
baked, and this fact has furnished the ground for the belief that
all the other vases and pateras with similar ornamentation, must
be of Phoenician manufacture.
The large Amphorae in each corner of the room, are of the
Greco-Roman period, and in their peculiar shape are similar to
those found in Eyptian tombs of that period, at Alexandria, and
elsewhere in Egypt.
Room B.
Cases Nos. i and 2 contain Greek vases found in ancient
tombs at Salamis, Citium and Idalium.
Case No. 3 contains a collection of red glazed vases of the
Greco-Roman period, discoyered in ancient tombs, chiefly at
Citium. They seemed to have been imported into Cyprus from
the not distant island of Samos, as some have potters' names en
graved upon them. This class of vases is known to archaeologists

15
under the name of Samian ware. A pure and beautiful specimen
is No. 236.
Cases Nos. 4 and 5, upon the side walls, contain sepulchral
lamps discovered in Phcenician, Egyptian, Greek and Roman
tombs. Those of the latter period have often elegant designs in
relief, and on the back of many are found the Greek or Roman
potters' names engraved, such as Favsti, Evasi, Romanosis, &c.
The large Greek Amphorae, standing upon the cases, are con
sidered, from their inscribed handles, to have been manufactured
in the neighboring island of Rhodes, and were used for exporting
different liquids, such as wine, oil, honey, etc.
Room C.
The vases in the cases around this room came also from the
same burying-ground, at Idalium, with the exception of those in
cases Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 ; but the tombs in which they were found
formed a group apart by themselves, and seemed to have belonged
either to a different race or religious sect, or to an earlier epoch.
As they appear to belong to a special manufacture, and as
even the clay is of a different kind from that of the vases in room
A, it was thought better to classify them by themselves, and in
separate cases.
With the vases in cases Nos. i, 13, 14, 15, several Egyptian
Scarabei were found.
With the white bowls in case No. 2, several Assyrian cylinders
of meteoric stone were discovered, and also some gold earrings
in the shape of the sacred basket of the Assyrians.
Cases Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, contain vases of a peculiar' kind, hitherto
unknown in Europe. Most of them have the same Phoenician
pattern of chequered design, but instead of being merely painted,
it is engraved, or rather scratched upon them.'
This scratch-work, from the absence of glaze inside the lines,
must have been done after the vase had been varnished or lustred.
These vases were discovered in the tombs scattered on the slope
of a hill near the village of Alambra, half an hour distant from
Idalium. In each of these tombs was invariably found either a
copper or bronze spearhead, or a kdife ; sometimes a small figure
in clay representing a man on horseback, or a warrior on foot,
with shield and helmet (see cases 16 and 18), also cups and
ladles of the same kind of glazed clay, but without any design.

16
which seem to have been measures for liquids. The vases are
believed to be among the earliest of the collection, and may
have adorned the tombs of foreign invaders, who were quartered
on the summit of that hill.
Cases Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, contain red vases of earthenware,
of a fine clay, painted in a dark brown, and are mostly decorated
with concentric circles. They were found in Phoenician tombs
at Idalium. Some of them have been cleaned with diluted mu
riatic acid, and have regained their primitive brightness of color.
Cases Nos.i6,i7andi8 contain a collection of painted vases,
chiefly found in ancient tombs at IdaHum, together with some
Egyptian scarabei ; also vases in shapes of animals. The little
terra-cotta horsemen were found with the red glazed vases at
Alambra, in the same tombs with the bronzes in room A. There
is in case No. 18 a fine collection of bulls, and masks of bulls,
probably representing the Egyptian God Apis.
In examining the Pottery, the visitor will fine some assistance
in the Museum Hand Book of Pottery and Porcelain. The
collection is of unexampled importance as illustrating local art
during a period of nearly or quite twenty centuries.
The history of the Ceramic art commences with the recorded
making of brick in the land of Shinar (Gen. xi. 3). Assyria
received the art from Babylonia, and transmitted it to Phoenicia.
Egypt probably received it from Babylonia and improved it by
inventing the art of enameling pottery. No older examples of
Phoenician or Assyrian pottery are known than are contained in
this collection, except the bricks of ancient buildings in the
Euphrates valley.
The earliest known styles of decorating pottery are here
illustrated by numerous specimens, some with scratched or
engraved surfaces, others with checks, circles, and various com
binations of lines, indicating the growth of patterns which finally
became standard patterns for centuries.
The Egyptian conquest brought in Egyptian styles, which are
easily recognized. The gradual development of these styles
produced what has been called the earliest Greek style, in which
animals and flowers in red and black were painted on unglazed
pottery, a style which in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., gave
place to the higher class of Greek Art, in which groups of figures
illustrating stories were painted in black on red. Subsequently

11

this style yielded to the use of black over the whole surface, with
pictures left visible in the red, which were heightened and made
expressive by touches of blaek. Thus far, however. General di
Cesnola has not found in Cyprus any examples of the best period
of Greek Art, except a few specimens from the Curium treasure
vaults, which are now in the Northeast room on the second floor.
He has presented to the Museum a small collection of vases, etc.,
which stand in a table case in Room B, Case 2, among which
are some illustrations of the decadence during the third and
second centuries B. C.
The history of the Ceramic art is fully illustrated in the
Cyprus collection, from a time prior to B. C. 1500, down to the
4th or 5th century after Christ. All the pottery in the collection
is either " unglazed " or " lustred," with the exception of a few
rare specimens of " enameled,'' which were imported from Egypt,
where alone in ancient times enameled pottery was made.
GALLERY OF SCULPTURE.

JVo. 173,
It would have been more desirable if all the statuary could
have been placed in one large hall, and arranged in regular order
from right to left ; and if the statues, busts and heads, could have
been so disposed as to afford the visitor an uninterrupted view
of the gradual development of art, but the edifice, though ample
in its dimensions, was not built for a public museum, and hence
this could not be effected.
The conservatory was turned into a gallery for the sculptures^
and considerations of safety required that certain of the heaviest

18
statues should be placed on the ground floor, and that others,
in order to equalize the weight in the gallery, should be placed
opposite the statuettes and heads. They were numbered, how-

y<i, 2,

ever, according to the place they would have occupied in a scien
tific arrangement. The \ isitor, therefore, should commence by
inspecting the room on the gnuind floor, which contains, per
haps, the earliest specimens of sculptures in the collection,
representing the Egyptian style of art.
The material employed for the sculptures is a kind of calca
reous stone, \ery abundant in Cyprus ; and there is no doubt in
the discoverer's mind that all these statues have been sculptured
on the island, as in exploring ancient quaries he found in their

19
immediate neighborhood unfinished works which had evidently
been artists' "failures," and as such abandoned by them.

JSo, 55.
Among the most important pieces in this room is No. 2, which
represents an Egyptian king (argued from his regalia), and from
its style and execution, belongs to the best Egyptian epoch, a,nd
may be about 1450, or 1400, before Christ.
No. 55, is a colossal statue of Hercules holding a knotted
club in his left hand, and in his right hand, which is missing,
there were four arrows. The God is dressed with a Hon's skin
thrown over his shoulders, the forepaws are tied in front of his

30

chest, and the head of the animal forms the head-dress of the
God. The lion's teeth and upper jaw are so arranged by the
sculptor as to form a kind of crown on his forehead, while the
lower jaw, divided into
two equal parts, forms
either a protection or an
ornament to the cheeks of
the God. Nos. S3, 54, 56,
57, 59 are statuettes and
heads representing the
same subject. No. 5 xis
a bas-relief in the Assy
rian style of art, repre
senting two of Hercules'
labors, and is the front
part of the pedestal on
which the colossal statue
No, 55, originally stood
when in the temple. No.
61 is a sarcophagus in
white marble, probably of
a queen of Cyprus; it was
found in a tomb at Citium.
The visitor ascending
the stairway reaches the
conservatory, and finds
on his right hand the
heads and statuettes, and
on the left the large
statues and heads with
the conical head-dress,
which are supposed to
belong to the Phoenician
period, and thus repre
sent the early Cypriote
art. The features of the
statues ofthis class are so
,\o. l.'il, like those of the natives
of Cyprus of the present day, that it makes more than plausible
the above supposition.

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The colossal statue No. 151, which is in a most perfect state
of preservation, belongs, as do all the bearded heads of the same
style, to the Assyrian period.

JSTo. 217-

The early Greek style begins to show itself in some Assyrian
bearded statues and heads, especially in the splendid statue No.
154, concerning which the savans of Europe who have seen it
are still divided in their opinion whether it represents a high
priest of Venus, or the Goddess herself with the beard, uniting

#

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both sexes (such as represented in the temple at Amathunta, in
Cyprus) as the embodiment of the procreative power.
The Archaic Greek style continues gradually to advance
until it reaches the best period of the Greek art, of which
the visitor can see many
specimens. The Greco-Roman
period comes next, and
the decadence of the
Greek art follows rapid
ly after it, and can
easily be traced in the
heads Nos. 292 to 338.
What the statues re
present it is difficult
to assert in a a positive
manner at the present
moment, and with the
imperfect knowledge
which we yet have of
them, without fear of
being led into error.
Some of them, from the
sacerdotal attributes
theyhavein their hands,
seem to be priests of
Venus, the Dove which
is held by several of
them,being abird which
was sacred to that ¦
Goddess. Many of them may
be portraits of kings or

No. SSS.

great men, presented to the Temple of Astarte as votive offerings.
Room N.
This room contains a \ery rich collection of ancient Greek
glass and also some specimens which were found in Phoenician
tombs at Idalium, and are supposed to be of Phoenician manu
facture.

23

There are ointment cups of every shape, fluted and plain, tear
bottles, jugs, bottles, rings, bracelets, beads, plates, twisted
rods, etc.

fl

^ i- -0^11

The beautiful iridescence upon some of them seems to be
due to several causes, viz.; the contact ofthe glass, for so many
centuries, with damp earth, and the effect of time in decompos
ing the liquid contents and mixing them up with the gradual
decay of the glass itself. It is perhaps also due in part to the'
materials from which the glass was originally made.

-wr

In a case near the window there are objects in gold — earrings,
finger rings with engraved stones, other finger rings of the same
shape as our American wedding rings, necklaces, hair-pins, fibu
lae, little statuettes, etc. These objects were all found in tombs,
and were buried with the corpse as a portion of its mortuary or
naments. There are also some silver earrings, rings, a bracelet,
and some little spoons, all of which were found also in tombs,
probably of poor people who could not afford the more precious
metal in adorning their dead.

24

The two cases ih the center of the room contain some very
rare and valuable objects of art, but as most of them have been
properly labeled, there is no necessity for particular description
here. The most important and valuable among them is the bronze
patera or cup, with embossed bas-relief, representing the worship
of Venus, or the Egyptian Isis. This bronze patera has been
illustrated in the Revue Archaologique, published at Paris, and
furnished the material for two able scientific articles.
Cases Nos. 15, 16, and 17 contain a collection of statuettes,
masks, and little heads both in stone and
._;'',?;T.'~'f 4?*^^§|^ terra-cotta, the latter were all found in
.'^_ ¦-"¦' !¦' VaI ancient tombs at Idalium, Alambra and
Citium. Among the statuettes in case No. 16
the most important are. No. 197, which
represents the Chaldean Venus, No. 199,
the Assyrian Venus, and Nos. 191, 200,
and 201, representing the Egyptian Ve
nus, No. 204, Astorelh, or the Jewish
Venus, No. 196, the bearded Venus of
Amathunta in Cyprus, and Nos. 228 and
235, Egyptian divinities with ram's heads.
In case No. 16 there is a funeral pro
cession, consisting of donkeys with baskets, a horseman with two
amphorae, a chariot filled with singers and musicians, and other
chariots with mourners (.') and lastly a three-legged table, on
which there is a statuette of Isis, and a mask of the sacred cow
Athor. Case No. 15 contains a collection of terra-cotta statuettes,
and little heads belonging to the best period of Greek art.
Among the finest specimens are the following: No. 3x5, stat
uette in terra-cotta of a Greek lady standing in a very graceful
position; No. 324, statuette of a Greek woman, remarkable for
its drapery and the traces of red color on its hair; No. 345
high-crowned head of Venus Aphrodite, with a beautiful expression

35
in her eyes; No. 321, statuette of a child reclining on a couch;
the hair is dressed with
a single curlon the top
of its head, and other
curls falling gracefully
on the shoulders, just as
American children wear
their hair dressed at the
present day.
Case No. 17 con
tains alabaster vases,
fragments of marble
with Phcenician inscrip
tions engraved upon
them, marble tablets
with Greek inscriptions,
bas-reliefs in calcareous
stone, and other votive
offerings. These objects
were chiefly found
among the ruins of the
city of Citium, now re
placed by the modern city of Larnaca.
Room M.
There are some bas-reliefs, inscriptions, &c., in this room.

Xo. 26.

Near the window there is a fragmentary marble slab, with a
bas-relief, which represents the fortified city of Famagousta, in

26

Cyprus, when it was yet in possession of the Republic of Venice.
The flag with the lion of St. Mark is seen displayed on one of
the towers. This monument was sculptured by the Venetians
and sent to Cyprus, and belongs to the thirteenth or fourteenth
century of our era.
The long quadrangular stone is the front part of a sarcopha
gus found in a tomb near Citium, and belongs, probably, to the
late Roman period.
Room F— Second Floor.
This room contains part of the treasures found in the vaults
of the temple at Curium. The date of the destruction of this
temple was probably not far from B. C. 700. The art here illus
trated antedates that period. It includes Phcenician, Graeco-
Phcenician, and Greek work. The engraved gems are of special
importance. See note on page 7.

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