Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
The island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean has yielded hundreds of votive sculptures from the first millennium BCE. A study of these sculptures reveals information about religious worship in the Ancient Near East. In addition, a detailed examination of these collections can actually tell us about trade relations and travel, not only between sites on Cyprus, but between Cyprus and the Levant. Such an examination reveals chronological sequences and even hints about the nature of worship in ancient Near East, including Israel. Subsequent studies have even shown that we are able to discern the hands of individual sculptors.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
“The History of History: Excavations at Idalion and the Changing History of a City-Kingdom” Near
Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 71, Nos. 1-2, March-June 2008;
Encyclopedia Britannica, online edition, 2009.
Regional Styles in Cypriot Limestone Sculpture: The Sculpture from Idalion, Garland Press, 1986.
Cesnola Lecture
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