Cypriot Limestone Sculpture: Symbols of Identity? (20 min)

Presenters

Pamela Gaber, Lycoming College

Abstract

Stylistic analysis of Cypriot limestone sculpture of the Archaic and Classical periods has reached a level of refinement that allows scholars to (1) discern regional variations, (2) discern the origin place of many sculptures, whether found on Cyprus or abroad, and (3) understand a great deal about local worship in sanctuaries all over Cyprus in both urban and rural settings. Many of the results of these analyses go contrary to some of the current trends in scholarship. This is particularly so as regards the current ongoing discussion of the role of rural sanctuaries in the political geography of archaic and classical Cyprus, including the notion that kingdoms “founded rural sanctuaries as political boundary markers.” These prevailing current trends appear to result from an assumption that European nation-states somehow existed in first millennium B.C.E. Cyprus. There is no evidence for such an existence. The notion of firm boundaries comes from that assumption and there is likewise no evidence for firm boundaries. Such assumptions are often picked up in popular media and search sites, and thus students and the public are misinformed.

It is far more likely that rural populations visited whichever sanctuary was convenient for them and continued trading and working with more than one city-kingdom at any given time.