Terracotta jug in the shape of an African head, Roman Cyprus, 3rd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

Terracotta jug in the shape of an African head, Roman Cyprus, 3rd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The unique geographic location of Cyprus at the crossroads of seafaring trade in the eastern Mediterranean made it an important center for trade and commerce in antiquity. Already in the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2500–1900 B.C.) and Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900–1600 B.C.), Cyprus had established contacts with Minoan Crete and, subsequently, Mycenaean Greece, as well as with the ancient civilizations of the Near East (Syria and Palestine), Egypt, and southern Anatolia. In 570 BCE, Cyprus was conquered by Egypt under Amasis II. This brief period of Egyptian domination left its influence mainly in the arts. Some ceramics recovered on Cyprus feature men wearing Egyptian wigs and Assyrian-style beards. The influence of Egypt would continue during and after the wars of Alexander's successors. The largest city and kingdom of Cyprus, Salamis, strongly supported Ptolemy and Ptolemy sent military support to his allies, providing troops under the command of Seleucus and Menelaus. Ptolemy entered Cyprus with further military forces in 312 BCE, captured and killed the king of Kition and arrested the pro-Antigonid kings of Marion and Lapithos-Kyrenia. He destroyed the city of Marion and annulled most of the former kingdoms of Cyprus. This crucial and decisive intervention by Ptolemy in 312 BCE gave more power to the kings of Solon and Paphos, and particularly to Nicocreon of Salamis. Salamis then extended its authority throughout eastern, central and northern Cyprus. Cyprus came once again under Ptolemaic control in 294 BCE and remained under Ptolemaic rule until 58 BCE, when it became a Roman province.


Image: Terracotta jug in the shape of an African head, Roman, 3rd century CE on view in Gallery 171 at the Met's Fifth Avenue location. Image courtesy of the museum.

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