HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
 
uses Google technology and indexes only and selectively internet - libraries having books with free public access
SALAMIS

SALAMIS IN THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS.
BY ALEXANDER PALMA DI CESNOLÀ, F.S.A.,
page 71

36. This is a very interesting intaglio. It represents a huntsman throwing his spear at a gazelle which is attacked in front by a dog. On one side of the huntsman is a hand, on the other a symbol, which may represent a musical instrument, but is rather, I think, a man's arm with three reeds in the clenched hand. The symbols on either side of the head of the huntsman seem to be Hittite characters.It must be noticed that the huntsman is represented as wearing boots with turned-up ends, already shown to be a characteristic feature of Hittite art. [S.] 5-8ths inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiii, fig. 28.)
37. A cylinder of rude work. Two full-length figures, one holding a gazelle, the other a goat. The crescent enclosing a star here is, perhaps, an incomplete disk of the sun Θ. 15-16ths inch long. Hœmatite. (See Plate xiii, fig. 29.) With the central figure compare the figures on the ring published in Dr. Schliemann's Mycenae, No. 530.
38. Two full-length figures, gazelle, snake, dog, and other emblems of undetermined value (see No. 29). 7-8ths inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiii, fig. 30.)
39. Two full-length human figures, a gazelle, and the combination of an unknown character between two dotted circles , occurring twice. Rude work. 1 inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiii, fig. 31.)
40. Seated figure, gazelle, full-length figure, two dogs, and a rudely-cut paddle-shaped object or sam (see Nos. 28, 29). 7-8ths inch long. Steatite.
41. Human figures, gazelles, solar disks Θ, palm branch, and other emblems. 7-8ths inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiii, fig. 32.)
42. A full-length human figure; a tree with a gazelle or goat on each side leaping up to the branches. Rude work. 1 inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiv, fig. 33.)
43. A cylinder bearing an ornamental frieze or band, below which are two double disks, alternating with a cross and two bars. I l-8th inch long. Hcematite. (See Plate xiv, fig. 34.) Perhaps intended to ward off the evil eye.
44. This cylinder is of a very interesting character. It is noticeable for the symbols upon it, among which the ox-head,accompanied by the circle of the sun Ο and the head of a goat or horse,like that on the bi-lingualHittite "Boss of Tarkondemos",1 (fig. 133), as well as the.crescent moon, and a hare. A. fracture

1 Figured in Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vii, p. 298; and the woodcut kindly lent to me for this work by the Society.

of the stone makes it uncertain whether the head of the goat or horse is not the first character of a Hittite inscription which 'gives the name of the accompanying figure. At all events it is followed by another symbol now obliterated, but which looks like a lizard, and then by the crescent which I believe to have been the determinative affix of male persons in the Hittite system of writing (see No. 48). The goat's head was pronounced Tarku. [S.] 3-4ths inch long. Steatite. (See Plate xiv, fig. 35.)
45. This (fig. 134) is an imitation of an archaic Babylonian cylinder, the cuneiform characters being replaced by an ornamental design in form of two triangles united at the apices, with a line between them, four times repeated. This symbol may have been assimilated to the Egyptian crux ansata on the one side and the Phœnician symbol of Baal and Ashtoreth on the other. Ox-head, with a star between the horns, as on gold objects from Mykense, and an animal below. [S.] 3-4ths inch long.
46. A cylinder of coarse work (fig. 135), bearing two priests, ox-head, and other emblems, one of which resembles a flagellimi. 7-8ths inch long.
47. Ox-head between two full length human figures, one holding a sacrificial patera; gazelles, disk O, and other emblems. 3-4ths inch long. Light green steatite. (See Plate xiv, fig. 36.)

Back to Topic