Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Ship model fragment

Cat. No.

C50

Date

Cypro-Archaic

Findspot

Amathus, Site E, tomb 95

Dimensions

1\) L: 14.3 cm; H (from keel to stem top): 9 cm; 2) L: 11 cm; H (from keel to stem top): 10 cm

Medium

terracotta boat model, fragmentary with two non-joining fragments. Grey clay, no decoration.

Accession Number

British Museum 1894,1101.290; 1894,11-1.291

References

Basch 1987: 253, 255, no. 543 a, b; Dolan 2023: 396-401, nos. 33-34; Göttlicher 1977: 37, no. 169, 171, pl. 12; Hermary 1996: 16-17; Karageorghis 1996: 74, no. (VI):12, pl. XLII: 3; Walters 1903: 36, A 212, A 213; Westerberg 1983: nos. 42-43, figs. 42, 43

Non-joining fragments of the bow and stern. Flat hull, massive square bow with a concave stempost integrating a pointed ram. The stempost becomes straight and inclines forward above the gunwale, ending in a forked tip. The sternpost rises near vertically and ends in an incurving forked device. At both bow and stern there is a thwart placed on top of the gunwale that protrudes slightly outside the hull on either side.

Tomb 95 is a small, roughly hewn cave that opens into a shaft. Finds include a small gold earring with a globular pendant, an iron strigil, 2 bronze coins, many fragments of black glazed ware and a saucer, a plain red glazed ware Kantharos with roughly painted flowers, a small standing female figurine, a bearded mask with holes for suspension, a small limestone pedestal, a cone (thyrsus?), a recumbent figure on a couch, fragments of variegated amphorae, an alabaster amphora, sard beads.

Basch, L. 1987. Le musée imaginaire de la marine antique. Athens: Institut Hellénique pour la preservation de la tradition nautique.

Dolan, M. 2023. Ceci n'est pas un bateau: Reassessing terracotta boat models in Late Bronze and Iron Age Cyprus. University of Southhampton. Unpublished DPhil Thesis.

Göttlicher, A. 1978. Materialien für ein Korpus der Schiffsmodelle im Altertum. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

Hermary, A. 1996. "Figurines en terre cuite des fouilles Anglaises d’Amathonte 1893-4," Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes 26: 13-22.

Karageorghis, V. 1996. The coroplastic Art of ancient Cyprus. VI. Monsters, Animals and Miscellanea. Nicosia: A.G. Leventis Foundation.

Walters, H.B. 1903. Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum. London: Order of the Trustees.

Westerberg, K. 1983. Cypriote Ships from the Bronze Age to c. 500 B.C. (SIMA, Pocket-books, 22). Göteborg: P. Åströms förlag.

  • 3D Model View

  • top view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen
  • port view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen
  • starboard view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen
  • bottom view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen
  • bow view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen
  • bow inside view

    copyright icon © The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova Click for fullscreen