Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Ship model

Cat. No.

C31

Date

Cypro-Archaic

Findspot

Amathus, Site E, tomb 83

Dimensions

L: 13 cm; H (amidships): 3.5; beam (amidships): 4.5 cm

Medium

terracotta boat model in bichrome ware, smooth red-orange clay, decorated with red/purple and black paint

Accession Number

British Museum 1894,1101.186

References

Basch 1987: 255, no. 544b; Dolan 2023: 384-386, no. 28; Göttlicher 1977: 38, no. 174, pl. 13; Gray 1974: G. 31,3. e); Hermary 1996: 16-17, Pl. III.3 (bottom left); Karageorghis 1996: 75, no. 18, pl. XLII: 8; Murray et al 1900: 119, 112, fig. 164, 20; Walters 1903: 36, A 209; Westerberg 1983: 33, no. 36, fig. 36

Crescentic hull with a rounded bottom and vertical, near symmetrical posts ending in a flat, undecorated extremity. The posts project above the gunwale by 2 and 2.5 cm respectively, with one of them curving inwards slightly while the other one is completely vertical. The outside of the hull is decorated on either side with two horizontal parallel bands (1 cm wide) - the upper one red, the lower one black. There are additional traces of a black band along the gunwale. The stems are decorated similarly to the hull with slightly thinner horizontal parallel bands in red and black

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 Unpublished DPhil Thesis.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.

Gray, D. 1974, Seewesen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.

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.

Murray, A. S., Smith, A. H. and Walters, H. B. 1900. Excavations in Cyprus: (bequest of Miss E. T. Turner to the British Museum). London: Trustees of the British Museum.

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

  • port view

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  • starboard view

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

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