Low, slightly crescentic hull with a more or less flat gunwale and a vertical stempost whose extremity is missing. The remaining stempost rises 1 cm above the gunwale. The bow has a large almond shaped "eye" with a pupil and eyebrow painted in black on either side. The sternpost rises gradually, ending in an incurving curl or hook. A black line c. 0.2 cm thick marks the waterline. Between it and the gunwale on either side of the hull are a series of parallel oblique lines (10 on one side, 11 on the other) alternating between black and red paint. It is tempting to interpret these as oars, but this decoration continues up the stern and also on the stempost above the eye. There are no interior fittings. Tomb 88 was a square cave 9 x 9 feet and 10 feet below surface, with several bodies lying around three sides. It was equipped with a rich burial assemblage.
Galley
C40
Cypro-Archaic
Amathus, Site E, tomb 88
L: 15.8 cm; H (amidships): 3 cm; beam (amidships): 3.7 cm
terracotta boat model, orange-buff clay with painted bichrome decoration
Basch 1987: 251, no. 527; Dolan 2023: 410-412, no. 38; Göttlicher 1977: 37, no. 168, pl. 12; Gray 1974: G. 31.3.g; Hermary 1996: 16-17, Pl. III.2 (top right); Karageorghis 1996: 73, no. V(a): 6, pl. XLI:5; Murray et al 1900: 120, tomb 88, 114, no. 6, fig. 165; Walters 1903: A 207; Westerberg 1983: 35-36, no. 39, fig. 39
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 Unpublished DPhil Thesis.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.
port view
© The Trustees of the British Museum
starboard view
© The Trustees of the British Museum
top view
© The Trustees of the British Museum
bottom view
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova
bow view
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova
stern view
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph by T. Manolova
