Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Ship model

Cat. No.

C46

Date

Cypro-Archaic

Findspot

Amathus, South West necropolis, tomb 210, no. 22

Dimensions

L: 9.2 cm; W (max): 5.8 cm; stem H: 4.4 cm; hull H: 2.8 cm; thwart L: 2.9 cm

Medium

Fragmentary terracotta boat model with bichrome black and red painted decoration

Accession Number

Limassol district museum AM T 210/22-2

References

Dolan 2023: 390-391, no. 30; Karageorghis 1987a: 12, 29, no. 138, pl. XXVII; 1996: 74, fig. 59; Tytgat 1989: 138, no. 22.1

Fragmentary model with a flat hull, flat gunwale, and a vertical stempost. Directly behind the stempost there is a transverse beam placed on top of the gunwale that protrudes slightly outside the hull on either side. There are horizontal bands on either side of the hull below the gunwale in black and red paint. Karageorghis claims that the model has a ram (?).

Tomb 210 was pillaged and reused multiple times. It is dated to the Cypro-Archaic, with later Hellenistic and Roman reuse. The chamber is oriented NO/SE, with a trapezoidal pit carved longitudinally in the center of the chamber. The stomion opens on the left side. The leftover material was found dispersed in the East zone of the chamber and the pit.

The boat model comes from the east zone. In addition to pottery, there were five figurines (two horse riders, two wheels, and the ship),two silver earrings, a faience bead, two bronze mirrors, a bronze ring, and an iron strigil.

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 Unpublished DPhil Thesis.

Karageorghis, V. 1987a. “The terracottas,” in V. Karageorghis, O. Picard and C. Tytgat (eds.) La nécropole d’Amathonte: tombes 113-367. Vol III. Nicosia: Service des antiquités de Chypre, pp. 1-52.

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

Tytgat, C. 1989. "Les Tombes 110-385,” In: V. Karageorghis, O. Picard and C. Tytgat (eds.) La nécropole d’Amathonte: tombes 113-367. Vol I. Nicosia: A.G. Leventis Foundation.

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