Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Galley with shields

Cat. No.

C48

Date

Cypro-Archaic

Findspot

Amathus,tomb 429, no. 5

Dimensions

C 47) L: 23 cm

Medium

terracotta boat model

Accession Number

Limassol district Museum

References

Dolan 2023: 416-418, no. 40; Karageorghis 1986: 834, 836, fig. 41; 1996: 74, no.V(a):13, PL. XLII: 4

Long slender flat hull with a flat gunwale. Concave stempost with a pronounced inward slant integrating a prominent ram. The stem is broken off above gunwale level. High incurving sternpost that rises near vertically, then curves sharply inward parallel to the hull. On either side of the gunwale, at the bow and stern are disc-shaped pairs of shields. Half of the shields protrudes above the gunwale. On the starboard side at the stern, there is a moulded quarter rudder. There are no traces of painted decoration. The tomb has also provided a terracotta figurine of a nude female holding her breasts, of the Astarte type.

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 Unpublished DPhil Thesis.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. 1986. “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1985,” BCH 110.2: 823-880.

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

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