Besides these objects, were found, also, small glass vessels of a rich purple colour with yellow bands, like those from Cære and other of the oldest cities of Italy, and a coffin, 6 feet 4 inches long, and 2 feet 1 inch wide, made entirely of terra-cotta. There are traces of brown and red paint over the whole of it, and, at one end, lions in red, with floral ornaments, and, at the other, a black bull between two brown lions. Many large terra-cotta plates were also found, with various subjects; such as the combat between Hector and Menelaus over the body of Euphorbus, with the names of the combatants written over them, a drawing of especial interest, from the archaic type of the superinscribed characters: there were, too, a Gorgon’s head, sirens, and other strange animals, and a sphinx and a bull with his horns drawn in perspective. These plates were probably of local manufacture. But, besides these curious antique monuments, the excavations at Camirus brought to light many objects of very fine work, two of which must be mentioned. One, a small gold vessel of exceeding beauty, about an inch in diameter, at one end of which is a seated Eros or Cupid; on the other, Thetis on a dolphin, with the arrows Vulcan had forged for her son Achilles. The other, a magnificent amphora, with figures in red on a black ground, the subject being “the surprise of Thetis by Peleus”; in fact, the same as that on one side of the Portland vase; thus confirming, in a most unexpected manner, the interpretation originally proposed many years ago by Mr. Millingen. This vase is of the time of Alexander the Great, and few, if any vases have as yet been found in the Archipelago exhibiting such free and masterly drawing as this one from Camirus.
The island of Cyprus, which lay off the southern coast of Asia Minor, was one of the most celebrated of those generally called the Greek Islands, though it had, probably, less claim to this designation, and was more Oriental than any of the others. It was, as was natural from its position, early settled by the Phœnicians, Herodotus speaking of the inhabitants as a very mixed race. It is not possible to determine which of several of its towns was the most ancient; but, in the early Jewish Scriptures, we read of “ships of Chittim,” probably those of Citium, one of its chief towns. In later days, Paphos, itself of remote antiquity, became the capital of the island, and the residence, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, of the Roman proconsul. As the centre of the worship of Venus, which is noticed so early as Homer, as well as by many later writers, Paphos was greatly visited by strangers, among whom Tacitus mentions, particularly, the Emperor Titus, when on his way to besiege Jerusalem (Hist. ii. 3-4). Her symbol, or idol, was a purely Asiatic type, and consisted merely of an upright, conical, and unsculptured stone. The history of the island was a very chequered one, and there were but comparatively short intervals of time when it was really under its own native rulers; more frequently it was held by one or other of the continental empires near it which happened for the time to be the most powerful. Thus it was, usually, in the hands of the Persians, till the overthrow of that power by Alexander, when it was secured by the Ptolemies, in whose diadem it was the most precious jewel. In the end it was, of course, seized by the Romans, becoming first an Imperial province, and then, by the arrangement of Augustus, directly under the Senate. In later times, it was the seat of a bishopric, one of the most famous of the bishops of Paphos being the celebrated Epiphanius. During the Crusades, Richard Cœur de Lion captured the island and gave it to Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, whence the title of kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, adopted, till recent times, by some of the monarchs of Western Europe.
In recent times, the Island of Cyprus has proved one of the most abundant sources of precious remains of antiquity, excavated chiefly by Mr. R. H. Lang and General Palma di Cesnola. The former gentleman has published in the Numismatic Chronicle (vol. xi. New Series, 1870), an account of the silver coins, many of native Cypriote manufacture, he lighted on while digging out an ancient temple at Dali (Idalium), in 1869. The coins were found at two several times, and, from the way in which some of them adhered together, had probably been enclosed in a bag, though no traces of it were detected. Mr. Lang believed he could trace from them the existence of the six or seven distinct kingdoms, which we know, from other sources, once existed in this island. The earliest of these coins are, perhaps, as old as the middle of the sixth century B.C.
The most important results of Mr. Lang’s excavations in this temple are now in the British Museum, and have been described by him in a paper read before the Royal Society of Literature (see Transactions, New Series, vol. xi. pt. i. 1875). In this memoir, which has been supplemented with some careful observations by Mr. R. S. Poole, Mr. Lang has given many interesting details of his excavations. His first diggings were in 1868, when his men soon “came upon (as it were) a mine of statues,” several of them being of colossal proportions, and on two large troughs, in an outer court, perhaps once employed for the ablutions connected with the temple, which was completely “full of the heads of small statues, which, after being broken from their bodies, had been pitched pell-mell into the troughs.” Near these troughs were three rows of statues; some, too, of the chambers excavated were also full of statuary—and in a stratum of charcoal were comminuted fragments of the bones and teeth of several animals; as of bullocks, sheep, camels, and swine. We can only add, here, that the treatment of the beard on some of the heads is remarkably Assyrian; which, indeed, might reasonably have been expected, as the island was long subject to that empire,—and, that, besides coins and sculptures, Mr. Lang procured, also, several Phœnician inscriptions, not, however, of very early date, their characters being nearly identical with those on the well-known inscription in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, together with one bilingual inscription in Cypriote and Phœnician writing. The last has proved of great value, in that it enabled the late Dr. Brandis and Mr. G. Smith to settle many important points in connection with the Cyprian alphabet.
Nearly about the same time as Mr. Lang, General di Cesnola, the American consul in Cyprus, was commencing a series of excavations, the latest results of which have, in some respects, far surpassed anything Mr. Lang achieved. M. Cesnola began digging, we believe, first about 1867; but his first important discoveries were in the spring of 1870, when he found at Golgos the remains of two temples of Venus, nearly on the spot where, some time before, the Count de Vogüé had been less fortunate. It was here that M. di Cesnola formed his first collection, now for the most part in the museum of New York. As in the case of Mr. Lang, the statues had all been thrown down and grievously defaced by “iconoclastic” hands. Among them, however, were many which had been simply hurled from their pedestals, and were, therefore, nearly as fresh as when first made. One great interest in the collection is, that it is almost wholly the product of local artists. Naturally there was in it a large number of statuettes of Venus, of vases, of lamps, and of objects in glass; the latter, we believe, chiefly from Idalium. It is said that altogether there were nearly 10,000 objects, and that New York secured them for about £1 apiece. We cannot discuss here the question, much mooted at the time, whether or not the collection ought to have been bought by the English Government; but, had it been, we do not know where it could have been adequately exhibited. The British Museum seems to be as full as ever; nor is there any apparent hope of the removal of the hideous black sheds between the columns in the front of it, which have now, for these twenty years, defaced any architectural beauty it may be supposed to have.
But by far the most remarkable of General di Cesnola’s discoveries are his most recent ones, the great results of which are now, we believe, on their way to New York, the American Government having had the good sense to supply him with ample means for continuing his researches in the best manner. These last, commenced in 1873, have been prosecuted at various ancient sites, such as those of Golgos, Salamis, Palæo-Paphos, Soli, and Amathus; Curium having ultimately proved the most valuable mine of antiquities. Besides two superb sarcophagi he had previously secured, M. Cesnola found at Curium a mosaic pavement, in style, as he calls it, Assyrio-Egyptian, which had already been partly dug through by some former excavator, and beneath this, at a depth of twenty feet, a subterranean passage in the rock leading into three chambers, communicating the one with the other. In the first of these he came upon a great number of small ornaments, rings, &c., in pure gold; in the second, on a considerable collection of gilt vases, cups, &c.; and in the third, on innumerable miscellaneous objects, comprising vases of alabaster, candelabra, metal mirrors, daggers, armlets, small statues of animals, &c. The most valuable individual specimens would seem to be a crystal vase and a pair of armillæ in gold, bearing a double Cypriote inscription. What then is the history of this precious trouvaille? We venture to think that General di Cesnola’s idea on the subject is probably the true one,—that it represents the offerings in a temple now destroyed, and hurriedly packed away, possibly when it was attacked by iconoclasts. Some of the bijoux are inscribed with the names of the owners, and probably donors. Like the relics from Cameirus, these Cypriote monuments are of great antiquarian value, as proving the transition from Eastern to Greek art.
[For further details, see Atti d. Real. Acad. d. Scien. di Torino, vol. x.; and Ceccaldi, Le ultime Scoperte nell’ isola di Cipro, 1876.]
CHAPTER V.
ST. PAUL.
During previous parts of this work we have, from time to time, alluded to the presence of St. Paul at various places we have described; the interest, however, every one feels in the great Apostle of the Gentiles induces us to throw together in one chapter a brief summary of his journeys in Asia Minor; the more so, that to a Christian, studying the history of this portion of Western Asia, St. Paul stands out alone—“none but himself can be his parallel.”