Enkomi (archaeological site)

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Enkomi ( Greek Έγκωμη ) is a Bronze Age archaeological site in eastern Cyprus , which was named after the place Enkomi .

Surname

Because of its size and therefore assumed importance, the city was identified by older research with the Alašija mentioned in Egyptian and Middle Eastern sources ; today all of Cyprus is equated with Alašija.

location

Enkomi is located in eastern Cyprus, about 7 km north of Famagusta , in the fertile Mesaoria plain. In ancient times it was connected to the sea by the now silted up river Pedhieos (Kanlidere).

history

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Plan of the town of Enkomi, location of the excavation cuts

At the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus, there was a general population shift from the interior to the coasts. For example, from the Middle Bronze Age settlement of Kalopsidha to Enkomi 15 km away and Kition to the south . This shift is assumed to be a transition to the Late Bronze Age Cyprus .

The earliest finds in Enkomi date from the 17th century BC. Since about 1600 BC The city was an important trading center for the export of copper . The early phase shows strong Egyptian influence. Edgar J. Peltenburg assumes that Enkomi was the capital of all of Cyprus at that time, while Keswani and RS Merrilees assume that the political structure was much more fragmented. From the 13th century BC BC (Phase LC IIB) numerous other trading centers arose on the south coast.

The very early import of Mycenaean ceramics took off in the 14th century BC. Chr. Strong too. The beginning of local production of Mycenaean pottery in Enkomi can be traced back to the last quarter of the 13th century, which is why it is assumed that Mycenaean Greeks settled in Enkomi and that imports were replaced by local production. The oldest and largest of the so-called Ashlar Buildings (House 18), buildings made of evenly prepared stone blocks, dates from this time. Around 1200 BC A large fire event can be detected in Enkomi through a fire layer (transition from layer II B (phase LC IIB) to layer III A (phase LC IIIA)). House 18 was destroyed by this fire. After that, house 18 will be repaired again, further Ashlar Buildings will be built (sanctuary of the god with the horns, sanctuary of the bar god ...) and the road network will get its grid appearance with the north-south facing main street and the secondary streets going out at right angles.

Around 1050 BC After an earthquake, Enkomi was abandoned in favor of nearby Salamis , which was located directly on the coast . The silting up of the harbor will also have played a role.

construction

The city had been around since about 1200 BC. Surrounded by a wall. The foundation consisted of large stones ( Cyclopean masonry ), on top of which stood the actual mud brick wall. A similar construction can be found in Palaiokastro in western Cyprus. The right-angled streets are oriented towards the city gates. A sophisticated sewer system should be emphasized on municipal systems .

An excavated forge was able to prove copper processing on site. Here, too, there are parallels to Kition, where copper processing was incorporated into a temple district.

The houses consisted of several rooms around a central courtyard. Below the houses, burial chambers were carved into the limestone, in which the dead were buried with rich gifts. There were also tholoi made of adobe bricks.

In the Late Bronze Age, which was shaped by the Mycenaean influence in ceramics, several elaborate buildings were built from stone blocks, which may be warehouses. Similar buildings are known from Maa and Kition. The buildings are larger overall. Palace-like structures indicate increasing social differentiation.

Research history

Since 1896, the British Museum, under the direction of AS Murray, carried out excavations in Enkomi. Among other things, burials were uncovered, the excavators believed the findings to be a burial ground, as they had not recognized the houses above. Most of the additions date from the 18th dynasty , i.e. the late 14th and 13th centuries. Between 1927 and 1931, in the course of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, among other sites, Enkomi was dug again. Again only graves were uncovered in this campaign. Only Claude FA Schaeffer , who had previously worked in Ugarit and examined Enkomi in 1934, discovered the houses and city walls. In 1946 he continued these investigations, from 1948 and until 1958 together with Dikaios Porphyrios .

After the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974, no further excavations were carried out in Enkomi under pressure from the authorities in the south. Foreign archaeological institutes were threatened with losing all excavation licenses on the island and in Greece if they continued their investigations in occupied territories. Only the results could be processed further. In 2005, the government of the Republic of Cyprus maintained this stance.

Finds

  • "God with the Horns", 12th century BC BC, place of discovery Enkomi, sanctuary of the "God with the horns", Cyprus Museum Nicosia

  • "Barren-Gott", 12th century BC BC, place of discovery Enkomi, sanctuary of the "bar god", Cyprus Museum Nicosia

Plate made in Egypt, from grave 66 in Enkomi
  • The bronze statue of the so-called "God with the Horns" from the Late Bronze Age (1200–1150 BC) is famous. He wears a short apron and a horned helmet. The depiction shows strong Syrian influence and is reminiscent of the local "striding god", who is usually interpreted as the weather god . Other researchers emphasize the Aegean features and see him as the Arcadian " Apollo Kereatas", the god of cattle breeding, or "Apollon Alasiotas".
  • The bearded bar god (Late Bronze Age, 1200–1100 BC) made of bronze stands on an ox-skin-shaped copper bar ( ox- skin bar ). He wears a conical cap with two short horns, greaves, a spear and a shield in his hands and is sometimes addressed as a god of war.
  • A nude female bronze figure on a bar, but without a place of discovery, is also known, the so-called Astarte .
  • A silver bowl with inlays made of gold and niello , which comes from a grave (2/7), shows bulls' heads in the upper frieze with two lotus blossoms in between and in the lower frieze rosettes which are framed by a semicircular band. It closely resembles a piece from Dendra in Greece, some researchers suggest that the same craftsman could have made it. It was built in the 14th century BC. Dated.
  • Simple hemispherical gold bowls.
  • Ornate gold sheets that are interpreted as a breast trim or headdress.
  • Earrings in the shape of bulls' heads ( Bucrania )
  • Numerous clay tablets in the Cypriot syllabary as well as stylus .
  • Faience vessels based on the Egyptian model, some decorated with lotus flowers.

The finds are in the British Museum, the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and the St. Barnabas Museum of Icons and Archeology between Salamis and Enkomi.

  • Fragments of a red polished lid pyxis from Enkomi, around 4000 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • Red polished bowl with figural decorations from Enkomi, 2300–2075 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • Red polished ceramics from Enkomi, 2300–2075 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • Red and black polished ceramics from Enkomi, 2300–1900 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • Red polished ceramic from Enkomi, 1900–1725 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • White painted pottery from Enkomi, 1900–1625 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • White painted pottery from Enkomi, 1900–1625 BC BC, Archaeological Museum St. Barnabas / Salamis (Northern Cyprus)

  • Amphora 850–750 BC Chr.

  • Amphora 750-600 BC Chr.

  • 750-650 BC Chr.

literature

  • Paul Åström : The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. The Late Cypriot Bronze Age - Architecture and Pottery. Vol. IV Part 1 C. Lund 1972.
  • Lena Åström, Paul Åström: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. The Late Cypriot Bronze Age - Other Arts and Crafts + Relative and Absolute Chronology, Foreign Relations, Historical Conclusions. Vol. IV Part 1 D. Lund 1972.
  • Hans-Günter Buchholz : Aegean Bronze Age. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1987 ( online ).
  • Jacques-Claude Courtois: Enkomi and Ras Shamra, two outposts of Mycenaean culture . In: Hans-Günter Buchholz (Ed.): Aegean Bronze Age . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1987, ISBN 3-534-07028-3 , pp. 182-217.
  • Jacques-Claude Courtois: Alasia II. Paris 1981.
  • Jacques-Claude Courtois: Alasia III. Les objets. Paris 1984.
  • Porphyrios Dikaios: Enkomi - Excavations 1948-1958. Vol. I-III. Zabern, Mainz 1969–71.
  • Einar Gjerstad , John Lindros, Erik Sjöqvist , Alfred Westholm: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927 - 1931. Vol. I + Plates. Stockholm 1934.
  • Vassos Karageorghis : Early Cyprus - Crossroads of the Mediterranean. Milan 2002.
  • Daisy-Kate Knox: Script in Context: The Cypro-Minoan and its place in Late Bronze Age Cypriot Society. In: Giorgos Papantoniou (ed.): Post Cypriot Archeology. Proceedings of the fifth Annual Meeting of Young Researchers on Cypriot Archeology, Department of Classics, Trinity College, Dublin, October 21-22, 2005. Oxford 2008, pp. 3-12.
  • Katja Lembke (ed.): Cyprus - island of Aphrodite. Catalog for the special exhibition in the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim. Zabern, Mainz 2010.
  • Hartmut Matthäus : A cosmopolitan high culture. Cyprus from 1600 - 1100 BC Chr .. In Sabine Rogge (ed.): Cyprus - Island in the focal point of cultures. Waxmann, Münster / New York / Munich / Berlin 2000, pp. 91–126.
  • Hartmut Matthäus: Cultural exchange, trade and seafaring in the Mediterranean area during the Late Bronze Age. In: Ünsal Yalcin, Cemal Pulak, Rainer Slotta (eds.): The Uluburun ship - world trade 3000 years ago. Exhibition catalog. Bochum 2005, pp. 333-366.
  • Penelope A. Mountjoy , Rebecca Gowland: The End of the Bronze Age at Enkomi, Cyprus: The Problem of Level III B. In: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 100, Centennial Volume. 2005, pp. 125-214.
  • AS Murray: Excavations at Enkomi . In: AS Murray, AH Smith, HB Walters (Eds.): Excavations in Cyprus . British Museum, London 1900.
  • Reinhard Dittmann : The importance of Cyprus from the perspective of Near Eastern archeology . In: Sabine Rogge (Ed.): Cyprus. Island in the focus of cultures . Waxmann, Münster / New York / Munich / Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89325-878-7 , pp. 13-62.
  • Edgar J. Peltenburg: From isolation to state formation in Cyprus: approx. 3500-1500 BC . In: Vassos Karageorghis, D. Michalides (Ed.): The development of the Cypriot economy from the prehistoric period to the present day . Nicosia 1999, pp. 17-43.
  • Claude FA Schaeffer: Nouvelles découvertes à Enkomi (Chypre) . Comptes rendus, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres Paris, 1949.
  • Claude FA Schaeffer: Enkomi-Alasia I . Paris 1952.
  • Claude FA Schaeffer (Ed.): Alasia I. Paris 1971.
  • Ernst Sittig : To decipher the Minoan-Cypriot tablet by Enkomi . In: Minos: Revista de filología egea . No. 4 . Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1956, ISSN  0544-3733 , p. 33-42 ( online [accessed February 14, 2014]).

Web links

Commons : Enkomi  - Collection of Images

Remarks

  1. ↑ Dittmann 2000, p. 4.1
  2. ↑ Peltenburg 1999, pp. 17-43.
  3. ^ Stefan Talmon : Collective non-recognition of illegal states. Basics and legal consequences of an internationally coordinated sanction, illustrated using the example of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (= Jus publicum. Volume 154). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, p. 725 f. especially with note 361 ( Google Books , limited preview).

Coordinates: 35 ° 9 ′ 56.7 ″  N , 33 ° 52 ′ 12.6 ″  E