Newsletter Issue 22 - Association for Roman Archaeology

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G0071,ARA Newsletter22 01/11/2009 18:43 Page 14ROMAN CYPRUS:SALAMIS AND OTHER NORTHERN SITESThe History of SalamisLegend states that Salamis wassettled in the eleventh century BC byTeucer, disowned by his father KingTelamon of Salamis in Greece whenhe failed to prevent or avenge thedeath of his brother Ajax at Troy. Thecity might also have been settled bypeople moving from the nearby LateB ronze Age city of Enkomi,relocating after a natural disaster orbecause their port silted up.Salamis was recorded on a stele asone of several kingdoms submittingto the Assyrian King Sargon II in707 BC. Rule over the kingdoms ofC y p rus passed to the Egyptians(c.570 BC), then the Persians (545 BC).Alexander the Great won Cyprusfrom the Persians; after his death,generals Ptolemy and Antigonusbattled for the island. King Nicocreonof Salamis sided with Ptolemy, whoeventually won victory in 294 BC. ThePtolemies made Salamis their capitalin Cyprus; this honour later passed toPaphos. In 58 BC Cyprus became aRoman possession; it later passedback to Cleopatra, but returned toRome after the Battle of Actium(31 BC).The original city made use of anatural harbour to the south of thearchaeological park; this silted up,and the city was rebuilt further to thenorth. Construction work was doneafter an earthquake in the time ofAugustus, and the city was rebuiltafter another quake in AD 76. Aninscription refers to repairs to theroof of one of the cold baths underTrajan. During the Jewish Revolt( AD 116) Salamis was heavilydamaged. A dedication to Hadrian,the ‘benefactor of the Salamniansand Saviour of the World’ was foundwhen the theatre was excavated.The city was hit by an earthquake inAD332; a second quake in AD342was accompanied by a tidal wave.Emperor Constantius II rebuilt thecity on a smaller scale and renamed itConstantia. After a series of Arabraids (from AD647) the city wasgradually abandoned, andFamagusta became the area’s maintown.Salamis Archaeological SiteSalamis, St. Barnabas and severalother sites in north Cyprus providef ree guided tours in English. Irecommend this service; beforevisiting you might want to contactthe North Cyprus Tourism Centre(www.northcyprus.cc, 020 7631 1930)to check when a guide is available.The English-speaking guide forSalamis, Ms Serap Kanay, is friendlyand helpful; the site has anotherguide who gives tours in German.The ticket office sells a few booksand bottled drinks, and can provide aleaflet describing the site. In northCyprus there are currently no sitespecificguide books, as there arefewer tourists than in the south.There’s a decent café by the car parkoutside the site. The site has goodtoilet facilities near the entrance(Fig. 1).The palaestra and baths, the mostimpressive buildings on the site, wereFig. 1. Map of Salamis site. Map: © Nich Hogben.excavated in the 1950s. Dr. VassosK a r a g e o rghis, the lead excavator,studied under Sir Mortimer Wheelerat the University of London. Themajority of Dr. Karageorghis’s labourf o rce were women from localvillages, employed because theycould be paid a lower wage thanmen.The palaestra is a large courtyardsurrounded on all four sides by stoae(Fig. 2). Dr. Karageorghis arrangedfor the Byzantine era pillars to bere-erected around the palaestra – avery striking sight. The east stoa,adjoining the baths, was probablybuilt in the Augustan period. Thenarrower stoae on the other threesides of the palaestra were addedlater. The courtyard was originallyused as a gymnasium and had a sandfloor, but in the Byzantine era opussectile was laid. A statue of Augustusonce stood in the centre.The east stoa’s opus sectile flooringincludes slabs with whole andpartial Latin andGreek inscriptions.Beneath it, earlierpebble flooring isexposed. Karage o rghis excavatedbeneath theflooring at thenorth end of thestoa, and revealedmasonry that hebelieved dates asearly as the fourthc e n t u ry BC. Ateither end of theeast stoa is a roomwith a smallrectangular swimmingpool: theremains of anearlier oval poolare visible in theroom at the northend of the eaststoa. During excavation,statuesw e re discovere din drains underthe east stoa andnearby. Some arenow displayed inthe Cyprus Arc h a e -ological Museum14
G0071,ARA Newsletter22 01/11/2009 18:43 Page 15Fig. 2. The palaestra, looking north-west. Photo: © Nich Hogben. Fig. 5. Caldarium, looking west. Photo: © Nich Hogben.at Nicosia, while a mix of original andreplica statues surround the northpool.Rooms lead off from all sides of thepalaestra; those on the north andwest sides are overgrown. In thesouth-west corner, behind a waterfeature, there is a marvellous semicircularlatrine with seating for 44(Fig. 3). A smaller and more opulentlatrine to the north of the baths isknown as the ‘royal’ or ‘women’s’latrine.From the east stoa, you can enter thebaths through two small squarefrigidaria with octagonal cold pools.Between them is the west hall, arectangular sudatorium. The floor inthe west hall has three levels (most ofthe lower level has collapsed,revealing the hypocaust) and in aniche above the southern entrance isa vivid fresco of Hylas and thenymph, from the A rg o n a u t i c a(Fig. 4).Fig. 4. Hylas and the Nymph fresco. Photo: © Nich Hogben.To the east of the frigidaria and westhall are three large rectangular hallswith apsidal east ends. The north halland south hall are sudatoria; the hallbetween them is a caldarium (Fig. 5).T h e re are mosaic fragments inalcoves in these chambers, protectedwhen they were blocked up in theByzantine period. The best preservedmosaics are in the south hall: oneportrayed Apollo and Artemis killingN i o b e ’s childre n ,the other showsE u rotas and theswan from thestory of Leda.part of a stadium(Karageorghis describedit as axystos, or runningcourse). While thearea is overgrown,other traces of thestadium can befound – I disco v e red whatappears to be thebase of a roundtower.The sub-structureof an oval amphitheatre,built onthe site of the eastend of thestadium, is also visible (Fig. 7). Aninscription found at the theatrestates that Servius Sulpicius PanclesVeranianus, who lived in the Flavianperiod, repaired the amphitheatre,perhaps after the earthquakes ofAD 76.Salamis’s theatre, to the south of theamphitheatre, was probably built inthe Augustan period (Fig. 8). It onceFig. 3. Semi-circular latrine. Photo: © Nich Hogben.To the south ofthe baths are twol a rge c i s t e rn s, oneof them vaulted(Fig. 6). They sit atthe end of anaqueduct whichruns on a ridgef rom the west.The stepped southwall of the largercistern was onceFig. 6. Vaulted cistern, formerly part of the stadium. Photo: © Nich Hogben.15
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Newsletter Issue 22 - Association for Roman Archaeology

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