Cyprus and the balance of empires
Subtitle: art and archaeology from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion
By: edited by Charles Anthony Stewart, Thomas W. Davis, and Annemarie Weyl Carr ; organized by the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute
Series: Archeological reports / American Schools of Oriental Research -- number 20; CAARI monograph series -- 5
Publisher: American Schools of Oriental Research; American Society of Overseas Research
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Boston, MA
Language: eng; fre
Number of pages: 268
ISBN-13: 9780897570732
Subjects: Antiquities; Civilization; Cypriot Art; History; Architecture; Material culture; Relations; Religious life and customs
Description: "Between 491 and 1191 AD, Cyprus was influenced by various political and cultural centers that vied for dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean. This collection of essays primarily focuses on the island's archaeology when it was governed by the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Greek and Orthodox Christian identity was cultivated during this period, which provided a sense of unity among the various provinces; and yet, the surviving historical and archaeological data concerning Cyprus is unique in that it expresses both local and regional characteristics. By investigating the various threads, whether textual, numismatic, architectural, or artistic, narrative has emerged that challenges our past assumptions.

The themes covered in this volume developed from a conference held in Nicosia, organized by the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute [CAARI] celebrating the 50th year anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus. An international group of experts explored several themes such as: the impact of recent archaeological discoveries; the shift from studying Late Antique urbanism to rural development; indicators of Cypriot identity; shifts in population settlement, production, and trade; cultural interaction between Islam and Christianity; the significance of ceramic and numismatic evidence; monumental figural arts and their iconographical interpretation. The resulting chapters provide new and previously unpublished data, and should be considered a major contribution to Late Antique and Medieval studies."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-256) and index.
Table of contents: title: The significance of the Basilica at Agioi Pente of Yeroskipou (Demetrios Michaelides); title: A brief history of Byzantine archaeological research on Cyprus (Thomas W. Davis & Charles Anthony Stewart); title: Christianity in Cyprus in the fourth to seventh centuries (Claudia Rapp); title: The Troodos in twilight : a provincial landscape in the time of Justinians (Marcus Rautman); title: The north-south divide in Byzantine Cyprus : some evidence from lead seals and coins (D.M. metcalf); title: The Katalymata ton Plakoton : new light from the recent archaeological research in Byzantine Cyprus (Eleni Procopiou); title: Chypre et les Arabes avant les Croisades à la lumière des sources Arabes (M. Tahar Mansouri); English abstract; title: The development of Byzantine architecture on Cyprus (Charles Anthony Stewart); title: Cypriot icons before the twelfth century (Sophocles Sophocleous); title: The stuff of life : the material culture of everyday living on Middle Byzantine Cyprus (11th-12th centuries) (Maria Parani); title: Appendix: Compositional analysis of a copper-alloy dish of the Middle Byzantine period in the A. Pitsillides Collection (Vasiliki Kassianidou); title: The program of the Panagia Pergaminiotissa : a narrative in perspective (Annemarie Weyl Carr); title: Decoding Cyprus from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance : discordant visions, saints, and sacred topography (Tassos Papacostas); title: Index of historic persons and places; title: Index of subjects, monuments, events, and topical.