Sculpture in Roman Cyprus

Apollo, July, 2003 by Jane Fejfer

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The characteristic features of urban spaces in Roman Cyprus can be reconstructed by combining evidence predominantly drawn from the three sites of Salamis, Curium and Soli. Soli, whose wealth came from its rich copper mines, was undoubtedly the most important city on the north coast in Roman times. It boasted the only colonnaded street in ancient Cyprus thus far known, a paved agora surrounded by impressive colonnaded porticoes and furnished with a large three-basin nymphaeum, a theatre, an acropolis with temple, private residences, a city wall and a harbour, yet hardly any Roman sculpture--whether of marble, limestone or bronze--is recorded from the city itself. (11) Inscriptions, some of which supported statues of Roman emperors, however, help to fill the gap. Trajan, for example, was honoured not only with a statue (agalma), but also a small sanctuary (naos) in the city centre. (12) On the other hand, an over life-size bronze statue of Septimius Severus found at Kythroi, to the west of Salamis, may suggest how Trajan was represented in that context. (13) Raised on a cylindrical grey marble base, Severus is depicted completely nude (Fig. 1), in a guise no doubt evoking depictions of Hellenistic kings. The heroic nudity of the statue makes it suitable for display in a cultic context, (14) but does not exclude the possibility that it was displayed in a civic setting. The toga, the Roman civic costume par excellence of both emperors and private persons, is absent from Cyprus, and what seems to be the only other mode of representation for Roman emperors was to show them cuirassed, as in the case of a number of (headless) statues from the theatre of Salamis. (15) While Hellenistic rulers and their families were honoured with statues throughout Cyprus, these were primarily set up sanctuaries. The strong presence of ruler portraits in urban centres in Cyprus seems to be a specifically Roman phenomenon. (16)

Although Salamis was replaced by Nea Paphos as the capital of Cyprus under the Ptolemies, and did not formally regain its metropolitan status until 346 AD, when it was refounded as Constantia, it remained one of the important political and industrial cities in the eastern Mediterranean throughout the entire Roman period. The sculptural finds there are primarily from the theatre and the gymnasium (three further gymnasia are known from inscriptions), which were both situated within the city wall. Marble sculptures have survived in large quantities from Salamis (Figs. 5-6). There are various reasons for this: earthquake debris of the early fourth century has protected some of the sculpture from reuse as building material or lime, while other sculptures were in use into Late Antiquity when they were recut and redisplayed in a Christian context before they tumbled over either during the Arab invasions or

in a final earthquake during the seventh century AD. The gymnasium was excavated during the 1960s and 1970s by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, and the exact findspots of sculptures as well as of statue bases have been carefully recorded and published. (17) The gymnasium included a large palaestra surrounded by columns, and the baths in the east wing were fully equipped during the reign of Trajan when the emperor had the roof repaired. Almost all the approximately fifty marble sculptures, including four statues of black marble, were found in the eastern part of the gymnasium, in or close to the baths. Most of these pieces are life-size or slightly over or under, and the sculptural types include several gods and goddesses, among them Apollo, Jupiter, Minerva, Diana, Venus, Bacchus, Nemesis, Asclepius, Hygeia, Hercules (Fig. 6), Meleager (Fig. 5), and Isis (Fig. 4), river gods, water nymphs, a group of a Satyr and hermaphrodite and several male and female statues reflecting classical types, but with separately added heads, which therefore perhaps subsequently served as portrait statues. These sculptures basically seem to date from the later second century, but some of the pieces may date from as early as the first century BC to AD. The gymnasium was hit by a devastating earthquake in the early fourth century AD and was left in ruins for more than a century, after which the baths complex was finally restored. It then served as the bathing facility of the new Christian city, and it seems reasonable to assume that the statues were collected from different parts of the ruined gymnasium and set up to adorn the Christian baths. Many of the sculptural types could be accommodated within a Christian context--Christianity was apparently not hostile towards statuary per se (18)--but some of the naked figures were mutilated, with their genitals and breasts being chiselled off. In all probability, no statues have been found in the exact locations for which they were originally made, but on the other hand there is no reason to suppose they were not part of the decoration of the gymnasium. All the mythological sculptural types present here--not to mention the habit of setting up portraits of both male and female benefactors, as well as emperors--are well-known phenomena from gymnasia in the eastern Mediterranean, showing how important a role this sporting, intellectual and leisure institution still played in civic life in the east at this period. In the theatre, on the other hand, the sculptural decor seems to have been more programmatic. The high back wall of the stage, the scenae frons, was reserved for Apollo with the Muses, and Roman emperors, while local benefactors were honoured with statues around the cavea.