The rich burial assemblages ('Royal Tombs') excavated in a cemetery to the west of the ancient burial city of Salamis on the eastern coast of Cyprus have attracted widespread notice. Standard interpretations of these Iron Age burials characterize them simple as ostentatious displays by a few petty kings of Salamis with a mixture of Near Eastern and 'Homeric' styles and formats. The focus of this article is a re-examination of these burial assemblages in light of the major political, social and economic changes that occurred in Cypriote society in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. These changes were stimulated and influenced by the Phoneticians and in a lesser, indirect fashion by the Assyrians. The central thesis argued here is that the assemblages should be viewed as conscious, symbolic statements of political, social and economic power by the first rulers of the kingdom of Salamis. The ideological messages contained in various components of the burials were intended to impress upon members of the highest stratum of Salaminium society the legitimacy of the new kings' power and authority in a cost-effective fashion. When this manipulation of the power base was no longer required to consolidate and manipulate the kings' position, this particular medium of ritual communication ceased to be used in Cyprus.
Pausanias (ii.25.10), who traveled extensively in Greece in the 2nd century A.C., mentioned the existence of two altars of Zeus and Hera on Mount Arachnaion above the village of Lessa in the A rgeia of the Greek Peloponessos. Two travellers in the early 19th century climbed to the saddle between the two peaks of the mountain and saw there a quadrangular enclosure wall ofpolygonal masonry on a low hill which they assumed to be the site of these altars. Since then this identification has been accepted by most scholars, including J. G.
Frazer. Since most a/tars of Zeus are found on or near the top of the mountains, I climbed the mountain to check this attribution.A section of a crude polygonal retaining wall exists on the hill but no traces of the altars were found. Obsidian bladelets and sherds found on the surface suggest that the wall might mark the location of a farmstead or small settlement dating as early as the Bronze Age. On the summit of the western peak of the mountain two low foundations of rubble masonry and three concentrations of sherds and burnt animal bone fragments in a blackish-brown soil matrix were discovered. One of the foundations must represent the ruins of the chapel of H agios Elias known once to have stood on the summit. The sherd concentrations, which date from the mid-8th century B.C. through at least the 6th century B.C., must represent remains associated with the altars of Zeus and Hera.
The archaeological fieldwork conducted in Greece in 2010 under of aegis of the Canadian Institute in Greece is summarized on the basis of a presentation given by the director at the institute’s annual Open Meeting in Athens, in May 2011. These research activities included excavations (Argilos and Kastro Kallithea), a pedestrian survey (Karpathos), and study seasons (Eastern Boeotia and Southern Euboea).
Les travaux archéologiques menés en Grèce en 2010 sous l’égide de l’Institut canadien en Grèce sont passés en revue dans le cadre d’une présentation donnée par le directeur lors de l’Assemblée publique annuelle, tenue à Athènes en mai 2011. Ces recherches comptaient des fouilles (Argilos et Kastro Kallithéa), une prospection (Karpathos) et des campagnes d’étude (Boétie orientale et Eubée sud).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.