This book compiles the proceedings of a conference held in Berlin in 2018, which aimed to refine the understanding of the characteristics of the territory of Idalion, as well as to explore the broader concept of territoriality in the Cypriot city-kingdoms during the Archaic and Classical periods and beyond. The need to investigate the territoriality of Idalion stems from an on-going project led by Schmid, which studies unpublished materials from Max Ohnefalsch-Richter’s Cypriot excavations of Idalion and its surroundings.[1]
The book is subdivided into 17 chapters, accompanied by illustrations and maps essential for studying Cyprus’ territoriality. The maps are highly effective and could serve as paradigmatic examples, particularly those featured in the chapters by Valerie Woelfel, and by Will Kennedy and Daniel Knitter. The book begins with a preface from the editors, dated 2024, which does not provide a systematic overview of the chapters but acknowledges the seven-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is commendable that some of the authors have updated their contributions, incorporating new bibliographic data and developments from the intervening years. The preface also offers a brief acknowledgment of the contributors. The organization of the chapters is not always entirely systematic. Notably, the information regarding the Bronze Age settlement of Agios Sozomenos—thought to be the precursor to the settlement of Idalion, to which its inhabitants may have later migrated—serves as the central focus of the introduction by Pilides and is further revisited in the engaging chapter by Georgiou towards the end of the book, which efficiently examines technological innovations in central Cyprus during the Archaic period. It is clear, however, that starting from the second chapter, the book gradually shifts—largely in a consistent manner—from an analysis of the topography of Idalion’s central urban core to a focus on the surrounding territories.
The first chapter would serve as an additional introduction but is itself an aprosdoketon. It addresses Iron Age territories and the concept of territoriality. The initial section, primarily based on a systematic analysis of theories, models, and definitions of territory and territoriality, is rich in ideas that can be applied to various contexts investigating similar topics. It is particularly notable for its clear explanatory diagrams and detailed descriptions of theoretical models and methodologies. The surprise arises when these models are applied to a case study that focuses not on Idalion or Cyprus, but on Denmark in the Iron Age. This shift may leave the reader somewhat disoriented. Perhaps it might have been more effective to apply these well-explained and undoubtedly valuable theories to a Cypriot case study, possibly including Idalion itself. A collaboration between the chapter’s author, Nakoinz—an international, leading expert in territoriality in Iron Age Germany and Scandinavia—and a scholar specialized in Cyprus could have provided a more cohesive and contextually relevant analysis. Nevertheless, the chapter remains rich in insights, offering valuable appreciations from which there is much to learn.
From an historical-classical perspective, Körner’s chapters on the political structure of Idalion, along with Fourrier’s analysis of the capitals of the city-kingdoms of Kition and Idalion, represent the most significant contributions. These chapters examine the governance of Idalion from an administrative viewpoint, with Fourrier further proposing that the ‘new’ kingdom formed through the annexation of Idalion by Kition was bicephalic, possessing two main centers.
Two exhaustive chapters by Schmid provide essential information for a topographical study of Idalion (along with Woelf’s GIS analysis of ancient maps), its territory, and the surrounding sanctuaries. The first focuses on the topographical contributions from the unpublished opus magnum “Tamassos und Idalion” by Ohnefalsch-Richter, detailing the finds he excavated, now dispersed across European museums, from Berlin to the British Museum in London. The second chapter by Schmid examines the territory of Idalion-Bamboula. These contributions are complemented by Horacek’s exploration of the female sanctuary of a kourotrophos deity at Moutti tou Arvili, located to the east of the Idalian acropolis, as well as Walther’s analysis of the so-called temple of Aphrodite near the Gialias River.[2] Walther interestingly argues that this temple was dedicated to a deity associated with agricultural fertility, aimed at ensuring successful crops and harvests, and suggests that the island may have experienced periods of famine, with little agricultural surplus. However, this theory would benefit from further clarification, as numerous Greek epigraphic and literary sources indicate that Cyprus was exploited as a ‘granary’ for Athens during the challenging years of the Peloponnesian War.[3]
Pamela Gaber contributes two chapters: one also focused on the Gialias River area and the other on her excavation in the heart of Idalion, a sanctuary in the lower city south, where she uncovered what is likely a votive baetyl, similar to those found at Paphos and Kition, and three standing wooden xoana.[4] Gaber further suggests that the Idalians identified themselves as Cypriot, noting that inscriptions have only been found in the Cypriot syllabary, rather than in Phoenician or alphabetic Greek, although all three languages and scripts were used on the island.[5]
The final contributions explore landscapes and resources that determined and facilitated Idalion’s growth. The Idalian necropoleis, which are located on the edge of the city core and provide important data on the local population, are explored by Hougenot, and Georgiadou, Georgiou, and Satraki. Huguenot reconsiders the results of Max Ohnefalsch-Richter’s excavations, suggesting that Idalion may have been a significant urban center of the interior from the 11th century BCE onwards. Meanwhile, Georgiadou, Georgiou, and Satraki focus on Early Iron Age mortuary practices and rituals, which, according to them, were likely designed to confer social preeminence upon families and social groups.
Resources are the subject of various concluding chapters. Kassianidou examines the Idalian mines and their copper, which played a key role in making this city-kingdom a desirable target, eventually leading to its annexation by Kition. Kennedy and Knitter utilize the fuzzy method and logic—a qualitative approach—to examine the Idalian territory in a pioneering and engaging chapter. They assess the distribution of various resources across the island, such as copper, timber, agricultural products, hydrological potential, and trade opportunities, employing fuzzy raster-based data. In doing so, they introduce an innovative methodology for delineating the territorial spheres of influence of the city-kingdoms. The resulting map demonstrates that the resource boundaries of Idalion extend to the borders of Tamassos, Ledra, and nearly reach Kition. These data may be corroborated by archaeological evidence in the future. Finally, Beck and Emery contribute studies on the peripheral sanctuaries, enhancing the understanding of the Idalian economic and religious landscape. They propose that in Iron Age Cyprus movement of people was limited, that commodities traveled through a dense network of tracks and roads, but were transported mostly by specialists, and that control was exerted by the regional center, plausibly—and understandably—a city-kingdom or a sanctuary.
Overall, despite the unconventional choice of the case study in the first chapter and the brief preface from the editors—likely a result of the volume being proceedings rather than a fully planned edited collection—this work provides valuable insights and exciting new ideas. The contributions are brimming with potential for further development, especially in deepening our understanding of the territoriality of the Cypriot city-kingdoms, a topic that remains to be explored and clarified.
Authors and Titles
Maria Papakyriakou, Foreword
Preface by the Editors
Despina Pilides, Introduction
Oliver Nakoinz, Iron Age Territories and the Concept of Territoriality
Christian Körner, The Polity of Idalion: A Constitutional Government of King and Polis or a Monarchy with Institutions?
Stephan G. Schmid, Max Ohnefalsch-Richter’s Contribution to the Topography of Ancient Idalion
Sophie G. Horacek, A Sanctuary of a Female Deity Excavated by Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1850–1917) on the East Acropolis of Idalion
Angelika Walther, Some Thoughts on the Topographical Situation of the So-Called Temple of Aphrodite Near the Gialias River in Idalion
Pamela Gaber, The Sanctuary Ohnefalsch-Richter Never Saw: The City Sanctuary in the Lower City South at Idalion
Sabine Fourrier, The Iron Age Sacred Topography of Kition and Idalion: A Comparative Analysis
Stephan G. Schmid, The Site of Idalion-Bamboula
Caroline Huguenot, The Excavations of Max Ohnefalsch-Richter in the Necropoleis of Idalion
Anna Georgiadou, Artemis Georgiou, and Anna Satraki, A Window into Mortuary Practices and Ritual at Early Iron Age Idalion: Locus 20 in the Necropolis of Idalion-Platia
Valerie Woelfel, From Survey Chains to Satellites: Using GIS to Unite the Historic Excavation Maps of Idalion
Pamela Gaber, Idalion in its Environment: Settlement Patterns in the Gialias River Valley
Giorgos Georgiou, Resources, Technological Innovations and Networks in Central Cyprus during the Cypro-Archaic Period
Vasiliki Kassianidou, The Topography of Copper Production in the Iron Age City-Kingdom of Idalion
Will M. Kennedy and Daniel Knitter, Defining the Rural Environs of Ancient Idalion: A Fuzzy Landscape Archaeological Approach for Determining Idalion’s Resource Potential
Julien Beck and Patrizia Birchler Emery, Organising the Territory of a City-Kingdom: The Rural Sanctuary of Kataliondas Kourvellos in its Local and Regional Context
Patrizia Birchler Emery and Julien Beck, Kataliondas Kourvellos, a Rural Sanctuary Between City-Kingdoms
Notes
[1] See also Schmid, S. and Horacek, S. (eds.) 2018. ‘I Don’t Know What Am I Myself, It Is So Very Difficult to Explain’, Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1850–1917) und die Archäologie Zyperns, Studia Cyprologica Berolinensia 1, (Berlin). This initiative subsequently gave rise to another project, KIT (Kition, Idalion and Tamassos), in collaboration with the HISOMA research group in Lyon and the University of Frankfurt. This other project examines the territorial and political relations between these three city-kingdoms, which became part of a single government, all conquered by Kition by the end of the 4th century BCE. The results of KIT are eagerly anticipated.
[2] On Moutti tou Arvili see Schmid S. and Summa, D. 2024. “A Recently Discovered Inscribed Statue ‘Plinth’ of a Female Votary from Idalion-Moutti tou Arvili”, CCEC 54: 327–345.
[3] Moreno, A. 2007. Feeding the Democracy: The Athenian Grain Supply in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC (Oxford): 341–342.
[4] Zeman, K. 2008. “The Aegean Origin of the Aniconic Cult of Aphrodite in Paphos”, in Papantoniou, G., Fitzgerald, A., and Hargiss, S. (eds.), POCA 2005, (Oxford): 61–64.
[5] Steele, P. 2018. Writing and Society in Ancient Cyprus (Cambridge): 147–196.