… Didn't you ask the travelers …
(Job 21:29)
We have not considered the events of the Bronze Age for a long time. Moreover, we stopped just at the time when copper began to be gradually replaced by bronze, that is, by alloys of copper with various other metals. But what was the reason that the Eneolithic in Cyprus, by the way, quite satisfying its inhabitants, was replaced there by the real Bronze Age? And the reason is very simple. Migrants from Anatolia, around 2400 BC, are to blame for everything. NS. arrived, that is, those who sailed by sea from the continent and laid the foundation for the archaeological culture of Filia - the earliest culture of the Bronze Age on the island. Monuments of this culture have been found on its territory almost everywhere. Moreover, the settlers already knew exactly what they needed to look for here, and soon settled, first of all, in the places of occurrence of copper ores and, first of all, on the Troodos Upland. The houses of the new inhabitants of the island became rectangular, they began to use a plow and a loom, they had cattle on their farm, that is, they also brought livestock with them to the island, as well as donkeys. These settlers knew the techniques of making bronze and were able to alloy it with other metals. Scientists consider this period of the Bronze Age on the land of Cyprus to be early, but after it came the Middle Bronze Age, which also left behind monuments and lasted from 1900 to 1600 BC. NS.
Bronze armor of the 5th-4th centuries BC. It is clear that in Cyprus of the Early Bronze Age, armor was slightly different, but the fact of the widest use of bronze armor in the Mediterranean region for about a millennium is an indisputable fact. This armor was presented at one of the European antiquities auctions. The starting price is 84,000 euros.
The Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus was a relatively short period and its beginning was marked by peaceful development. Archaeological excavations in different parts of the island have shown that the rectangular houses of that period had many rooms, and the streets in the villages provided free movement of people. However, already at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, the construction of fortresses began in Cyprus, which most clearly indicates that the then inhabitants had what to defend and from whom to defend themselves. Cyprus itself at that time was called Alasia - a name known to us from Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian and Ugaritic documents.
Stone anchors and a millstone are indispensable attributes of the Cypriot civilization. Archaeological Museum in Larnaca, Cyprus.
It was at this time that copper ingots in the form of sheep skins were actively exported from Cyprus, and it is clear that this was a very important article of its export, and of all then world trade. That is, if we marked the ways of advancing metallurgy with the help of arrows, then from the region of Anatolia and ancient Chatal-Huyuk they would stretch overland to Troy and further to the territory of ancient Thrace, and to the Carpathians, one more arrow - to the Sumerians to the east, another - in the lands of modern Syria, Palestine and Israel to the south, to Egypt, but by sea, ancient navigators could sail to the Cyclades, and to Crete, and even to Spain and the British Isles. That is, almost all of Europe was covered by the influence of peoples who recognized copper and who belonged to the Atlantic culture. Although the last statement is relative, because metallurgy spread overland, and there representatives of continental cultures could also be carriers of its secrets. The main thing here is that some event would force them to leave their homes and go to distant lands in search of a better life. And here, meeting with aboriginal people who did not know metal, they received a clear advantage in battles with them and went further, leaving behind legends and traditions, and perhaps even samples of their technologies, which for the survivors turned into role models.
Although the sea was definitely the "number one expensive". For example, on the same Cyclades islands, on some Cycladic vessels, there is an image of a fish that served as the emblem of one of the pre-dynastic nomes in the Nile Delta, and has not survived in the historical period. This suggests that when Pharaoh Menes conquered these lands, their population, which had the fish emblem, fled to the Cyclades. But this could only be done by sea. After all, the Cyclades are islands. Moreover, the Egyptian origin is also seen in some other samples of the material Cycladic culture - for example, tweezers for pulling out hair, the widespread use of stone amulets, the use of stone tiles for rubbing paints (although the Cycladic samples have a larger depression than the Egyptians and Minoans, and, finally, in preference given to stone rather than ceramic vessels, characteristic of the pre-dynastic culture of Egypt.
Typical vessels with images of fish. Museum of the Sea in Ayia Napa, Cyprus.
However, although the connections between the individual districts of the then Oikumena were very important, the successes of the migrants, that is, migrants, so to speak, “on the ground”, were no less significant. And here one more settlement in Cyprus - the ancient city of the Late Bronze Age Enkomi - will help us to get acquainted with how they settled in new places.
We are all very lucky that in the past people used to decorate their ceramics with patterns characteristic only for a certain territory and time, which helps both the typification and localization of ancient cultures. Museum of the Sea in Ayia Napa, Cyprus.
Enkomi - a city of the late Bronze Age
The city of Enkomi - and it was already really a city, was also known as Alazia, and it should be noted that its location was chosen by its builders just perfect. Here, in the western part of the island, there were fertile lands, a river flowed along the plain, there was a convenient natural harbor and, most importantly, there were rich copper deposits nearby. All this contributed to the fact that Enkomi in 1300-1100 BC. turned into a rich and prosperous city, which actively traded with Egypt, Palestine, the island of Crete, and the entire Aegean world.
The Pedias River, on the banks of which Enkomi was located, was the largest river on the island, even if its length was only about 100 km. It took its origin in the Troodos mountains and flowed eastward, through the area of modern Nicosia, descended to the Mesaoria plain, after which it flowed into the sea (and still flows now) in the Famagusta Bay.
Glass jars for incense found in Cyprus. Archaeological Museum in Larnaca. Cyprus.
The city was surrounded along the entire perimeter by a powerful fortress wall of "cyclopean" masonry, and in the middle it had a large square-shaped area around which there were public buildings, also composed of large hewn stone blocks. Residential buildings consisted of several rooms located around a courtyard with a complex drainage system. Enkomi architects were practical people, that is, they proceeded from the available material, but they were demanding and did not allow any willfulness in the development of the city. Therefore, the gates in the city were located symmetrically within the walls, and the streets intersected only at right angles and represented a precisely drawn "lattice" in the plan. It is interesting that the construction of cities according to such "lattice" plans in the ancient world was practiced in Egypt, and the city of Ugarit was built according to the same plan - one of the oldest cities in the world, located on the coast of Syria just opposite the city of Enkomi.
Well, they traded in Enkomi, first of all, copper smelted here and the magnificent wood of the Cypriot cypress, which at that time even competed with the Lebanese cedar. And it was these goods that made Enkomi rich and powerful and provided a variety of products obtained from other lands. As for metalworking, it was put on stream in Enkomi: copper ore mined in the mines was transported to the city, where it was enriched, then smelted, after which the finished ingots were offered for sale. It was in Enkomi that the production of daggers, famous in the Mediterranean, was set up, and also here were produced bronze "knemids" leggings, repeating the contours of a human leg from knee to foot, representing a chased bronze plate attached to the leg with leather straps, threaded through loops made from bronze wire. That is, the division of production and its specialization is obvious: somewhere helmets worked better and, apparently, there was appropriate equipment, somewhere they made muscle cuirasses, but Enkomi became the center of knemid production!
Knemis from a Thracian burial in the territory of modern Bulgaria.
The first archaeological excavations in Enkomi by the British Museum were carried out in 1896, and they found a forge with a large reserve of bronze, which turned out to be buried as a result of one of the geological disasters that happened on the island in the 12th century BC. Many burials were also found, which contained amazingly beautiful jewelers and a large number of items of everyday use of people who lived in the Bronze Age, which today are on display among other treasures of the British Museum. However, British archaeologists did not realize that these burials lay under the houses of the city, so the city itself was found later in the course of excavations already carried out by a French expedition in 1930. Archaeological excavations continued here until 1974, when the Enkomi area became inaccessible to researchers due to the occupation of the island by Turkish troops.
Left Knemis VI century. BC. from the collection of the Walters Museum.
Nevertheless, a British archaeological expedition found a large number of artifacts that clearly demonstrate the influence of nearby countries on the civilization of ancient Cyprus, and, of course, this influence was primarily exerted on it by the Minoan or Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. How else to explain the exquisite ceramic vessels found, painted with “sea” subjects typical of Cretan art, depicting fish, dolphins and algae?
An octopus crater from Enkomi. Ceramics. XIV century BC
One of the most common motifs in vase painting was the image of an octopus, whose tentacles entwined the rounded surface of the vessel. Some of the samples of ceramics found here even received their own names, for example, "Zeus Crater". In which the ancient master depicted a famous episode from Homer's Iliad (or a similar plot), in which the god Zeus holds the scales of fate in his hands in front of the soldiers preparing to go to battle. The second motive, which was also used very often in Enkomi's vase painting, is the image of a bull, which was an object of veneration for the Cretans and also symbolized Zeus, the father of King Minos and the founder of the Cretan civilization itself. And why it was so is understandable - after all, there were many colonies on the island founded by immigrants from the island of Crete, and the very trade with the Cretans was at that time in its prime.
During the excavations, items such as scarabs, rings and necklaces made of gold were also found, which could either be brought from Egypt, or made here by local craftsmen according to the Egyptian samples they had. Very interesting are the bronze figurines of various deities, in which one can trace the influences of both Eastern and local Mediterranean cults. For example, a bronze statue of the "Horned God" - 35 cm high, found in one of the shrines of Enkomi, clearly bears traces of Hittite influence and, most likely, was the subject of a cult.
The shrine at Enkomi consisted of three rooms: a hall in which the sacrificial altar was located, and two small interior rooms. During excavations at the altar, they found many skulls of cattle - bulls and also deer, ritual vessels for libations, but a bronze figure of the "Horned God" was in one of its inner rooms. There is speculation that this is a statue of the god of abundance and patron saint of cattle, who is identified with the later Apollo.
Statue "God of Metal". Bronze. XII century BC Height 35 cm. Excavations in 1963. Archaeological Museum in Nicosia.
In another sanctuary, archaeologists discovered a bronze statuette called the "God of Metal". “God” is represented by an armed spear and a shield, on his head he wears a helmet with horns, and he himself stands on a base in the shape of a talent (a rectangular copper ingot, similar to a stretched bull's hide). A similar female figurine (based also in the shape of a copper ingot), made in Cyprus during the same era, is today in a museum in Oxford. And the presence of such a clear compositional similarity gave the researchers a reason to see in these two sculptures … a married couple - the god-smith Hephaestus and the goddess Aphrodite - depicting in such a symbolic form the wealth of the copper mines of the island of Cyprus.
Here archaeologists also found a 12-centimeter bronze statuette of the god Baal, which was previously entirely covered with thin sheets of gold, which are now preserved only on the face and chest. This shows that the population of Enkomi was not ethnically homogeneous, and that various Eastern deities were also worshiped here. Since Baal was revered in Syria and Palestine, as well as in Ugarit, Phenicia, Canaan and Carthage, as well as in Babylon, it can be assumed that migrants from all these cities and lands could have lived here. Moreover, Baal was also depicted in the form of a warrior holding a spear in his hand (just like the aforementioned "God of metal"), and as a man in a helmet with horns ("Horned God"), or in the form of the same bull.
Such a copper cauldron, in which it was possible to cook food for many people at once in the Ancient World, was of great value. Archaeological Museum of Anapa.
It is interesting that one of the main plots of almost all biblical texts is the fight against the cult of this deity, although practically no information has come down to this day about him and the rituals associated with his veneration, except for indications of the great splendor of all ceremonies ending with human sacrifices. However, the very fact of such a long and irreconcilable struggle against the cult of Baal in all its manifestations speaks only of its widespread distribution throughout Asia Minor; and moreover, in its original form, it was one of the important elements of beliefs for more than a thousand years of development of the Mediterranean peoples, who assimilated not only immigrants from Asia, but also their religion.
The bronze axes of the Mediterranean were usually small in size and rather resembled Indian tomahawks of the 19th century. Archaeological Museum of Anapa.
Well, at the end of the Late Bronze Age, the city of Enkomi began to gradually decline, and lost its former significance. The role in this sad event was first played by the people - the "Sea Peoples", who made their ruinous raids along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea around 1200 BC. Nevertheless, Enkomi existed for another century, until it was destroyed by a strong earthquake, after which the city was completely abandoned by its inhabitants.
People have always strived to live beautifully, therefore they tried to decorate their homes. For example, such a discreet floor mosaic, which today can be seen in front of the archaeological museum in the city of Larnaca, Cyprus.
Well, what about the conclusion? The conclusion is this: even then migrants from different cultures came here from the continent. Their goal was metal, and here on the spot they mastered its extraction and processing. That is, although there was no written language at that time, the exchange of information between peoples distant from each other took place, was well established, and no cultural, ethnic or religious barriers interfered with it! Although wars and raids at that time also occurred almost constantly …
Previous materials:
1. From Stone to Metal: Ancient Cities (Part 1)
2. The first metal products and ancient cities: Chatal Huyuk - "city under the hood" (part 2)
3. "The real copper age" or from the old paradigm to the new (part 3)
4. Ancient metal and ships (part 4)
