Cypro-Classical Stone Fishing Net Weight

Cypro-Classical I period, c. 475-400 BC, Republic of Cyprus

Fascinating, ancient heavy fishing net weight from Cypro-Classical II (CCII) period featuring coarse round stone with a prominent hole. The island of Cyprus, officially called the Republic of Cyprus is located in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey, west of Lebanon and Syria, north of Egypt, and southeast of Greece. Cyprus' geographical location was strategic crossroads linking the Aegean, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt, and as such played an important role in the ancient Mediterranean commercial network. Throughout the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC) Cyprus remained under Persian control. Cyprus finally regained relative freedom for a short time when the Macedonian king Alexander the Great granted greater independence to the island. Following his death in 323 BC, Cyprus was annexed by Ptolemaic Egypt, under whose control it remained throughout the Hellenistic period.

Excellent condition. Intact. Light mineral encrustation. Museum number: S.R: 6116/75. Size approx. 12,5cm x 10,5cm x 5,5cm.

NB! Comes with original documents, including Licence to Export Antiquities No. 007222, issued under Antiquities Law, Cap. 43, Form Antiq. 1. Republic of Cyprus, Department of Antiquities, dated and signed Director of Antiquities 29. March 1979.

Provenance: 

Cyprus Archaeological Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus.

acquired from the above, 1979

with danish private collection

References and further reading:

Pottery of Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods in Cyprus,  Anna, P. Georgiadou, Kyprios Character. History, Archaeology & Numismatics of Ancient Cyprus (kyprioscharacter.eie.gr/en/t/A0)

Pottery Types, Cypro-Geometric to Cypro-Classical, Einar Gjerstad, Opuscula Atheniensia. 7 (7): pp. 105–122, 1960.

Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, John L. Myres, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914.

Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV, 2. The Cypro-geometric, Cypro-archaic and Cypro-classical Periods, Einar Gjerstad, Stockholm: Swedish Cyprus Expedition, 1948.