Adventures in Cyprus Part I of many

I’m traveling in Cyprus to research another book in the series that Hand of Fire begins. There are many Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus so one part of this project is getting a sense of which one will be best as the primary setting for the book, and studying all of them to get as full a sense of life here during the Bronze Age as the “ruined ruins” leave behind. Each site gives me a little more insight and sensibility. I love “rebuilding” a temple or a metallurgical workshop in my mind as my husband and I climb around the ruins and sort out what is what as best as can be. I’m usually clutching a pile of copied floor plans and notes from a couple of key scholars as we go through each site. I am also visiting museums and getting a first hand look at the material remains of this world and time (and my wonderful husband is photographing them so I can use all of it later). One of the key needs for me as a writer is to understand and internalize the physical setting, the mountains, sea, shoreline (although that has shifted), cliffs, plant life. I need to have at my imaginative fingertips the feel and look of each of the environments I may build scenes in, so driving and hiking around the various ecosystems of the island is also a rewarding part of our stay.

We started our trip in the city of Larnaca. If you ever go, I have a great hotel to recommend, Eleonora. They were as friendly as could be, helping us reconnect with our lost luggage and other kindnesses. We were a couple blocks from the beach and enjoyed delicious fresh fish and sea breezes with every meal.

Our first (and then third night) we went to a wonderful meze restaurant that simply brought out one little plate after another until you called a halt. Wine is great here and so inexpensive. Served in clay pitchers as if I really were back in the

Bronze Age. Does it get any better?

Larnaca is home to the Bronze Age site of Kition. I had a hunch before we came, based on the scholarly research and advice from archaeologists who’ve worked on Cyprus, that Kition might be the best site for my novel. It was a cosmopolitan city that would welcome newcomers from foreign places and it was an active copper production site with probable fine metalworking such as jewelry and weapons workshops also (when you’ve read Hand of Fire, you’ll understand why bronze working is a possible tie for my continuing characters). Our first day in Larnaca the site wasn’t open, so we went to a gorgeous little museum instead after getting an overview of the site from the surrounding homes. (I’ll confess we’d lost a day somewhere and thought it was Friday not Saturday until a nice Cypriot grandma who lived in one of the surrounding homes kindly explained that the site was closed on Saturdays and then looked totally confused when we tried to insist it was Friday…)

The Pierides Museum has a small treasure trove of Bronze Age pieces. I’ll show you some of my favorite finds. Here’s some small terracotta warriors holding the figure eight shields Homer describes. I like their helmets as well.

Even more remarkable and mysterious are these female figures. Most people think they are goddesses. Some have birdlike faces with beaks, others, though none of the ones in this picture, have flat heads as if wearing a charming chapeau, or like some of these in this picture, they seem to have a spout on their head, but what I’d love to know is what they meant to the people who made them.

There are also these flat plank figurines with distinctive jewelry and clothing incised into the clay. Both types of figurines are found both in tombs and in homes and show signs of wear and tear as if they were part of daily life. A talisman against the dark troubles we all suffer from, a lady of protection in these Bronze Age lives? In moving my characters to Cyprus from ancient Anatolia, I’ve moved from a written culture largely documented in giant cuneiform libraries, to a culture with only a small amount of writing left behind and that not yet deciphered. So there is more guesswork in interpreting figures like these. No helpful rituals spelled out in detail that seem to match up with the material remains. Alas. It adds an element of challenge I hadn’t considered when I moved to Cyprus. But these figures are so evocative. Let me know what role you think they might have served. Intelligent guessing is kind of part of the process.

Here are some ordinary cooking pots and other vessels of daily life just in case you haven’t quite made the transition and need some help living in 1250 BCE in Cyprus.

And here’s a beaked pitcher probably for wine. I love this distinctive shape which is also found in the world of Anatolia where my characters are coming from into Cyprus.

And here’s an ancient baby bottle. Described as a feeding bottle.

And some pots with lids. They look a bit like teapots without spouts.

Coming up next time I have time to post: Kition revealed. A really lovely place to set a book.