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[German version] The CP is an ornament of Assyrian origin imitating a palm leaf, which is used in Phoenician art, either in the form of a simple leaf, or with bunches of fruit (dates or grapes) and with stems both as a symbol of individual - sacred - plants, trees and bushes and on floral friezes or as a decorative filler motif, often in combination with ornamental lotus flowers. Tree of Life; Ornaments Briese, Christoph (Randers)

[German version] The term faience describes earthenware with a coating of pewter glaze that looks like porcelain and was produced for the first time in Spain in the 13th cent. AD and traded via Mallorca ( Majolica), although it got its name from earthenware manufactured from the 16th cent. onwards in northern Italian Faenza that borrowed from Chinese porcelain. In the archaeological literature faience is a common but incorrect term for a glass-like, silicated, glazed or unglazed product of chalky to sandy consistency (hence more accurately termed silic…

[German version] Representations of the Phoenician TL (also 'Sacred Tree'), whose significance and iconographic origin must be sought in Assyrian religion (magic reliefs, Nimrud), are an important symbol, a picture of fertility in need of protection and therefore an almost ubiquitous element of the religious and profane world view of the Phoenicians. Considerably stylized in various ways, it is usually represented, in ceaselessly novel combinations, series and abridgments of particular elements, a…

[German version] The use of the shells of ostrich eggs as containers or basic materials for other artefacts was based on a very old Oriental tradition, which, in Egyptian, Syrian and Mesopotamian lands, dated back to the Bronze Age or even the Neolithic. As a symbol of the generation and endurance of life, these objects were connected with many magical and religious beliefs, and this, along with their fragility and their limited availability (geographical range limited to Syria, Egypt, the Maghreb…

(Cyprus) [German version] [1] [German version] I. Neolithic I (Khirokitia culture, c. 7000-6000 BC) and II (Sotira culture, 4500-3900 BC) The settlement of K. (for the history see also Cyprus II) began relatively late and differed significantly from that of the neighbouring regions Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine. While small groups of hunter-gatherers there gradually became settled farmers around 9000/8000 BC, the earliest inhabitants of the island of K. were, from the beginning, farmers, herders, hunters, and fis…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Due to the lack of original finds from most regions of the ancient Orient, little can be said about shipbuilding, except for Egypt. The fact that many Syrians were employed in Egyptian shipyards and that a ship (from around 1300 BC) found at Ulu Burun, Turkey was built in the same technique as Egyptian ships indicates that a uniform shipbuilding technique was used throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Here, wooden planks were placed in the desired position w…

I. General information [German version] A. Definition The term colonization is used to refer to several waves of settlement movements in the area around the Mediterranean in the period from the 11th cent. BC up to the Roman imperial era, which significantly alter the settlement geography of the Mediterranean world and have a decisive and lasting effect on the course of ancient history. In general the term colonization is not used to refer to the immigration in the 3rd and 2nd millenia of Indo-European …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient (Egypt, South-West Asia, India) Archaeologically attested since the Neolithic and documented since the 3rd millennium BC, long-distance or overland commerce -- as opposed to exchange and allocation of goods on a local level according to daily needs -- was founded on the necessity for ensuring the supply of so-called strategic goods (metal, building timber) not available domestically, as well as on the demand for luxury and prestige goods, or the materials required for producing them. In historical times, the organization of commerce was a…