Download PDF | Angel Nicolaou Konnari_ Chris Schabel - Lemesos _ A History of Limassol in Cyprus from Antiquity to the Ottoman Conquest-Cambridge Scholars Publishing (20.
648 Pages
CONTRIBUTORS
Laurence Alpe (Doctorat d’Histoire et d’Archéologie, Préhistoire et civilisations antiques et médiévales, Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, 2007) is an independent scholar specialising in ancient Limassol, the subject of her doctoral thesis being Limassol et ses environs: étude d’un site secondaire au temps des royaumes de Chypre. She participated in many excavations in Cyprus, published a number of articles on Limassol and Amathus, and taught courses at the University of Aix-Marseille.
Antoine Hermary is Professor Emeritus of Greek Archaeology at the University of Aix-Marseille, specialising in Cypriot archaeology, Greek sculpture, and iconography. He is director of the mission of the Ecole francaise d’Athénes at Amathus, president of the Centre d’Etudes chypriotes (Paris), and editor of the Cahiers du Centre d’Etudes chypriotes. He published many books and articles on Cypriot art and archaeology, amongst which recently (with Joan R. Mertens) The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art. Stone Sculpture (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014).
Angel Nicolaou-Konnari (PhD, University of Wales, College of Cardiff, 1999) is Associate Professor of the History of Hellenism under Latin Rule at the University of Cyprus. Her research interests focus on the Latin-ruled Greek world and, particularly, the history of Lusignan and Venetian Cyprus. Her main publications include a diplomatic edition of the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas (with M. Pieris, 2003), the collective volume Cyprus. Society and Culture 1191-1374 (ed. with C. Schabel, 2005), and the proceedings of the conference ‘La Serenissima’ and ‘La Nobilissima’: Venice in Cyprus and Cyprus in Venice (ed., 2009).
Michalis Olympios was educated at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Athens (BA 2003) and the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (MA 2005, PhD 2010). His research interests revolve around medieval art and architecture in Europe and the Latin East. He has published on Gothic architecture and sculpture in Lusignan Cyprus, on which subject he is preparing a book. Since 2011, he has been Lecturer in the History of Western Art at the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus.
Tassos Papacostas (DPhil Oxon, 2000) is Lecturer in Byzantine Material Culture at King’s College, London. Following a Past and Present Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London), he worked as a Research Associate for the Prosopography of the Byzantine World project before being appointed to an RCUK Fellowship at King’s (2006-2011). His current research and publications focus on aspects of archaeology and architecture from Late Antiquity to the early modern period, primarily on Cyprus.
Chris Schabel (PhD, University of Iowa, 1994) is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cyprus, specialising in later medieval intellectual history and the Latin East. He is editor of the journal Vivarium and his books include Theology at Paris, 1316-1345 (2000), Theological Quodlibeta in the Middle Ages (ed., 2 vols, 2006-2007), Francis of Marchia — Theologian and Philosopher (ed. with R.L. Friedman, 2006), Gerald Odonis, Doctor Moralis and Franciscan Minister General (ed. with W.O. Duba, 2009), and Medieval Supposition Theory Revisited (ed. with E.P. Bos, H.A.G. Braakhuis, W.O. Duba, and C.H. Kneepkens, 2013).
SERIES EDITOR INTRODUCTION
As the editors state in their foreword, Limassol has played a significant part in the history of Cyprus and the broader Mediterranean. To be sure, it has never served as the capital of the island, as Paphos and Nicosia have, it has not had the same foreign consular (and thus trade) presence that Larnaca did, or the same romantic allure of Famagusta and charm of Kyrenia, but there have been moments in the history of the island and the Mediterranean when Limassol has played a very significant role. The coeditors, both leading scholars in their field, Angel Nicolaou-Konnari and Christopher Schabel, both from the University of Cyprus, and who teamed up so well ten years ago to publish Cyprus — Society and Culture 11911374 (2005), should be commended for bringing to life the history of Limassol in this exciting volume.
The city of Limassol is situated on the southern coast of Cyprus and is the capital of the eponymous district. Limassol (the city) developed between two ancient cities, Amathus and Curium (Kourion in Greek), well before the myth that it was a Latin creation, and was originally known as Neapolis (new town). A small colony may have existed in ancient times, because tombs found there date back to 2000 BC and others to the eighth and fourth centuries BC. So when, as Tassos Papacostas in this volume argues, ‘in May 1191 Limassol was unexpectedly propelled to the international limelight literally overnight, as a result of the events surrounding the island’s conquest by Richard the Lionheart in the course of the Third Crusade’, Limassol had already existed for millennia. Indeed, Limassol has an important history beyond the three or four dramatic moments in its past.
This volume brings together leading scholars, from the interdisciplinary backgrounds of archaeology, art history, and history, to set out the history of both the city and the surrounding rural areas of the broader Limassol District, from ancient times to the end of Latin rule in the sixteenth century. The volume is comprehensive, so much so that the coverage of the Ottoman, British, and independence periods of its history, which have been understudied, has been postponed for a second volume, which I hope my series, Cyprus Historical and Contemporary Studies, will have the honour to publish. The scholars selected are all experts in their field and it is no easy task to unite such an eclectic group.
Organised chronologically, this volume starts with a chapter on ancient Amathus by Professor Antoine Hermary, Aix-Marseille University, and ends with a wonderful postscript by the two co-editors on the place of pre-Ottoman Limassol in the memory of Cypriots and travellers to Cyprus over the centuries. With five main chapters, all varying in length depending on the availability of source material and the importance of the period and theme that is being addressed, the volume is impressively rich in detail and focussed on answering the pressing historiographical questions associated with Limassol.
Today the city has grown into an important Mediterranean port, with an urban population of just under 180,000, and is one of the most vibrant in all of Cyprus. The city has extended much farther than the castle and port, spreading along the Mediterranean coast, with its suburbs reaching Amathus to the east. To the west of the city is the Akrotiri Peninsula, part of the British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Known for its antiquities and its annual festivals, Limassol is a multicultural city. This multiculturalism is reflected in the scholars contributing, who are connected to Cyprus, France, Greece, UK, and US.
This volume is timely because it also coincides with the growth in studies into Cypriot cities, namely Nicosia and Famagusta, and thus allows for a comparison. Demetrios Michaelides edited the scholarly survey Historic Nicosia, published by Rimal in 2012, while Michael Walsh and Nicholas Coureas, along with other scholars, have co-edited two volumes that focus on medieval Famagusta: the first, titled Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta: Studies in Architecture, Art and History, was published by Ashgate in 2012, and the second, titled The Harbour of All This Sea and Realm: Crusader to Venetian Famagusta, was published by Central European University Press in 2014. A third volume by Walsh is to be published in 2015 in this series.
Meanwhile Brepols, also in 2015, has published the first of two volumes on the city: Famagusta, volume 1: Art and Architecture, edited by Annemarie Weyl Carr, with the second volume on History and Society to follow soon, edited by the editors of the present work, together with Gilles Grivaud and Catherine Otten-Froux. Together the volumes on Nicosia, Famagusta, and Limassol, although varying in aim and scope, provide readers with the most sophisticated and scholarly historical accounts of those three places.
It gives me great pleasure to publish this volume as part of my series. I hope this will be the beginning of many more studies on the history of Limassol and the other cities of Cyprus.
Andrekos Varnava, Senior Lecturer in Imperial and Military History, Flinders University
SPONSOR’S PREFACE
Neapolis, Theodosias, Nemesos, Lemesos, Limassol. ‘At times a very important Mediterranean port’. ‘A town between Amathus and Kourion’. ‘The place where Richard the Lionheart’s wedding to Beregaria of Navarra took place’.
All the above are bits and pieces from references on Limassol. I have always had the feeling that we need a comprehensive, academic work on Limassol — we have to know its history all along the millennia gone, of which only the last 137 years (from 1878 to now) are more or less well documented.
This is the reason why I turned to Angel and Chris again for this book. It took some time to compile the first volume, but I believe it is worth the effort after all.
I now expect that the second volume (Turkish, British, and independence periods) will follow soon.
Dr Andreas Pittas Medochemie Limassol
FOREWORD
Following the success of Cyprus - Society and Culture 1191-1374,' which appeared in 2005 and was the brainchild of Dr Andreas Pittas, the project’s sponsor, the editors approached the CEO of Medochemie with the idea for another book, this time on the history of Limassol. Why Limassol? Some of the motivation was of a personal nature: Medochemie is headquartered there, Dr Pittas being a Limassolian, and the seaside city has been either a home or an adopted home for both the editors. Writing about one’s hometown can be awkwardly emotional, but solid scholarly reasons for composing the book counterbalanced personal involvement.
True, Limassol was never the capital of the island, as Paphos, Salamis, and Nicosia were, and it never experienced an explosion of growth comparable to that of Frankish Famagusta. Yet Limassol is by no means insignificant, with a long and fascinating history, often a multicultural one, which presents interesting analogies with the city’s recent and present situation. Limassol also provided us with a great scientific opportunity: the primary source material, while ample, was not overwhelming, allowing us to inspect the vast majority of what survives (although we hope more sources surface in the future); the scholarly secondary literature was limited, assuring us that much of what we would find, or at least many of our interpretations, would be fresh and exciting and, for some periods at least, we began with a relative tabula rasa.
The scattered nature of the extant information on the city, dispersed in manuscripts, monographs, collective volumes, and journals, rendered the composition of a scholarly study, which would combine in a single volume the ancient, medieval, and modern history of Limassol for the layman and the specialist alike, all the more demanding. In fact, despite the long entry by Andros Pavlides in the eighth volume of the Megali Kypriaki Encyclopaideia, which appeared in 1988, Christakis Sergides’ Limassol Until the Turkish Period, published in 2003, and the collective volume Limassol: A Journey to the Past of a City, edited by Anna G. Marangou and Titos Kolotas in 2006, there does not exist a comprehensive study on the history of Limassol that is similar to the one for Nicosia edited by Demetrios Michaelides in 2012.
The above works are very useful and in many respects pioneering, but their scope and methodological approach are different from those of the present volume. Xenophon P. Pharmakides’ History of Limassol, Agnes Michaelide’s Limassol, the Old City, Costas A. Pilavakes’ Limassol in Past Times, and Christakis Savvides’ Limassol Yesterday and Today, published in 1942, 1981, 1997, and 2001 respectively, are in contrast personal or popular testimonies and recollections, focusing on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.”
Nine years later the product of Dr Pittas’ generous support does not much resemble what we agreed upon in 2006. Originally, we had envisioned a simple organisation of four large chapters written by four scholarly ‘couples’: Maria Iacovou and Theodoros Mavroyiannis (both of the University of Cyprus) would cover the ancient cities between which Limassol is situated, Amathus and Kourion respectively; Tassos Papacostas (King’s College, London) and Joanna Christoforaki (Academy of Athens) were assigned Byzantine Limassol and Byzantine art in the Limassol area; the editors (University of Cyprus) took Frankish and Venetian Limassol; and Rita Severis and George Dionysiou (experienced independent scholars) were to cover Ottoman Limassol. Although every scholar longs to present and analyse exhaustively a topic of research, we wisely did not think it possible to add the British period in a single volume on the history of Limassol, let alone Limassol since independence.
Still, in the end the book has grown so large that the huge chapter by Severis and Dionysiou will have to form part of a planned second volume, taking the city’s history down to 1960. Similarly, years ago Professor Mavroyiannis turned in a mere portion of his piece on Kourion that was so extensive that we decided that the finished product should constitute a separate monograph on its own, and we sincerely hope that this comes to fruition. Sacrificing Kourion was only possible thematically because it is Amathus, much closer geographically, that is considered to be ‘Old Limassol’. In this case, however, Professor Iacovou opted to turn over her assignment to two respected specialists. Antoine Hermary (University of Aix-Marseille), director of the French archaeological mission at Amathus, agreed to synthesise what is known about that city, a chapter that the editors have translated from French.
Using very recent archaeological finds and based on her doctoral thesis, Laurence Alpe (independent scholar) contributed a welcome chapter on ancient Limassol that the editors also translated from French and that forms a smooth transition to Papacostas’ piece on Byzantine Limassol. As research progressed, it became clear to Dr Christoforaki and the editors that, with the volume’s focus on Limassol before 1570, what would best accompany Papacostas’ chapter and that of the editors was a thorough study of the physical remains of Frankish and Venetian Limassol, and that her own chapter should be expanded to incorporate the Ottoman period for inclusion in the second volume. In 2006 we had no specialist for the archaeology of Frankish and Venetian Limassol, but Dr Michalis Olympios joined the faculty of the University of Cyprus in 2011 and has stepped in to fill this gap admirably.
Despite these vicissitudes, we believe that the result is excellent, better than we had hoped. The book is organised chronologically, beginning with ancient Amathus, moving to Limassol in Antiquity, and continuing with Byzantine Limassol. Whereas the focus in these early chapters is often mostly and sometimes exclusively on archaeological sources, for the chapter on Frankish and Venetian Limassol written sources are — relatively speaking — plentiful, and this chapter is divided into four distinct periods. Limassol already lay in partial ruins in the late fourteenth century, and this and modern development have made Olympios’ reconstruction of Frankish and Venetian Limassol a complex endeavor, combining written sources, archaeology, and careful observation.
The decline of the city in the late Middle Ages, and then the radical break occasioned by the Ottoman conquest of 1570, also fractured the continuity of collective memory, and the Conclusion traces the distorted image(s) of ancient, Byzantine, Frankish, and Venetian Limassol down to the present day. The discussion of the history of the toponym(s) for what is today called Lemesos in Greek, Limassol in French, Italian, English, and some other languages, and various other similar spellings in still other tongues follows the chronological evolution of toponomastics and can be found in special sections of Alpe’s and Papacostas’ chapters and in a separate note.
The geographical location of a port city and the agricultural character of its inland region may explain its role as a trading centre. The present volume attempts a global approach, however, studying urban (dis)continuity and development on the basis of the multifold function of a port city (administrative, commercial, religious, residential, etc.) and the relation between demographics and environmental factors; most importantly, this holistic approach takes into consideration the various patterns of connectivity in the Mediterranean — often affected by the evolving geo-political situation in distant areas — that determined the role of cities in networks of Mediterranean exchange, the social and economic behaviour of the elite regarding production and distribution, trade routes, and the nature of trade.’
Thus, Limassol as the object of the present study is taken in its broad sense to include both the town and the countryside. The extent of the inland area studied for the Byzantine and Latin periods follows loosely the post-1960 district borders, although some villages do pose a problem, since there are some discrepancies between modern and medieval divisions. For example, Avdimou was a different district in the late Lusignan and Venetian periods. Lefkara is also a case in point: today it is neither administratively nor ecclesiastically part of Limassol, but in the Middle Ages, even though it belonged to the district of Mazotos, it was the see of the Greek bishop of Amathus.
The editors would like to thank above all Dr Andreas Pittas for his support and, especially, his patience. The contributors, both those whose work has ended up in this volume and those whose efforts will, we hope, be published in the near future, deserve our gratitude for their scholarship and their professional attitude, and in some cases their patience as well.
A number of individuals and institutions have made essential contributions over the years; we would like to thank, in particular, Alexander Beihammer, Lorenzo Calvelli, Gilles Grivaud, Maria Iacovou, Valandis Papadamou, James Petre, Eleni Procopiou, Yiannis Violaris, and the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation. Finally, we are grateful to our friend Andrekos Varnavas (Flinders University), who kindly requested that we submit a scholarly volume for his series Cyprus Historical and Contemporary Studies for Cambridge Scholars Publishing, a perfect place for the present book. Although CSP has followed up with frequent reminders, the people at the press have also been flexible, as deadline after deadline passed. We think it has been worth the wait.
A.N.-K. and C.D.S., Limassol and Paris, 27 January 2015
Link
Press Here
0 التعليقات :
إرسال تعليق