NEA Paphos VI

The book is a continuation of Zofia Sztetyllo's studies on the stamped amphora handles from the excavations carried out by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw at the Hellenistic and Roman site of Nea Paphos on Cyprus. It covers archaeological finds from seasons 1990-2006 (with a few objects from earlier explorations not published in the previous two publications, for the years respectively 1956-1973 and 1975-1989) uncovered during the dig at the Villa of Theseus and the neighboring urban insulas in the southeastern part of the ancient city. Altogether in this volume there are 191 stamps. Most of these (155) come from Rhodos and represent both official eponymic and fabricant stamps from the period between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD. The remaining stamps originated from other centers of the Greek-speaking world where amphorae used for packaging other goods were produced, primarily from Knidos and Kos, but also isolated examples from Chios and Pamphylia. The author discusses the stamps in alphabetical order of the names of the persons to whom they belonged, citing exhaustively parallel stamps in an effort to establish dating and to determine the official relations between particular eponyms and producers of amphorae. A few Graeco-Italic stamps are presented at the end of the catalogue, as well as some Latin stamps on Roman mortaria. The excavations in the years covered by the present publication were increasingly focused on stratigraphic layers dated to periods preceding the rule of Rome on the island (including a few sealed ceramic deposits from cisterns, for example), hence the stamps published in this volume are to a much larger extent from synchronic contexts. This benefits studies of site chronology as well as trade issues connected with the economy of Cyprus in the Hellenistic and Roman period.