statue
- Museum number
- 1917,0701.285
- Description
-
Limestone statue of a man wearing a lion skin and controlling a lion in his left hand, and originally brandishing a club in his now missing right arm; a representation of a deity variouslly called the 'Great God of Cyprus' (q.v.), 'Cypriot Herakles' (q.v.) or the 'Master of the Lion' (q.v.) but also an image of Cypriot Reshef (q.v.).
- Production date
- 500 BC-450 BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 56 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The statue combines the familiar iconography of the Greek hero or demi-god Herakles with the that of Phoenician Melqart and Reshef. However the worship of Herakles is not attested on Cyprus before the Hellenistic periods, and indeed this imagery is used in contexts where Apollo is attested epigraphically; similarly, Melqart's cult is known very indirectl, and Reshef was probably much more important as attested by epigraphic evidence from around 400 BC and later.
It is likely therefore that the fusion of featrues found in this statue represesents first and foremost a local god concerned with protecting humans from natural threats. He is often referred to by modern scholars as the 'Master of the Lion' or 'Master of the Animals' (the latter analagous to the 'Mistress of the Animals' found in ancient Greek texts but more widely applied). He was later assimilated with Greek Apollo and Reshef in particular, both of whom have close associations with hunting and the natural world on Cyprus.
- Location
- On display (G72/dc4)
- Acquisition date
- 1872-3 (Acquired from Lang in 1872-3 but re-registered in 1917)
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1917,0701.285
