Idalion Tablet, Cypriote syllabary, 5th century BCE. Cabinet des médailles, Paris.
“The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary is a syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. A pioneer of that change was King Evagoras of Salamis. It is descended from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, in turn a variant or derivative of Linear A. Most texts using the script are in the Arcadocypriot dialect of Greek, but also one bilingual (Greek and Eteocypriot) inscription was found in Amathus.”
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“The Idalion Tablet is a 5th-century BCE bronze tablet from Idalium (Greek: Ιδάλιον), Cyprus. It is kept in the Cabinet des médailles, Paris.
It is of exceptional importance for the history of the Cypriot kingdoms.
It is engraved on both sides with a long inscription recording a contract entered into by ‘the king and the city’ and gives a reward to a family of physicians who provided free health services for the casualties when the city was besieged by the Persians and the Kitionites in 478-470 BC. It tells us about the political system and socio-economic conditions during the war. The joint decision by the king and citizens shows the democratic nature of the city, similar to Greek models. It also tells of the most ancient social welfare system known.
It was kept in the ancient official depository of the temple of Athena on the western acropolis of Idalion where it was discovered in 1850 by a farmer from the village of Dali.
The script of the tablet is in the Cypriot syllabary and the inscription itself is in Greek.”
September 2016, 18-year-old Ömer Gül photographed in Kyrenia, North Cyprus.
On my journey from Larnaca Airport into North Cyprus, my driver, Irkan, explained that since the North Cypriots were given access to the European Union, the culture had changed - young people were more exposed to international influences, and he could see this in their fashion, their choice of music, and their hairstyles. In Kyrenia, Ömer definitely ticked the haircut box.
