Travel, Classical Traditions and Empire: Western Travellers to Cyprus in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
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Bruce Gibson
Abstract
This chapter examines the representation of Cyprus in the writings of western travellers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cyprus’ classical heritage plays a key role in the encounter between western visitors and the island, and provides a means of mediating both the post-classical and the Ottoman histories of Cyprus. While medieval and Venetian Cyprus can be presented as an extension to the classical past, the capture of Famagusta in 1571 which marked the decisive onset of Ottoman rule is regularly highlighted as a moment of brutal rupture from the glories of the island’s past. Reflections on the traditional associations of the island with Aphrodite as goddess of love give way to a new kind of desire: disappointment at the state of Cyprus under Ottoman rule is reshaped into an appreciation of Cyprus as a place offering the potential for successful European colonization. Travel to the island and exploration of its antiquities over these two centuries thus not only contributes to knowledge, but plays a part in expanding imperial horizons as well.
Abstract
This chapter examines the representation of Cyprus in the writings of western travellers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cyprus’ classical heritage plays a key role in the encounter between western visitors and the island, and provides a means of mediating both the post-classical and the Ottoman histories of Cyprus. While medieval and Venetian Cyprus can be presented as an extension to the classical past, the capture of Famagusta in 1571 which marked the decisive onset of Ottoman rule is regularly highlighted as a moment of brutal rupture from the glories of the island’s past. Reflections on the traditional associations of the island with Aphrodite as goddess of love give way to a new kind of desire: disappointment at the state of Cyprus under Ottoman rule is reshaped into an appreciation of Cyprus as a place offering the potential for successful European colonization. Travel to the island and exploration of its antiquities over these two centuries thus not only contributes to knowledge, but plays a part in expanding imperial horizons as well.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Cyprus in Latin Literature
- Cyprus and its Myths on the Roman Stage 13
- Venus on Cyprus: Interlinked Lists of Aphrodite’s Cypriot Sanctuaries in Latin Poetry 33
- Idalion, Satrachus and the Annales of Volusius: The Reception of Cyprus in the Carmina Catulli 51
- Nil desperandum …. cras ingens iterabimus aequor (Hor. Carm. 1.7): The Foundation of Salamis by a Bastard Archer as an Exemplum in Latin Literature 65
- Balance and Excess in Ovid’s Pygmalion Story 87
- Was Cyprus Special? The Case of Two Latin Poets 103
- Infamem nimio calore Cypron: Ancient Epigrams on Flacci in Cyprus 111
- The Digression on Cyprus in Claudian’s Epithalamium de nuptiis Honorii et Mariae 131
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Part II: Cyprus after Antiquity
- Venus and Adonis from Enheduanna to Shakespeare: The Significance of Ovid’s Cypriot Metamorphoses 153
- Pilgrims, Merchants and Lovers: The Island of Cyprus in Boccaccio’s Decameron (via Ovid’s Metamorphoses) 175
- Venus of Paphos in the Latin Poetry of the Quattrocento 201
- Ovid’s ‘Good’ Women: The Cypriot Exemplum Against the Background of the Statue (R)evolution 221
- Osmosis between High Genres: Ovid’s Tragic Formation of Myrrha’s Tale (Met. 10.298–502) and its Reception in Alfieri’s Homonymous Tragedy 249
- Travel, Classical Traditions and Empire: Western Travellers to Cyprus in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 265
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 293
- Index Locorum 299
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface and Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Cyprus in Latin Literature
- Cyprus and its Myths on the Roman Stage 13
- Venus on Cyprus: Interlinked Lists of Aphrodite’s Cypriot Sanctuaries in Latin Poetry 33
- Idalion, Satrachus and the Annales of Volusius: The Reception of Cyprus in the Carmina Catulli 51
- Nil desperandum …. cras ingens iterabimus aequor (Hor. Carm. 1.7): The Foundation of Salamis by a Bastard Archer as an Exemplum in Latin Literature 65
- Balance and Excess in Ovid’s Pygmalion Story 87
- Was Cyprus Special? The Case of Two Latin Poets 103
- Infamem nimio calore Cypron: Ancient Epigrams on Flacci in Cyprus 111
- The Digression on Cyprus in Claudian’s Epithalamium de nuptiis Honorii et Mariae 131
-
Part II: Cyprus after Antiquity
- Venus and Adonis from Enheduanna to Shakespeare: The Significance of Ovid’s Cypriot Metamorphoses 153
- Pilgrims, Merchants and Lovers: The Island of Cyprus in Boccaccio’s Decameron (via Ovid’s Metamorphoses) 175
- Venus of Paphos in the Latin Poetry of the Quattrocento 201
- Ovid’s ‘Good’ Women: The Cypriot Exemplum Against the Background of the Statue (R)evolution 221
- Osmosis between High Genres: Ovid’s Tragic Formation of Myrrha’s Tale (Met. 10.298–502) and its Reception in Alfieri’s Homonymous Tragedy 249
- Travel, Classical Traditions and Empire: Western Travellers to Cyprus in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 265
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 293
- Index Locorum 299
