Edna Stern CAARI lecture

Рет қаралды 168

2 жыл бұрын

Venice, Cyprus and
the southern Levant
in the 14th-16th centuries: ceramics
as a reflection of contacts
In the long-running history of conflicting western and local interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, an under-explored episode is the aftermath of the Mamluk conquest of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the subsequent maritime connections with Cyprus. Material remains can illuminate these relationships and networks that are poorly attested in the written record.
The papal ban on trade with the Mamluks after the conquest of Acre in 1291, restricted direct trade from Europe. The Cypriots, however, had papal exemption from the ban, and Cyprus under the Lusignan and later Venetian rule, became a reshipment point for merchandise to the Levantine coast and Egypt. Notwithstanding, despite the papal embargo, Venetian merchants were granted permission in 1304 by the Amir of Safed to moor in the bay of Acre, later they were also allowed to settle and trade in Acre and to bring pilgrims to the port of Jaffa.
Archaeological evidence to the activity of Venetian and Cypriot merchants in the southern Levant is scarce and it includes mainly glazed tableware. Ceramic evidence was found in excavations at the urban centres of Jerusalem, Ramla and Safed wherein the higher-rank Mamluk population and the foreign merchants resided. In the past decade I have identified small sherds of imported vessels in contemporary rural contexts, that were apparently consistently overlooked or misidentified as local product. These ceramics arrived by sea in small quantities, with the merchants and the pilgrims that frequented the coastal ports and anchorages and clearly reflect their activities.
In this lecture I will present the Cypriot glazed bowls and a local production that may have been inspired from contemporary Cypriot ceramics, within the context of the maritime connections with Cyprus and the Venetian involvement during the 14th to 16th centuries.