Women and the art of Ancient Cyprus

As is the case with all cultures in the ancient Near East, women were visible in artistic representations in Cyprus during antiquity. The several authors who are contributing to the discussion of women in ancient Cyprus in this volume are providing focused commentary on specific topics and chronological phases. This chapter will rather serve as a synopsis of the presence of women in the artistic repertoire of the island over a discrete period of time and will assess the causal factors of that presence. The focus will be the early history of Cyprus and extending through the Bronze Age. Beginning in the prehistoric period, the evidence for the confluence of women and art was already present and consistently became enriched over time. The longevity of the span of Cyprus’s past both complicates any summary that considers visual expression vis à vis the material culture but also makes the discussion more productive, because of the intricacy of cultural change throughout this phase of the island’s past.