599

HANDBOOK OF

THE CESNOLA COLLECTION

OF ANTIQUITIES FROM

CYPRUS

BY

JOHN L. MYRES

WYKEHAM PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

PREFACE

THIS Handbook is intended to serve as a guide to the
Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, or more
precisely to those parts of it which are exhibited in the
Cesnola Room and other departments of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. It offers at the same time an introduction to the
study of the ancient arts and industries which the Cesnola Collec-
tion was formed to illustrate. But it is not in the strict sense a
Catalogue of the Collection, though all the more important objects
are described separately; for many of less individual interest are
treated summarily and in groups, and the large ‘ student series,’
which is held in reserve, is not included at all. Nor is it a formal
textbook of Cypriote archaeology; since it makes reference to ob-
jects in other collections only when these directly illustrate some-
thing which is exhibited here, and it gives only the most essential
references to the literature. Those who wish to pursue the study
further are referred to the Selected Bibliography (p. xliii), and to the
exhaustive bibliographical works included in it. Above all, they
are invited to study the Collection carefully for themselves, in the
light of these outlines, and of their own common sense. Those who
have the means, or the opportunity, will remember also that there
is still much to be discovered in Cyprus itself, by any one who has
skill and zeal.