The Role of Cyprus as intermediary between the cities of the Near East and the Aegean world can be studied in many different ways. This article is devoted to Cypriot metal signet rings of Iron Age (pre-Roman) date and the part they play in the story of east and west. It comprises a full publication of the metal rings in Nicosia museum, which I was invited to undertake by Drs. V. Karageorghis and K. Nikolaou, but it includes consideration of other finds from Cyprus now in other collections, and a few other probably Cypriot pieces. For the latter, less-detailed descriptions and references are given.Since the continuity of culture between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Cyprus is more easily demonstrated than it can be in most other areas of the eastern Mediterranean, it is necessary to begin with a brief account of the all-metal signet rings in use in the island at the end of the Bronze Age, and token illustration is given here to supplement published photographs. The main influence in the shapes of these rings is Egyptian and not Aegean, since the long oval bezels of the rings run with the hoop and not across it, and the rings are all intended for wearing on the fingers, as some have been found in tombs, which is not true of most Aegean signet rings. Three different styles of decoration may be observed. The first is thoroughly Egyptianizing and some pieces are of high quality. The hoops of the rings are stirrup-shaped but occasionally have rounded shoulders, and the bezels are long ovals like cartouches. In these respects they follow Egyptian forms very closely, and it is possible that some are in fact of Egyptian origin. The shape and style of any made in Cyprus may, of course, not have been derived directly from Egypt, but via the Palestine—Syria coast.
Exotic foods reveal contact between South Asia and the Near East during the second millennium BCE