Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Play & learn

Games

Three short games to have fun with, each built around real objects and real excavations. Make a pot as a Cypriot potter did, open an ancient tomb one layer at a time, or follow a vase through an old auction catalogue. You will come away knowing a little more about how Cyprus lived, buried its dead and made its things, and how we know.

  • Free
  • Plays in your browser
  • About 5 minutes each
  • Desktop and phone

  1. Game I Make

    The Potter’s Workshop

    Choose a real piece from the Drakopoulos Collection, then make it again as an ancient Cypriot potter would have: shape it by hand or on the wheel, decorate it, and fire it. There are tips after every step, and a firing where things can go wrong.

    What you’ll learn

    • Why Red Polished pots were burnished to a shine with a pebble
    • How the same red slip can fire red or black, depending on the air in the fire
    • Which pots were built by hand and which were thrown on the wheel
    Play Potter’s Workshop

    About 5 minutes Works on phones

  2. Game II Dig

    The Excavation

    Excavate four real kinds of Cypriot burial, from a Neolithic house at Khirokitia to a royal tomb at Salamis, one marked area at a time. As each find comes up, see what archaeologists found there and why it matters.

    What you’ll learn

    • Why the people of Khirokitia buried their dead beneath their own floors
    • How a family tomb at Vounous was opened again for each new burial
    • What was left in the passage of a royal tomb at Salamis, c. 700 BC
    Play Excavation

    About 5 minutes Works on phones

  3. Game III Trace

    The Paper Trail

    Play a provenance researcher. Find the lotus amphora in a real 1926 Sotheby’s catalogue, match it to the right plate, write down the lot number and file the case.

    What you’ll learn

    • How a 1926 sale catalogue describes a lot and records its buyer
    • How to match an object to a catalogue plate, detail by detail
    • Why a documented history matters for an antiquity today
    Play Paper Trail

    About 5 minutes Works on phones

All three games draw on pieces in the Drakopoulos Collection. To read more, try the articles or the Compendium.