William Childs

Princeton University, Art and Archaeology, Faculty Member

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Università di Bologna

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Brown University

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Hungarian Academy of Sciences

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Papers by William Childs

City of gold : the archaeology of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus

The modern Cypriot town of Polis Chrysochous-"City of Gold"-lies above the city of Arsi... more The modern Cypriot town of Polis Chrysochous-"City of Gold"-lies above the city of Arsinoe and the earlier city-kingdom of Marion. In 1885 excavators began exploring the extensive cemeteries of these cities. Since 1983 the Princeton Cyprus Expedition has focused on the remains of sanctuaries, public buildings, workshops, and private residences spanning the Geometric through Classical periods of Marion and the Hellenistic through Roman, early Christian, and medieval periods of Arsinoe. Combining archaeological investigation and historical analysis, City of Gold relates the discoveries establishing that these cities had close ties with Greece and with regions from Egypt to Anatolia, findings best represented by the painted vases and terracotta sculptures of Marion and the architecture of Arsinoe. Nearly half of the 110 artifacts included in the catalogue are previously unpublished, and another third are published in detail for the first time.

Le monument des Néréides : le décor sculpté

Greek Art and Aesthetics in the Fourth Century B.C

Polis Chrysochous: Princeton University's Excavations of Ancient Marion and Arsinoe

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2008

The site of Polis Chrysochous lies near the extreme western end of Cyprus along a stunningly beau... more The site of Polis Chrysochous lies near the extreme western end of Cyprus along a stunningly beautiful bay that over the past twenty years has become a major attraction for worshipers of sun and sea. As early as 1885, Max Ohnefalsch-Richter began excavations and since then over 850 tombs have been recorded in the fields surrounding the modern village by various expeditions.1 Yet no record of the town or city occupied by the people who lay in these often sumptuous graves was known, and the various expeditions to the area over the last one hundred years have rarely looked beyond the rich cemeteries. Although the town or city associated

Le rôle de Chypre dans la naissance de la plastique monumentale en Grèce

Cahiers du Centre d'Etudes Chypriotes, 2001

The Free-Standing Sculptures of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, a Catalogue

American Journal of Archaeology, 1980

Fouilles de Xanthos, V: tombes-maisons, tombes rupestres et sarcophages

American Journal of Archaeology, 1976

Early Greek Bronze Plaques in Princeton

Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, 2001

Page 1. Early Greek Bronze Plaques in Princeton WILLIAM AP CHILDS INTRODUCTION The group of large... more

Morgantina, Past and Future

American Journal of Archaeology, 1979

... its paedagogical function well; through the hands of Stillwell and Sjbqvist passed a long lin... more

The Classic as Realism in Greek Art

Art Journal, 1988

The classic period of Greek art, roughly dated from the sack of Athens by the Persians in 480 B.C... more

Editors’ Preface

The Protohistoric Settlement on the Cittadella

The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art

The Art Book, 2005

This well illustrated and handsomely produced publication, which accompanied the exhibition of th... more This well illustrated and handsomely produced publication, which accompanied the exhibition of the same title, charts the progress of the project, while filling the reader in on Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artistic progress and projects thoughout their joint career. It also serves as a good introduction to Christo's background before he and Jeanne-Claude began their partnership in the late 1950s. Naturally enough, the book has a foreword by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Director, Phillipe de Montebello. It is interesting to note that Mr de Montebello was Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston in 1971, when that museum exhibited another pre-project exhibition of a Christo project -the Valley Curtain, Grand Hogback, Rifle, Colorado.

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Fourth-Century Styles in Greek Sculpture

American Journal of Archaeology, 1999

The City-Reliefs of Lycia

American Journal of Archaeology, 1980

(L. A.) Schneider Asymmetrie griechischer Köpfe vom 5. Jh. bis zum Hellenismus. Wiesbaden: Steiner. 1973. Pp. [viii] + 170. 16 pl. 2 folding diagrams. DM 76

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1977

The Achilles Silver Plate in Paris

Gesta, 1979

The Achilles Plate in Paris is one of the largest silver plates preserved from late antiquity, me... more The Achilles Plate in Paris is one of the largest silver plates preserved from late antiquity, measuring 0.70m in diameter and weighing 10.3kg (Fig. 1).1 Nurnerous traces of gilding emphasize its value as a magnificent luxury item. Found reputedly in the Rhone near Avignon by fishermen in 1656, it is heavily repaired all around the rim, the damage possibly the result of the fishermen's curiosity (Fig. 2).2 For no apparent reason the authenticity of the plate has been questioned, perhaps only for rhetorical emphasis.3 The purpose of this paper is to discuss the iconography of the large central scene of the plate which has been in dispute for two hundred years. Soon after its discovery, the plate was published by J. Spon in 1673 as the "Bouclier de Scipion" in the belief that the scene depicted Scipio Africanus in a moralistic, anecdotal episode.4 Over a hundred years later, in 1766, Winckelmann first suggested another interpretation, the reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon and the return of Briseis to Achilles as related in the Iliad (XIX. 238-308).5 This opinion has found many supporters in the last two hundred years, notably Overbeck, Chabouillet, Reinach, Collignon, and tentatively Lippold.6 Bulas is the most important recent opponent of this view; he preferred to see in the Paris plate an earlier episode of the Iliads the confiscation of Briseis from Achilles (I. 318-48) for which there are numerous illustrated parallels. 7 As we shall see, there are many difficulties with both interpretations. These have led Andrea Carandini to conclude: "L'impossibilita di determinare sicuramente la natura iconographica e stillistica di questo pezzo, lo rende practicammente inutilizzabile ai fini di un tentativo di ricomposizione storica."8 Although I agree substantially with Carandini on the point of iconography, analysis does permit the majestic confusion to be elucidated in part. A critical review of the two former interpretations reveals the weaknesses of both. Bulas criticized Winkelmann's interpretation of the scene of the Paris plate as the reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon because this required Agamemnon to be the angry looking, bearded man standing to our right of the seated, beardless man. The latter is unanimously thought to be Achilles. We are forced to admit that Bulas is correct: the relationship between the figures does not allow Winckelmann's interpretation. Another version of the same basic interpretation makes the angry, bearded man Odysseus.9 In that case Agamemnon is missing which weakens the original view.

CYPRUS AND THE COLLECTORS V. Tatton Brown (ed.): Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Papers of the 22nd British Museum Classical Colloquium, December 1998 . Pp. xviii + 278, ills. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2001. Cased, £45. ISBN: 1-84217-033-3

The Classical Review, 2003

... This volume begins with a tribute to Olivier Masson, the French linguist and passionate stude... more

Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vassos Karageorghis, Joan R. Mertens, and Marice E. Rose

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2001

An academic directory and search engine.

Lycian Relations with Persians and Greeks in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries Re-examined

Anatolian Studies, 1981

Between 547/6 and 541/0 Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus and the Persian Empire reached the Aegea... more Between 547/6 and 541/0 Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus and the Persian Empire reached the Aegean. In the years following, his general, Harpagus the Mede, subdued the coastal Greek cities and sacked Xanthos which put up a struggle to the last. It is to be assumed that the rest of Lycia fell without event. Western and southwestern Asia Minor was divided into two administrative areas, Lydia and Ionia (Yauna). Although the Lydian satrapy was often predominant, the basic unit in the southwest was Ionia which comprised during much of its existance Ionia proper, Aeolia, Caria, Lycia, Milyas, and Pamphylia. This large area left Lycia without a satrap in the proximity and consequently without a provincial court with its attendant strong official influence.

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The Iron Age Kingdom of Marion

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1997

... The political structure of the Archaic kingdom of Marion has left no archaeological traces, b... more