LET'S TAKE THE CUP TO LONDON

LET'S GET TO KNOW THE CUP OF NESTORE ON DISPLAY AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

The world-famous Cup of Nestor of Ischia, found in a wing of the Villa Arbusto Archaeological Museum, has been on display at the British Museum in London, from November 21st, 2019 to March 8th, 2020.
 
On the famous Cup, there is an inscription, the translation is:
 
“Nestor’s .... cup good for drinking. But whoever drinks from this cup, immediately that one will be seized with the desire of love for Aphrodite with the beautiful crown."
 
The cup of Nestor is an archaeological find unearthed in the necropolis of San Montano in Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia by German archaeologist Giorgio Buchner.
 
The inscription on the vase, which can be dated to around the last twenty-five years of the 8th century BC., constitutes one of the oldest examples of alphabetic writing.
 
The Nestor cup is an everyday cup, imported from Rhodes and brought to light in 1955 by the archaeologists Giorgio Buchner and Carlo Ferdinando Russo. It was part of the rich grave goods belonging to the tomb of a 10 years old boy.
 
The cup has engraved on one side in the Eubonic alphabet in a retrograde direction, that is, from right to left, as in Phoenician custom, an epigram consisting of three verses, the first with iambic meter and the second and third perfect dactylic hexameters, alluding to the famous cup described in Homer's Iliad.
 
The choice of the British Museum's management to include in the "Troy" exhibition such an important find as the Cup of Nestor is related to the great interest found in England towards the island of Ischia and its history: the tourists who came from England to visit Ischia every year were more than fifteen thousand, in 2019.
 
A considerable number, which shows how much the culture and beauty of Ischia, attract the attention of tourists from all over the world.
 
The English exhibition will illustrate the daily life of the mythical city of Troy with the various archaeological discoveries, including the precious Ischian vase, precisely the Cup of Nestor,
pride and symbol of the history of the island of Ischia.
One more reason to enjoy the beauty of Ischia, not only on the island but also abroad.