Half Piastre 1938, Cyprus
| no number in katalog | - |
| Years of issue: | 1938 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | no signature |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 1938 |
| Material: | Paper |
| Size (mm): | 360 х 200 |
| Printer: | TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London |
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HM The King George VI.
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George, 14 December 1895 - 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth.
This engraving is done from the portrait by photographer Dorothy Wilding, made in 1937, after the Coronation Day of His Majesty. The original portrait is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
On the right side are the remains of gymnasium in Salamis, built in the I century AD over the ruins an earlier structure destroyed by an earthquake.
Salamis (meaning "salt," probably from Greek salos, "the tossing or swell of the sea") was located on the east coast of Cyprus, just north of modern Famagusta. Whereas Paphos was the official capital of the island and the seat of the Roman governor, Salamis was the commercial center.
According to the Homeric epics, Salamis was founded after the Trojan War by the archer Teucer, who came from the island of Salamis, off Attica (the region around Athens, Greece). This literary tradition probably reflects the Sea Peoples' occupation of Cyprus about 1193 BC, and Teucer perhaps represents Tjekker found in Egyptian records. Later, the city grew because of its excellent harbor; it became the main trade outlet of Cyprus.
The largest building of ancient Salamis - gymnasiums - is located in the northern part of the archaeological complex. The remnants of a courtyard surrounded by columns with a well-preserved semicircular building of the former restroom of the 2nd century BC e. The first gymnasium building was built on this site in the Hellenistic period; it has not been preserved. At the beginning of the 1st century AD e. during Augustus a new building was built with a large eastern portico and colonnade, as well as palestra surrounded by stone columns. The dilapidated portraits of Palestine had a vaulted ceiling supported by stone arches. The entrance to the palette was located in the center of the southern portico. In the center of the palette was probably a column with a statue of the emperor, from which only a stepped podium made of gray marble has been preserved. Fragments of the Early Byzantine pavement with simple geometric patterns were partially preserved in the palette. The eastern portico had a different appearance from the rest: it was wider, had no vaulted ceiling, and its columns were cannulated. Columns borrowed by builders from ancient buildings were completely restored in 1952-1953. Along the walls of the portico there are marble statues found during excavations; these are mainly copies from Roman and Greek originals. After the earthquakes of the 4th century AD e. stone columns were replaced by existing marble ones. Around the same time, the building was rebuilt into therms. At both ends of the eastern portico there were open premises with pools. From the south, the portico adjoins a large rectangular pool surrounded by a Corinthian colonnade. At the northern end of the portico is a smaller pool, before the reconstruction of the 4th century AD. e. having a round shape. The east portico is adjoined by the well-preserved building of the term. From the hallways - symmetrical rooms with octagonal pools in the middle - you can get into the large room of the former steam room (judiciary). There was a heating system (hypocaust) under the marble floor of the rooms, which archaeologists called the “Western Hall”: hot air circulated between the marble columns of the floor, which was supplied from the room with heating stoves. Under the weight of the collapsed vault, the central part of the courtroom floor failed, which allows a detailed study of the heating system. To the east of the judiciary are the main premises of the term. These are three large halls perpendicular to the facade, ending with semicircular apses. They were built in Roman time. The lateral halls were the judatoria, while the central one served as a caldaria (hot room). In the northern part of the term was a furnace, from which hot air was supplied to the hypocausts. In the wall niches of the main premises of the term before the reconstruction of the building in the IV century BC. e. there were mosaics. Some of the mosaics were found during excavations in the southern hall. One of them, with a wide strip of ornament of twisted ribbons along a rectangular frame, depicts the river god Eurotus. In another niche, a mosaic with the image of Niobid perishing from the arrows of Apollo and Artemis was discovered. The walls of the halls were also decorated with frescoes, almost not preserved. 
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