Φοβού τα πυροκέρατά μου

A few words about our motto. It is read "fovou ta pyrokerata mou" and translates as "fear my horns of fire". It refers to an inscription on the Early Bronze Age moufflon figurine pictured above found in Western Cyprus by the International Expedition in 1953. As soon as they had exposed and lifted it, the archaeologists were left speechless to discover that by pressing on the moufflon's horns, the moufflon produced fire through a complex mechanism of flint, wick and fuel (which had amazingly not evaporated despite it being in the moufflon for thousands of years). The inscription was read by expert epigraphists on site and the language seemed like a precursor of classical Greek while it also anticipated its modern transformation. There is universal agreement among experts in Cypriot archaeology that the moufflon, whose pyrokerata the addressees of the inscription are meant to fear, had made the mechanism himself and used it as a symbol of status and power. Many exciting studies on state formation and social stratification have been based on this find. Apologies for the quality of the photograph. It was taken in 1953 after all.