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On the edge of the modern town of Kouklia is the site
of the earliest city of Paphos, known as Palaepaphos
(“Old Paphos”) to distinguish it from the
later settlement down on the coast at Nea Paphos, about
20 kilometres to the west. The original settlement was
among the earliest in Cyprus, dating to about 2800 BC.
The well away from the sea, in the heart of an area
that is still mainly agricultural. Its principal importance
lay in the fact that it was the home of perhaps the
most important Sanctuary of Aphrodite
in the ancient world. |
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Palaepaphos.
The remains of the Bronze Age Temple of Aphrodite |
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earliest temple on the site dates to about 1200 BC but
little remains apart from a stretch of monumental wall
that marked the west side of the temenos and part of
a covered hall to the north. The goddess worshipped
here is unnamed but presumably was the fertility goddess
that had been worshipped since Chalcolithic times. |
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Palaepaphos.
Baetyl |
Palaepaphos.
The remains of the Bronze Age temenos wall |
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layout of the sanctuary is very reminiscent of examples
found in the Levant, among the Phoenicians and Canaanites—essentially
an open air complex. The focus of worship was not a
cult statue but an aniconic stone, the sort of thing
that was known as a baetyl in Semitic languages. |
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Palaepaphos.
The City Walls |
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Northeast Gate and part of the city
walls have been excavated, revealing evidence of the
elaborate siege and counter siege activity that took
place during the revolt against the Persian Empire (of
which Cyprus was a part) in 498 BC. |
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Palaepaphos.
The Northeast Gate |
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Persians captured the city by means of a siege ramp
made out of stone and rubble, which they built against
the wall just east of the gate. They meant to fill up
the ditch and create a smooth path up which they could
roll a siege tower. The inhabitants countered by undermining
the ramp with a series of tunnels. They dug out chambers
at the ends of the tunnels and propped the ceilings
up with wooden beams. They then filled several large
bronze cauldrons with oil and set them alight in the
hope that the resultant collapse of the ramp would overturn
the tower. However, even if they succeeded, the defenders
only postponed the inevitable and the city was eventually
taken. |
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Palaepaphos.
Persian siege ramp and counter tunnel |
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