CHAPTER   1.
 

Ancient Plaees of Worship in Cyprus.
 

I describe, at the outset, the six most important Places of Worship whicik I excavated^^
because the}^ will occupy a large share of our attention in the present work, and because they give
the key to the proper comprehension of Cyprian sacred precincts in general. In their descriptions
of the Olympian apparatus of worship as revealed by the excavations, Curtius*) and Furtwangler^*)
could only cite Cyprian parallels.. The material for comparison at the disposal of these scholars^
when they ^wrote, will appear as but .a tiny and not always reliable fragment of the History of Cyprian
Worships, when compared with the numerous and, ini some instances, quite complete pictures of
religious observance in ancient Cyprus which I here lay before the reader for whaty to all intents and
purposes, I may call the first time. Such of my discoveries as have been already made public
by myself and others are only a very small fraction of a whole the remainder of which I have
purposely withheld; and as regards discoveries since made by others,: my long experience as a
practical •excavator should make me better able to turn them to good account than the discovei'ers
themselves.

I begin with No. 1, the temenos of Artemis Kybele at Achna in the East of the
Island.***)

If we draw a straight line from Larnaka, the best known port on the south-ealst coast of
the island, to the ancient Sal am is, situated on the east coast north of Famagusta, Achna, a
small modern village, will be found about half waj^ between the two. It lies on the edges of a well-
watered and fertile depression in the otherwise unfertile or sterile plain. To the S. and SE., in the
direction of the village Xylotimbo, there is nothing but bare rock; to the N. and NE., in the direction
of Akhyritou, the rock has a scanty covering of ferruginous soil. In the fertile and windihg valley
of Achna, at a spot where it is tolerable narrow, about 50 metres from the last houses and not far
from  the  road,   the* peasants,   in the  spring  of  1882,   came by accident upon the Artemis-Temenos.
 

*) Die Altare von Ol3'mpia.   Berlin 1882.   (Extract from the Abhandlungen der Konigl. Akaderaie der
Wissenschaften.   Berlin 1881.)

**) Die Bronzefunde von Olympia. Berlin 1880. (Extract from the Abhandlungen der Konigl. Akad.
der Wissensch.    Berlin 1879.)

***) In order to enable the reader to find the places easily in the Map (PL I), I have there inserted
m red^ at the spots to which they refer, the numbers of the present list. I have also underlined in red dl\ the
places in the island in which I have made excavations. I have not added an itinerary, as this would have
involved connecting by lines most of the villages in the island. Nor did I think it was any use to insert all
the spots  at which I   saw ancient remains   or  tombs  opened by others.   I will discuss these in w^orks more

specially dealing with iopogfaphy.

2*