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V.—Contents of the Temple

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

As a supplement to the description and discussion of the Temple itself, a few words must be added as to the movable antiquities found upon its site. This is a section that we might have hoped to prove rich in treasures and full of interest. But all such hopes were destined to be disappointed, from what reason it is not now easy to discover. At Tochni, at Cyprus, is a well, into which tradition says St. Helena cast all the devils in the island; does this mean that the statues of ‘heathen gods’ were thrown in it? Perhaps at Paphos too, some zealous iconoclast may have similarly striven to abolish all the sacred objects of ancient worship—or perhaps mere considerations of gain or utility may have led to a most complete destruction. So we might easily account for the disappearance of all bronze statues: stories of the discovery of such linger about the neighbourhood. But it is harder to account for the vanishing of all the marble statues that probably were once here. We can hardly suppose that the absence of suitable marble in the island can have led to the exclusive use of bronze except for small works: offerings were brought to Paphos from all quarters of the ancient world. And if any marble statues ever existed, we should expect to find portions of them built into houses and walls, even if they were mostly reduced to lime. Why should inscriptions have been so much more fortunate? The preponderant use of bronze, shown by the bases, may serve in part as an explanation, but it seems necessary also to assume some general destruction of statues such as would probably have taken place if the worship were forcibly suppressed. The sacred cone itself has totally disappeared.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1888

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References

page 218 note 1 I understand that there is some consensus of authority for the attribution of this head to the Hellenistic period. If this prevail, the opinion here expressed must be given up. But I think it may as well be placed on record, to secure some discussion before such a work be finally relegated to later times.

page 218 note 2 Whether we read ‘sex annis’ in Pliny xxxiv. 84 or not is a detail; others can guess at the age as well as he.

page 219 note 1 The ‘infant Dionysus’ has a very subordinate position to the Hermes; and even apart from the bad preservation, the face seems to show that a type so young was not yet carefully worked out: in the copies of the infant Plutus, the head is doubtless made to conform to later types.

page 219 note 2 Well reproduced in our plate.

page 220 note 1 The view here expressed is confirmed by the fact that the head most nearly resembling the Paphos boy is the one on the stele of Cephisodotus at Argos, with a fourth century inscription. For confirming my own recollection as to the resemblance of this head I am indebted to Mr. J. A. R. Munro.

page 220 note 2 For the restoration of the form of the vase and the interpretation of the lower row of figures, the reader is indebted to Mr. A. S. Murray: Mr. Cecil Smith first identified the subject in the upper row of figures.