The early history of Cyprus is richly illustrated by the literary traditions regarding its religion, and by the remains of sanctuaries and cemeteries which have been revealed by excavation.

It seems, therefore, desirable to interrupt here the more or less chronological arrangement of this history, in order to describe the more significant elements in the primitive religion of the island. Many of the minor cults must be ignored, and it will be necessary in some cases to pass beyond the limits of the Bronze Age into more historical times.

In literary tradition, the light is concentrated on the worship of the Paphian Aphrodite, and for the most part projected from the Phoenician angle. By basing our considerations on the archaeological evidence, we shall obtain a perspective not so clear, but perhaps less misleading.

The excavations at Khirokitia show that in the “Neolithic” Age, probably not later than 3000 b.c., something like a cult of the dead was practised, since what appear to be sacrificial tables, and remains of animal bones in carbonized layers, were found in a burial enclosure. On the other hand, the later settlement at Erimi has so far yielded no sign of a cult of the dead, who were buried in holes in the ground (in one case inside a house). There is no trace in Cyprus down to the end of the Bronze Age of cremation of the bodies.