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A Sanctuary Site at Lefkóniko

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Extract

The village of Lefkóniko lies on the north side of the Mesariá plain, on the main or ‘upper’ road from Nicosía (21 miles) to Tríkomo (9 miles) for the Karpass promontory. Cross-roads connect Lefkóniko northwards by Platáni (5 miles) with Akanthoú on the north coast; south-westward with Yénagra ( miles) on the alternative ‘old’ or ‘lower’ road from Nicosía to Tríkomo; southwards, through the double village Peristeróna-Piyí, with Prastió (6 miles) on the north bank of the main channel of the Pidiás river. The Gephýria stream, descending from the North Range, crosses the Tríkomo road 2 miles east of Lefkóniko, and skirts the limestone plateau which was the home-territory of ancient Salamis swerving south-east beyond Peristeróna-Piyí and joining a loop of the main river at Styllos, 4 miles east of Prastió, and about half-way to the sea.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1945

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References

page 60 note 1 Renan, Mission en Phénicie p. 850: letter from M. Péretié dated Nov. 18, 1873. ‘Dans un caveau ou souterrain près du Maabed’ the fine monolithic chamber ‘probablement parmi les débris de constructions figurés à l'angle N. O. de l'enceinte taillé dans le roc (voir Pl. VIII) on a trouvé un assez grand nombre de débris de statuettes, dont les têtes, comme cela a lieu à Chypre, sont séparées de corps.’ Sixty-four such heads were brought to M. Péretié; together with bodies of statues, and of animals much damaged. One body was as much as 40 cm. high; the head and part of the legs were missing: ‘cependant, à un reste d'un petit lion que le personnage tenait de la main gauche, et dont on ne voit plus que les pattes, ou reconnait que la statue a du ressembler à ces colosses trouvés à Ninivé (maintenant au Musée du Louvre) qui écrasent un lion contre leur ceinture. Toutes les autres pièces que sont entre les mains de M. Péretié sont des têtes ressemblant beaucoup à celles qu'on a découvertes à Chypre.’ The letter goes on to describe their ‘type sémitique très accusé’, and especially an ‘Assyrian’ bearded head with conical cap and curly beard. The deposit, as a whole, is described by M. Renan as ‘un de ces depots de statues brisées, comme Chypre en possède un grand nombre, et qui remontent certainement à l'epoque de la destruction du paganisme.’

page 62 note 1 For the general question of dates, see p. 100.