Les lieux de culte sur et sous la colline de Fabrika. Soubassement de temple et autres sanctuaires rupestres ptolémaïques et romains de Néa Paphos

Abstract

Fabrika Hill, situated to the North East of Nea Paphos, comprises the foundation of a temple carved in the bedrock and vestiges of subterranean cultic places. After having described the foundation of the temple, this article returns to its identification, considered by some as possibly having been dedicated to Aphrodite Paphia, and by others as dedicated to Ptolemy IX Evergetes II, after his victory at Azotos in Syro-Phoenicia. The end of this article is devoted to various subterranean spaces, resembling cultic places fitted out in ancient underground quarries. By comparing these underground spaces with examples found in Cyprus, Anatolia, Syria or the western Mediterranean, a reflection is made on the cult, the rites of which were carried out in the rock cut sanctuaries : chthonic or at mystical procedures, oracular or therapeutic sanctuaries, dedicated to Asclepius, Dionysus, Mithras or to the Egyptian divinities of Isis and Serapis. The room comprising an exedra decorated with a shell deserves particular attention. Its situation at close proximity to the temple allows us to envisage that they formed part of the same cultic complex.