339 
they form one body with the cornice. It is a surprising 
spectacle. 
Although these edifices might be looked upon as ca- 
tacombs on account of their situation, and the number 
of narrow niches which appear to have been destined to 
receive the coffins; yet the want of these niches in 
many apartments, and the communication between the 
niches in others, as also the species of ornaments which 
have been adopted, make me presume they have also 
served as habitations. The vast extent of these ruins 
give birth to the idea that many interesting objects 
might be found, if well directed researches were under- 
taken as at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The antiquity 
of these two latter cities is not so great as that of an- 
cient Paphos. 
The tradition that this place and Ieroschipos were the 
abode of Aphroditis or Venus, is too well founded to 
be shaken by doubt; and these vast caverns support the 
idea of the mysterious initiations of the goddess. But 
couid this goddess of Paphos, and that of Idalia and 
Cythera, and consequently the queen of the palace, the 
ruins of which are upon the highest summit of the Ni- 
cosian mountains, be the same? I do not think it, for it 
is evident that the style of architecture of the palace is 
very different and more modern than that at the ruins 
©f Paphos. 
This principle once established, it may be imagined 
with a degree of probability, that there have been two 
queens named Aphroditis or Venus; of whom the first 
reigned at Paphos, at Ieroschipos, and at Cuclia; and 
the second at a later period, inhabited the palace upon 
the mountains of Nicosia, and gave laws to Idalia and 
