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only to be distinguished by the circular mounds of 
flints, washed bare by the rain. 
The river Amathante flows at some distance from the 
town to the west, through which it formerly flowed, and 
its bed was between two hills. The sea washes the 
walls of Amathante. 
A little village, which is honoured with the name of 
Amathante, is situated half a mile inland. A Turk 
and a Greek from this village aided me in my researches 
among the ruins. 
The inspection of the antiquities in the island of Cy- 
prus made me think of Aphroditis, or the two sove- 
reigns named Venus, who had reigned at very distant 
periods from each other; first, the primitive Venus, so- 
vereign of the catacombs, or the subterranean palaces 
in the island of Paphos, of Ieroschipos, and of Cuclia; 
and second, the Venus of Idalia and Cythera, mistress 
of the queen's palace, upon the summit of the moun- 
tains of St. Chrysostom, or Buffavent, who flourished 
at a later period. 
The contemporary poets of the second Venus, to 
flatter her vanity, did not make any difference between 
her and the first, or of the two different periods, and 
confounded the copy with the original type, without re- 
flecting upon the anachronism, and gave to one Venus 
the attributes of the goddess of Paphos, as also those of 
the divinity of Idalia and Cythera. The superstition, 
the licentiousness, and the interest of the Cypreans, in- 
duced them to consecrate temples to the apotheosis of 
this female, upon spots which the traditions of the poets, 
who were the only historians, had handed down to 
them as the abode of the goddess. 
