m 
CLARKE'S TRAVELS. 
subterranean chambers, or sepulchres# Not long before our 
arrival, the English consul, signor Peristiani, a Venetian, dug 
up, in one place, about thirty idols belonging to the most ancient 
mythology of the heathen world. Their origin refers to a pe¬ 
riod long anterior to the conquest of Cyprus by the Ptolomies, 
and may relate to the earliest establishment of the Phoenician 
colonies. Some of these are of terra cotta; others of a coarse 
lime stone ; and some of soft crumbling marble. They were 
all sent to our ambassador at Constantinople, who presented 
them to Mr. Cvipps. The principal figures seem to have been 
very ancient representations of the most popular divinity of the 
island, the pantamorpha mater ; more frequently represented as 
Ceres than as Venus, (notwithstanding all that poets have 
feigned of the Paphian goddess,) if we may safely trust to such 
documents as engraved gems, medals, marbles, and to these 
idols, the authentic records of the country. Upon almost all 
the intaglios found in Cyprus, even among the mins of Paphos, 
the representations are either those of Ceres herself, or of sym¬ 
bols designating her various modifications. Of these, the au- 
thor collected many, which it would be tedious to enumerate. 
In their origin, the worship of Ceres and of Venus was the 
same. The Moon, or Dea Jana , called Diana b} T the Romans,f 
and Astarle , “ daughter of Heaven by the Phoenicians,:]; whe¬ 
ther under the name of Urania, Juno, or Isis, was also the Ce¬ 
res of Eleusis. Having in a former publication § pointed out 
their connexion, and their common reference to a single princi¬ 
ple in nature, (a subject involving more extraneous discussion 
than might be deemed consistent with the present undertaking,) 
it is not necessary to renew the argument further, than to ex¬ 
plain the reason why the symbols of the Eleusinian Ceres were 
* De la Roque was in Cyprus in May, 1683. At that time, a relation of his, Monsr. 
Eeau, the French consul at Larneca, showed to him sundry antiquities recently dis¬ 
covered in sepulchres near the town. He particularly mentions, lachrymatories and 
lamps. Voy. d.e Syrie ct du Mont, Liban, par De La Roque , tom, i. p.2. Par. 1722. 
t‘‘ The Latin Diana (Vossius de Idolat lib. ii. c. 25.) is the contract of Diva Jana , 
«)r Dea Jana.” See also the erudite dissertation of Gale (Court of the Gentiles , p. 119. 
Oxon. 1639.) ‘‘ They styled the moon Urania, Juno, Jana, Diana , Venus, &c. • and as 
the sun was called Jupiter, from TV* * * § j'G, voirnp, and Janus from the same i7\ so also 
the moon was called first Jana, and thence Juno, from tlhjah, the proper name of God.” 
go Vossius de Idolat. lib. ii. c 26. ” Juno is referred to the moon ; and comes from fT* 
Ja/i. the proper name of God, as Jacchus from fT s ja Clws. Amongst the ancient Ro¬ 
mans, Jana and Juno were the same.” 
t According to the learned Gale, our word Easter, considered of such doubtful ety¬ 
mology, is derived from the Saxon goddess JEstar, or Astarte, to whom they sacri¬ 
ficed in the month of April. See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, b. ii. c. 2. 
§ “ Greek Marbles,” p. 74. 
