I am just returned from a holiday in Cyprus, staying just outside the city of Paphos, in a beautiful and typically Mediterranean area of the coast. It is loosely divided into old and new Paphos, with the old town being the original capital and the centre of the cult of Aphrodite since the Homeric era.
Paphos has more than its fair share of ancient relics and archaeological treasures, many of which are easily accessible. Due to its prominence in the Hellenic era and later during Roman occupation, there are a lot of fine and well preserved sites nearby, including the Tomb of the Kings and several roman villas. Whilst classical era archaeology doesn't really interest me, as I much prefer the neolithic and earlier periods, there are some quite remarkable treasures to be found in Paphos.
Near to the new shopping mall in Nea Paphos is a large area of what appears to be sandstone bluffs, weathered and pockmarked and punctuated by small caves. On previous visits to the harbour, from the new town, we had driven past the caves and I had not paid much attention, assuming they were just that - shallow spaces in the rock. But in 2022, during my last visit, I saw that the whole area had been surrounded by an elevated walkway and portions had been cordoned off. Closer inspection showed that the caves were in fact man made and turned out to be connected to a series of catacombs, named Fabrika Hill. The cordoned off area was in fact a huge amphitheatre, which is currently undergoing excavation.
While I was in the area in 2022, I decided to investigate the catacombs, while the family spent time at the harbour, so I was dropped off, expecting to be disappointed with a couple of simple shelters. As it turned out, the Fabrika Hill area had a lot more to offer.
Near to the road, where I had seen the cave entrances, was a large tree, overhanging a wall, tied with hundreds of strips of cloth, scarves, masks, strings and sometimes small padlocks.
On closer inspection, I saw that the tree was growing up out of a small courtyard and a series of steps ran down underground. There was no clear signage and very little guidance as to what the place was, but I discovered later that it was called Agia Solomoni and was a shrine to St Solomoni who had been imprisoned there by the Romans in 12th century. It is also referred to as the cave of the Seven Sleepers, as St Solomoni and her sons were reputed to be buried there.
At the base of the steps was a small room, adjacent to the courtyard, filled with painted images of various icons and a small table held various offerings and candles. As my first visit was during the covid pandemic, there were a lot of masks hanging from hooks and nails in the wall. I half expected someone to appear behind me and question my intrusion in the place, but the area was deserted.
Two small windows punctuate the room with the votives and paintings, one looks out to the courtyard and the other opens to the steps. I left the room and went into the courtyard proper a discovered a series of entrances cut into the rock walls. Some of them were closed off by steel gratings and one or two had ropes and no entry signs on.
The tree itself appeared to grow directly out of the wall, but on closer inspection, I saw that the brickwork and masonry had been built around the bole and its roots disappeared behind the structure. I found out later that it is a Terebinth tree, a member of the pistachio family and was regarded as a 'wishing tree'. The Terebinth’s Hebrew name is
Elah or
Elat, which derives from the word El, or god.
Elah is the feminine form of that word and means “goddess.” This is perhaps an ancient location of the Mother goddess Aphrodite, who was much revered by the ancient Cypriots. The practice of tying rags to the tree is a votive offering which is believed to cure afflictions of the eye.
Looking down from the side of the tree, you can see the general layout of the shrine.
The overlay gives an indication of the arrangement of rooms, with each one given a letter for clarity. In my haste on my initial visit, I was so busy snapping away with my phone, that I didn't take proper attention to the layout and when I looked at the photographs later, I found it hard to figure out which room was which, as all the rooms were in darkness. This time, I made sure I had better lighting and made notes of what I was looking at. The two main rooms are secured by iron gratings, but it was easy to place a phone through the gaps to take photographs. At the time, I could only guess at what I was looking at and it was only when I got home and examined the images in Photoshop, that I was amazed to see that the walls at the rear of the caves were painted with 12th century Christian iconography.
The first image was taken in 2022 of Room C and was enhanced to show the details on the rear wall and the apse and recesses, where the internments would be held.
The second time I visited the shrine ( July 2024) I made sure I was adequately prepared and took time to try and record as much detail as possible. Whilst it was still impossible to fit my camera through the grating, I could get the iphone through, which has excellent low light capability.
While I was there, several other tourists visited the site, but again due to the total lack of signage or guidance, none of them stayed long and just had a cursory look into the rooms. Tripadvisor reviews often condemn the site as being unworthy of any interest and do not suggest stopping by, but it is certainly worth spending more than a few moments here, if only to get an idea of the spirit of the place.
Room B had a similar layout, with recesses in the walls and some small items hanging around the walls, but there was no visible artwork. The limited information online about the site suggests that there is graffitti carved into the walls by 13th century crusaders visiting the site, but as I was unable to enter the rooms, or see clearly enough, I can only guess where this might be.
On the wall below the window of Room C, there are a number of crosses graven into the stone.
Next to Room B is another entrance, this time much more roughly hewn and possibly predating the rest of the building. It leads steeply downwards, into what appears to be a spring. The first time I visited it was cordoned off and inaccessible and photography was impractical. On my second visit, there was a small rope with a no entry sign hung across the gap, so I didn't venture further. However, curiosity got the better of me and I had the chance for a final visit on the last day and elected to dip under the barrier and see what I could find.
Making sure there was nobody else on the way into the shrine, I popped under the rope and eased my way down into the darkness. The shot above is greatly enhanced and does not come close to showing how dark, damp, smelly and fly blown the shaft was. Needless to say, when I go to the bottom it was almost pitch black and the cave shelved out horizontally, so I had to stoop on the last step and shoot blindly into the recess.
Its difficult to tell from the image, but the recess does appear to be filled with shallow water and the walls of the tunnel were wet with moisture. having taken a few shots I made for the courtyard again and moved on to the final room, beneath the tree.
Its almost impossible to see where the tree starts and the masonry ends, as centuries of building and adding have encased the roots and the lower part of the bole. Inside the small room, there are small recesses and spotlights have been fitted in some places.
Most of the publicly accessible areas are dirty and full of litter and the walls have invariably been vandalised with graffiti. Its a shame that and area of such remote antiquity isn't given the care and respect it deserves, but there is a very relaxed attitude to life in Cyprus, which is only recently seeing the effect of the demands of tourism. I fully expect that the shrine will be cleaned up and probably staffed within the next five years, as the larger archaeological areas already have UNESCO status.
After leaving an old bandanna tied to the branches, I moved on to explore the rest of Fabrika Hill. I look forward to visiting the site again next year and will be curious to see if my bandanna is still in place.
