Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Síða 98

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LE NORD
cult-buildings seem to have consisted of a temple-cella connected
with a courtyard in front.
Also private buildings of considerable dimensions were ex-
amined, as well as the huge defensive works that encircle the inac-
cessible top of the mountain.
The finds from these excavations are important. In the
temples thus a large number of sculptures of a characteristic
Greek form were found, most of them made of limestone and
terra-cotta, but also very important bronze sculptures were
found in the Temple of Athene. In one of the rooms of the
palace a large treasure of fine jewelry and gold- and silver-
coins was found, all suggesting wide connexions of Cyprus
during this time. The copious material of pottery is of the greatest
importance for the chronology of the period. This also applies
to the finds from the chamber tombs in the neighbouring necro-
polis, which was completely excavated. — The buildings on the
mountain of Youni constitute the principal monument to our
knowledge of the culture of the classical epoch in Cyprus and
it also throws a light on the cultural conditions of the surround-
ing countries at that time, particularly as the history of the palace
of Vouni may be connected with one of the most important
periods of Greek history.
Mersinaki2 and Paradisotissa.oi At the foot of the mountain of
Vouni two temple-sites were excavated, one of which, at Para-
disotissa, formed a small chapel with an entrance-hall, to judge
from the finds of sculptures probably a very little younger than
the palace. At Mersinaki, on the other hand, the remains of a cult-
place dedicated to Apollo Lykios and Athene was found, this
having been founded at the same time as the earliest parts of the
palace, but also having been used as late as in Hellenistic times.
The temple cella was completely destroyed, but in the courtyard
of the temple a large number of fragmentary statues of limestone
and terra-cotta were found, which in a manner are a direct
continuation of the remarkable series of sculptures from Ajia
Irini. The early sculptures at Mersinaki have obviously been
made by the same sculptors as the statues at Vouni. At Mersinaki,
a peculiar custom could be demonstrated: after the destruction
of the cult-place a large number of the early statues were carefully
buried in large pits, dug in the ground for that purpose.
62 Swed. Cyp. Exp. III, p. 340.
63 Swed. Cyp. Exp. III, p. 292.