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In the vast, still unexplored zone (the N-W part of the
city), the mission from
Catania
opened excavations in the area of the so-called "Garrison's
Camp", where hypogaeic
rooms of a sanctuary of Hellenistic and Roman age, otherwise known
as the temple
of Apollon at Toumballos were visible.
The sanctuary reveals a noteworthy complex of underground rooms, excavated
in the
rock, and, to the east, a long access dromos and a staircase leading down
to underg-
round rooms and corridors. The impressive complex presents a first
circular room, a
long corridor and other three rooms which open in the west wall of
the corridor (the
first semicircular, the second circular,
the third quadrangular). The underground
sanctuary may be also accessed from a second dromos (in the western part)
situated
opposite the first. An exedra opens in the northern wall of
this dromos, followed by
another corridor and other rooms, now
partially filled with earth. Remains
of a
building with an apse were visible to the west of the hypogaeic sanctuary.
The excavation has allowed us to bring to the light the
long access dromos to the
sanctuary of Hellenistic and Roman age. So far
more than seventy meters of this
dromos proceeding from west-to east have been discovered. However, it
seems that
after this point it changes its direction and goes south. This
corridor, less than one
metre wide, hid the access to the underground rooms from the sight of the
faithful and
thus contributed to increasing the mystery of the cult practised
there. The north wall
of the dromos still stands but the southern wall was moved in the Early
Christian age,
and its ashlars, except the first two, were used for other
constructions. The central
part of the wall has preserved its original polygonal structure, but,
elsewhere, there is
considerable evidence of reconstruction, for which big ashlars, with mouldings,
from
other old monuments were sometimes used.
Remains of a building with an apse were visible to the west of the
hypogaeic sanctuary.
The new religious building, the subject
of careful investigations, is acquiring
the
features of an early Christian martyrium. It presents
a rare iconography: a double
narthex, the nave and two apses fitted in the walls of the nave. The wide
space delimi-
ted by them gives access to a "crypt", formed, in the east and
west walls, by two rock
arms of the corridor of the pagan sanctuary, and in the north side, by a
purpose - built
wall (in this way a perfect symbiosis between the
pagan sanctuary and the Christian
basilica was realised). The investigations carried out under the
foundations of this buil-
ding at the end of IV century.
The partial excavation in the crypt has revealed two phases. In the later
one, around a
small quadrangular structure filled with burned
earth, vases were found that seem to
make up a "service". A lamp, a blowl, a jug, a pitcher and an
amphora, unfortunately in
fragments, were also discovered. In the earth inside the amphora
a bit of very rough
textile and a small fragment of bone were found.
This singular discovery suggested an interesting hypothesis connected with
the period
of the Christianisation of Cyprus, and, particularly, with the time when
the cult of Saint
Hilarion was alive in Paphos This saint preached and died at the end of
the IV century
(see Hieron. Vita Hilarionis).
Up to now there has been no epigraphical evidence that allows us to
identify the temple
of Apollon at Toumballos, with the one where Saint Hilarion
preached. The first instal-
lation of the small basilica, built with and above the walls
of the pagan building, dates
back to the years immediately following the death of the anachorite, who
at first was bu-
ried in Paphos and then brought back Gaza by his
disciples. This small basilica repre-
sents, very probably, a "memorial" connected with
the life and the miracles of the saint,
and the table "service" set in the crypt, in the VII
century phase, could be connected to
his memory. Topographical inhvestigations, based on testimony of Saint
Jerome, (who in
secundo ab urbe miliario spoke of Hilarion's first stay in Cyprus and his
preaching " near
the ruins of a very ancient temple", and during his second stay at
some twelve miles from
the sea), have allowed us to advance a hypothesis: the hypogaeic sanctuary
in "Garrison's
Camp" was the one used for
evangelisation, and the cave at Episkopi, in the hills near
Paphos, quoted by local tradition as Saint Hilarion's, the place
where the saint retreated
to, on Esichius' advice and to avoid the crowds of pilgrims.
In connection with the small basilica, an entire area of the sanctuary
from the end of the
IV century AD until the time of Arab incursions (mid VII century AD) has
undergone a
new arrangement. Rooms, some of which decorated with mosaics, were opened
on the
inner side of the north wall of the dromos. Further investigations will
clarify if here the
Christian quarter has indeed been discovered. It would be counterpoised to
the pagan
quarter, in the SW zone of the city where great patrician houses of this
period, decorat-
ed with the beautiful mosaics of Aion, Theseus killing the minotaur,
Orpheus, the birth of
Achilles and the triumph of Dionysos can still be admired.
In the last two excavation campaigns, the digging of the dromos gave very
important
results. The dromos, after 72 meters in direction W-E, turns south, and
goes under-
ground. There is an impressive view of underground chambers and
corridors, wich
will be explored in future. The quantity of material, wich fills
the hypogaeic rooms,
obliges us to proceed on all fours, but the archaeological wealth of the
deposit is tes-
tified to by an enormous capital decorated with rosettes and lotus buds/flowers,
which
partially obstructs the passage of the corridor. The corridor has a
vaulted roof to allow
the faithful to proceded upright. A complicated system of
hypogaeic rooms and corri-
dors is connected with the underground and built parts of the
sanctuary. Everything here
allows us to comphrend the greatness and the richness of the so called
Apollon-at-Toum-
ballos sanctuary, which appears to be one of the greatest and
most complicated hypo-
gaeic sanctuaries in the Mediterranean area.
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