Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/303

 THE TK.MPLE IN CYPRUS. 281 latter objects ? It is difficult to say ; but at least the motive is the same in both cases. Neither from medals nor ancient authors do we learn anything about the temples at Idalion and Golgos, but as they were smaller than the great building at Paphos, and as they left no ruins standing above the ground to draw the attention of destroyers, they have been preserved to our own clay, and when they were disinterred by MM. Lang and Cesnola in 1866-1869, they gave up to science a splendid booty in statues, bronzes, terra-cottas, Greek and Phoenician inscriptions, coins, jewels, &C. 1 Unhappily these excavations were made in such a way that they are of very little use to the historian of architecture. Mr. Lang discovered a temple at Dali (Idalion) and does not give its plan ; he does not even tell us anything as to the condition of the site on which he found such a treasure. As for Cesnola, who seems to have ransacked two separate temples at Golgos, his FIG. 202. Coin of Cyprus. From C.erhanl. attention never seems to have been turned to the remains of antique construction. In spite of all probabilities and the formal declaration of an intelligent witness, namely, Mr. Lang, who watched the labourers of his friend and rival at work, he denies the very existence of what seems to have been the older of the two temples. 2 As for the other, we certainly have a sketch of its 1 In Mr. LANG'S book (Cyprus, its History, its Present Resources and Future Pros- pects, i vol. 8vo, London, 1878), excavations and archaeology occupy but very, little space; most of his attention is given to questions of agricultural and political economy. Most of the monuments disentombed by him have gone to enrich the collections in the British Museum. See also an account of Mr. Lang's discoveries in G. PERROT, Lllede Cypre (Revue des deux Mondes, ist Fe'vrier, 1879, pp. 579, 580, 584, and 585). 2 This temple must have been circular according to Mr. Lang. The great statue of Hercules which was found in it suggests that it was consecrated to a god, Melkart, no doubt, who came in the course of ages to be confused with the Greek Herakles. See Mr. LANG'S letter in the Revue archeologique, and series, vol. xxiii. p. 366. Ceccaldi accepts all his conclusions. VOL. I. O