Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/321

 THE TEMPLE IN CYPRUS. 299 should be read by those who visited the sanctuary, and that his offering should be placed before the eyes of the god to whom it was presented. We can hardly doubt, therefore, that these four chambers with their connecting passage formed a crypt or hiding place in which the more valuable property of the temple could be concealed on any sudden alarm. 1 They were cut in the living rock and covered by the flooring of the temple. The only access was by a low and narrow passage, which could easily be filled up with earth ; the whole arrangement was well contrived to protect the treasures of the god against a sudden surprise, against the impatient violence of soldiers flushed with victory. We know too little of the internal history of Cyprus to be able to say at what moment and by fear of what danger the priests of FIG. 217. Gold bracelet. Weight 449 grammes. From Cesnola. the temple were driven to bury their valuables. The struggle with Persia in 500 suggests itself. Curium entered into the coalition of cities associated with the revolt of Ionia, and when she heard that Darius had passed considerable forces into the island with the help of the Phoenician fleet, she may well have taken the alarm and placed her treasures beyond the reach of profanation. She did not yet suspect that her king, Stesenor, would buy his own pardon and that of his subjects by treason on the field of battle. The first difficulty this explanation meets with 1 In Greece the temple of Delphi had underground cellars which were used for the same purpose. Strabo tells us that, during the sacred war, Onomarchus sent men down there to bring away the treasures hidden in the crypts ; but the earth quaked and the terrified workmen abandoned their task before they had well begun it (ix. iii. 8).