GOLGOI
Cyprus.
Inland ca. 1.6 km NE of
the village of Athienou and 17 km N-NW of Kition.
The ruins cover a sizable area on a hill sloping gently
N to S in the direction of the village. Remains of
the ancient city wall can still be traced in almost all
its course. According to Sakellarios, who was the first
to identify this site, the perimeter of the circuit was 7
stadia. The necropolis lies to the S within the village and
to the SE. Two important temples excavated in the
19th c. lie outside the walls by the Church of Haghios
Photios about 3 km SE of the village. The area of the
city itself is now a field of ruins under cultivation.
The traditional founder of the town was Golgos from
Sikyon in the Peloponnese. This connection is further
illustrated by an archaic limestone block found here,
now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Carved
in relief on this block is a Chimaera, the symbol of
Sikyon which appears on its coins. Golgoi must have
succeeded the nearby Late Bronze Age settlement at
Bamboulari tis Koukouninas, due N of Athienou. Nothing is known of the history of Golgoi although it is
mentioned by several ancient authors. Inscriptions attest an Aphrodite Golgia whose worship was, according
to Pausanias, earlier than the cult of Aphrodite at
Paphos. And although we know nothing about the existence of a kingdom of this name some coins have
been attributed to it. On the evidence of recent excavations near the E gate the city seems to have flourished to the end of the 4th c. B.C. but another sector of
the town must have been inhabited down to Early Christian times.
Excavations on the site were started for the first time
in 1969 and were confined to the E sector by the E
Gate, where a number of private houses and workshops
dating mainly from the 4th c. B.C., came to light; the
lowest strata, however, produced sherds of the archaic
and Early Classical periods. Part of the city wall is preserved to a height of 2.50 m; its lower course consists of
rubble with mudbricks above. The E Gate with steps
leading up into the town has also been cleared.
From a tomb comes a late archaic stone sarcophagus
with low relief decoration, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. One of the long sides shows a
hunting scene; the other, a banquet scene of four
couches on which recline one older and three younger
men.
One of the short sides shows Perseus carrying off the
head of Medusa followed by his dog; the other, a fourhorse chariot with a beardless driver conveying an
elderly man, who probably represents the occupant of
the sarcophagus. The cover is in the form of a gable
with four crouching lions at the ends.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Luigi Palma di Cesnola,
Cyprus, its
Ancient Cities, Tombs and Temples (1877); A. Sakellarios,
Τὰ Κυπριακά I (1890); I. K. Peristianes,
Γενικὴ Ἰστορια τῆς νήσου Κύπρον (1910); Olivier Masson,
Les
Inscriptions Chypriotes Syllabiques (1961) 275-301
I;
id., “Kypriaka IX: Antiquités de Golgoi,”
BCH 95 (1971)
305-34MI; K. Nicolaou, “Archaeological News from
Cyprus, 1969,”
AJA 74 (1970) 396-97
I; 76 (1972) 314;
77 (1973) 56, 429-30; V. Karageorghis, “Chronique des
Fouilles à Chypre en 1969,”
BCH 94 (1970) 269-72
I;
95 (1971) 403-6; 96 (1972) 1073-74; 97 (1973) 673.
K. NICOLAOU
