Cahiers du Centre d’Études Chypriotes 39, 2009
“ REVISITING” SOLOI-CHOLADES Ptolemaic Power, Religion and Ideology *
Giorgos PAPANTONIOU
Introduction
A large complex composed of temples in use between about 250 BC and the fourth century AD, at the locality Cholades of Soloi, was excavated and published in detail by A. Westholm of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition (Fig. 1). 1 In comparison with other Iron Age Cypriot sanctuaries, 2 this newly established sanctuary, dating to the early Hellenistic period, stands alone within the excavated record of ancient Cyprus, both in material and importance. The temples are not visible nowadays, as they have been reburied after the excavation. 3
* The research and conclusions reflected in this contribution stem from an expanded relevant chapter of my Ph. D. thesis (Trinity College Dublin, 2008), which is currently being revised for publication as a monograph (Cyprus, from Basileis to Strategos : Power, Religion and Ideology).
This research would not have been possible without a scholarship from the Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (CMNES), Trinity College Dublin. The refinement of the present article has been carried during the tenure of the one-year Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS). 1. Westholm 1936. 2. The problematic nature of the term “ Iron Age” is acknowledged. However, when I use it, I include within it the Hellenistic period, based on the established Cypriot chronological scheme proposed by E. Gjerstad. According to this chronological scheme, the Cypriot “ Iron Age” comprises the island’s Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods : SCE I, p. xvi ; see also the volume entitled Cyprus and the East Mediterranean in the Iron Age, which includes the historic periods up to the Roman era : Tatton-Brown 1989. 3. Karageorghis 2005, p. 70.
