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Since she was drifted by the sea breeze off the coast of Paphos where she emerged out of the sea foam, she captured the imagination of poets and artists throughout the ages. Three of the Homeric hymns are dedicated to Aphrodite, and the hymns actually mention the island as her place of worship. Homer speaks of "stately Aphrodite, gold- crowned and beautiful", "sweetly-winning, coy-eyed goddess". Stasinos, the Cypriote poet (7th or 8th century B.C.) gives a defailed description of her advent in the Cypria Epics. She is the embodiment of the fertilising dynamism of Love, fertilising the whole nature, shedding happiness, perpetrating life. It is in this role that Aphrodite dominates the philosophy of Parmenides and is recognised in the cosmogony of Empedocles where she appears as "Queen Kipris". Aphrodite was an elevated creature both in spirit and in appearance: her seducing beauty, her physical charm surpassed all imagination. There was nothing harsh or vindinctive about her: she could neither wield a thunberbolt or pour down fire as other gods did. She blessed Cyprus with her birth and rendered it a centre of worship of immense religious radiance right up to the Christian times - a worship that did not inculcate awe or dogmatic faith but was associated with earthly pursuits. Archaeological evidence and inscriptions bear witness to the existence of countless sanctuaries or temples dedicated to the goddess throughout Cyprus: at Paphos, Kouklia, Yieroskipou, Marion, Soloi, Amathus, Morphou, Trikomo, Chytroi, Golgoi, Akhna, Arsos, Idalion and others. It is our belief that the spirit of Aphrodite whose mission was to supress violence and make Love reign, is quite opportune at this time when Cyprus is still going through a period of severe political adversity.
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