Inscriptions of Amathous IX. A dispatch from the Vogue mission (1862) rediscovered at the Louvre

Inscriptions of Amathous IX. A dispatch from the Vogue mission (1862) rediscovered at the Louvre An inscription found in 1862 by de Vogue's archaeological mission in the village of Aghios Tychonas (coming so from the site of Amathous) has been rediscovered in the Louvre in 2009. This was only known through Waddington's old publication (1870). The text, dating probably of the early Hellenistic period, mentions a trees plantation and the offering of a naos by a certain Simos. This plot, which should have been a small sacred grove (alsos), was situated between the Heraion and a pavement. Even it is not possible to determinate the location of this certainly private consecration, the inscription gives a precious evidence on the religious topography of Amathous at the beginning of the Ptolemaic era, and in particular on the presence of a sanctuary dedicated to Hera, whose cult is very rarely attested in Cyprus.