History

01 Μάι 1610

The traveller George Sandys spoke of a custom in Cyprus whereby all young women, before getting married, sacrificed their virginity in the name of their goddess Venus, offering themselves to strangers.

The traveller George Sandys spoke of a custom in Cyprus whereby all young women, before getting married, sacrificed their virginity in the name of their goddess Venus, offering themselves to strangers. Cypriot women were regarded by foreigners as of loose morals:

Our sails now swelling with the first breath of May, on the right hand we left Cyprus, sacred of old unto Venus, who (as they fain) was here first exhibited to mortals…Thither said to be driven In regard of the fertility of the soil, or beastly lusts of people, who to purchase portions for their daughters, accustomed to prostitute them on the shore unto strangers: an offering besides held acceptable to their goddess of Viciousnesse.