History

19 May 1596

The traveller Fynes Moryson, also recorded as Fines or Fiennes, visited Cyprus in 1596. He comments on Paphos and its relation to the Goddess Venus:

On Sunday, the nineteenth of May, we came to the first Promontory of the Island Cyprus, towards the West, and after eight hours sailing, we came to the old City Paphos (or Paphia), now called Baffo, and the wind failing us, and gently breathing upon this Castle of Venus, we hovered here all the next night, gaining little or nothing on our way. This place is most pleasant, with fruitful hills, and was of old consecrated to the Goddess Venus, Queen of this Island.