Petra tou Romiou ("Rock of the "Roman") (that is East Roman or Byzantine as Byzantines referred to themselves as either Greeks or Romans until the 1920s), also known as Aphrodite's Rock, is a sea stack in Paphos, Cyprus. It is located off the shore along the main road from Paphos to

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

. The combination of the beauty of the area and its status in mythology as the birthplace of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

makes it a popular tourist location. Aphrodite's Rock

The sea in this region is generally rough, persuading tourists not to swim there. It is not permitted to climb the rock. A restaurant, a tourist pavilion and the Aphrodite Hills resort are nearby.

Legends

According to one legend, this rock is the site of the

birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

of the goddess

, perhaps owing to the foaming waters around the rock fragments, and for this reason it is known as ''Aphrodite's Rock''. Gaia (Mother Earth) asked one of her sons, Cronus, to mutilate his father,

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

(Sky). Cronus cut off Uranus' testicles and threw them into the sea. Similarly, the local version indicates that Aphrodite’s Rock is a part of the lower body of Uranus. This legend says that Cronus ambushed his fatherhttp://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm , put in his hands a jagged sickle, and revealed to him the whole plot. and cut him below the waist with a

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor mac ...

. Uranus, as he tried to escape flying, lost parts of his truncated body and testicles into the sea. A white foam appeared from which a maiden arose, the waves first taking her to

Kythera Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, ...

and then bringing her to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. The maiden, named Aphrodite, went to the assembly of gods from Cyprus. The Romans widely referred to her as

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. Aphrodite attracted a large cult following in Paphos, which was eventually crushed by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. This is evident from the Sanctuary of Aphrodite in Old Paphos, Kouklia. A local myth is that any person who swims around the Aphrodite Rock will be blessed with eternal beauty. Another legend associates the name ''Achni'' with the nearby beach, and attributes this to it being a site where the Achaeans came ashore on their return from

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

. The present name ''Petra tou Romiou'' ("Rock of the Greek") associates the place with the exploits of the hero Basil as told in the

Digenes Akritas ''Digenes Akritas'', ) is a variant of ''Akritas''. Sometimes it is further latinized as ''Acritis'' or ''Acritas''. ( el, Διγενῆς Ἀκρίτας, ) is the most famous of the Acritic songs and is often regarded as the only surviving epic ...

. Basil was half-Byzantine (East Roman or ''Romios'') and half-Arabic, hence the name ''Digenes'' (''two-blood''). Legend tells that the Christian Basil hurled a huge rock from the Troodos Mountains to keep off the invading

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s. A nearby rock is similarly known as the ''Saracen Rock''.

References

{{Landmarks of Paphos Geology of Cyprus Paphos Stacks (geology)

Legends

See also

References