Paphos site yields evidence of St Paul

EXCAVATIONS in Paphos have yielded important finds including new information on the visit to the island by St Paul, the Apostle.The government has confirmed reports that the Italian archaeological mission uncovered a fragment of a marble inscription which supports the scriptures on the Apostle’s links to Cyprus.Site director Filippo Giudice, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Catania in Sicily, said that the site at Toumballos was one of the most important monuments of Hellenistic and Roman Paphos.He said the inscription they found confirmed that Paul had preached in the area of the Christian basilica which the site later became.Giudice said that the basilica was established by St Hilarion from Palestine who, after a stay in Sicily, came to Paphos to preach and may even have carved the inscription himself.Tradition says that it was St Hilarion who drove demons from the basilica which was previously been a pagan temple and sanctuary to Apollo sanctuary, Giudice said.Paphos mayor Phidias Sarringas hailed the find as very important. “Archaeologists from all over the world will be interested in the find, because it changes current beliefs on the path of Christianity and the presence of the Apostle Paul in Paphos,” he said.Similar inscriptions had been found at the Vatican in Rome, he added.Archaeologists had previously thought that the site was a Roman military camp, and they were surprised when their findings indicated that St Paul had also preached Christianity there.The archaeologists have been working at the site for eleven years and this year they also uncovered an ancient 72-metre length of road and two chambers which have been partly explored.Previous finds at Toumballos include a staircase, a circular chamber and a long corridor on to which three chambers open.

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