Paplinutins of Tiiebais, a noted martyr of the early Church, flourished near the opening of the 4th centurj' as bishop of a city in the Upper Thcbais. During the ]Maximian persecutions he lost an eye, and was sent into the mountains, raphnutiiis's ascetical life and martyrdom made him notorious, and he was brought to tile attention of the emperor Conetantine, who learned to highly esteem him. When quite aged he attended as delegate the Nicsan Council (A.D. 325X and there opposed the proposition for the celibate life of the clergy. The doubts as to the authenticity of Paphnutius's opposition are dispelled bj' Lea in his Hist, of .Sacerdotal Ce'ibacy (p. 54). See also Neale, Hist, of the Eastern Church (patriarchate of Alexan- dria), i, 147 sq. ; Socrates, Hist. Eccles. i, 11. Pajibnu- tius probably attended also the synod at Sardica in A.D. 343. He died after that event. Another Paph- nutius was a follower of Tiieophilus, and an opponent of the extravagant anthropomorpliism. He flourished about the close of the 4th century.
Pa'phos (Jlacpoc, of unknown etymology), a city of Cyprus, at the western extremity of the island, of which it was the chief city during the time of the Roman dominion, and there the governor resided. This func- tionary is called in the Acts of the Apostles (xiii, 7) "deputy," and his name is said to have been Sergius Paulus. The word deputij signifies proconsul, and ini- [ilies that the province administered by such an officer was under the especial rule of the senate. See Dep- uty. Cyprus had originally been reserved by the emperor to himself, and governed accordingly bj- a
PAPHOS
637
PAPHOS
proproBtor ; but finding the island peaceful, and troops wanted in otlier p.irts of the empire, Augustus ex- changed it with the senate for a more distant and troubled province, and the governor is therefore cor- rectly styled in the Acts deputy or proconsul. At this time Cyprus was in a state of considerable pros- perity; it possessed good roads, especially one run- ning from east to west through the whole length of the island, from Salamis to Paphos, along which Paul and Barnabas travelled ; an extensive commerce, and it was the resort of pilgrims to the Paphian shrine from all parts of the world (Fairbairn). The two missionaries found Sergius Paulas, the proconsul of the island, residing here, and were enabled to produce a considerable effect on his intelligent and candid mind. This influence was resisted by El3-mas (or Bar- Jesus), one of those Oriental "sorcerers" whose mis- chievous power was so great at this period, even among the educated classes. Miraculous sanction was given to the apostles, and Elymas was struck with blindness. The proconsul's faith having been thus confirmed, and doubtless a Christian Church having been founded in Paphos, Barnabas and Saul crossed over to the continent and landed in Pamphylia (ver. lo). It is observable that it is at this point that the latter becomes the more prominent of the two, and that his name henceforward is Paul, and not Saul CSlavXaQ u Kai UavXoc;, ver. 9) (Smith). See Paul.
The name of Paphos, without any adjunct, is used by poets and by writers of prose to denote both Old and New Paphos, but with this distinction, that in prose writers it commonly means New Paphos, while in the poets, on the contrary — for whom the name Palae-Pa- phos would have been unwieldy — it generally signifies Old Paphos, the more peculiar seat of the worship of Aphrodite. In inscriptions also both towns are called "Paphos." This indiscriminate use is sometimes pro- ductive of ambiguity', especially in the Latin prose authors.
1. Old Paphos (nn\oi7ri70oe), now Kuk'a or Konu- hlia (Engel, Ki/pros, i, 125), was said to have been founded by Cinyras, the father of Adonis (Apollod. iii, 14) ; though, acording to another legend preserved by Strabo (xi, 505) — whose text, however, varies — it was founded by the Amazons. It was seated on an emi- nence ("celsa Paphos," Virgil, yEii. x, 51), at the dis- tance of about ten stadia, or 1 J miles, from the sea, on which, however, it had a roadstead. It was not far distant from the promontory of Lephjriuni (Strabo, xiv, GS3) and the mouth of the little river 13ocarus (Hesj'ch. s. V. HioKapoc). The fable ran that Venus had landed there when slie rose from out the sea (Tacit. Hist, ii, 3 ; Mela, ii, 7 ; Lucan, viii, 456). According to Pausanias (i, 14), her worship was introduced at Pa- phos from Assyria; but it is much more probable that it was of Phoenician origin. See Phcexicia. It had been very anciently established, and before the time of Homer, as the grove and altar of Aphrodite at Pa-
phos are mentioned in the Odyssey (viii, 3G2). Here the worship of the goddess centred, not for C3'prus alone, but for the whole earth. The CinyradiE, or de- scendants of Cinyras — Greek by name, but of Phoeni- cian origin — were the chief priests. Their power and authority were very great; but it may be inferred from certain inscriptions that they were controlled by a senate and an assembly of the people. There was also an oracle here (Engel, i, 483). Few cities have ever been so much sung and glorified by the poets (comp. iEschylus, Suppl. 525; Virgil, jEii. i, 415; Horace, Od. i," 19, 30 ; iii, 26 ; Stat. Silv. i, 2, 101 ; Ar- istoph. Lysis. 833, etc.). The remains of the vast tem- ple of Aphrodite are still discernible, its circumference being marked by huge foundation-walls. After its overthrow by an earthquake, it was rebuilt by Vespa- sian, on whose coins it is represented, as well as on early and later ones, and especiallj' in the most per- fect style on those of Septimius Severus (Engel, i, 130). From these representations, and from the existing re- mains, Hetsch, an architect of Copenhagen, has at- tempted to restore the building (Miiller's Archiiol. § 239, p. 261 ; Eckhel, iii, 86). See Venus.