Cape Frurion is an ancient place of execution for blasphemers who dared to touch the altar in the sanctuary of Apollo of Gilates and thereby desecrate it. Where was this place and what is there today?
The Temple of Apollo of Gilates is one of the most important pagan temples of ancient Cyprus. On the island, Apollo was considered the patron saint of forests and wildlife. The temple, which has been one of the main religious centers of Cyprus since ancient times, is indeed located in an area with a lot of dense wild vegetation, which was probably even more lush at that time. We wrote more about this place here.
Temple of Apollo of Gilata. Photo in-cyprus.com
The ancient author Strabo, in the XIV book of his work “Geography”, describes the cities and landscape of Cyprus. Mentioning Kourion, which he calls “the beginning of the western sea route to Rhodes” (quotes from Strabo are given in the translation by G. A. Stratanovsky), the ancient researcher reports that beyond Kourion “there is a cape, from where the sacrileges who touched the altar of Apollo are thrown off.”
The ancient author Claudius Ptolemy in his book “Guide to Geography” calls this cape Frurion (that is, “fortress”). He places it between Palepaphos (the modern village of Kouklia) and Kourion. If we try to determine the location of Cape Frurion more precisely, it turns out that it was located between the modern village of Pissouri and Kourion.
A look at the map of Cyprus shows that three places could have been the place of execution of the sacrilege. They all lie between Pissouri and Kourion, and are also quite close to the Temple of Apollo. This is Cape Zapalo (on the map), Cape Episkopi (on the map) or the place known as Kamikaze Rocks (on the map).
The text was prepared based on materials from Polygnosi.
