Paphos

PAPHOS was the name of two cities in the W. of Cyprus, Old Paphos about a mile from the sea. New Paphos (now Baffo) about seven miles NW. of this (Strabo, xiv. vi. 3). The Phoenician origin of the former need not be doubted; the latter was by tradition a Greek settlement, but in both the chief object of worship was the 'Paphian goddess,' undoubtedly of Syrian origin, and worshipped under the form of a conical stone, though identified by the Greeks with Aphrodite. Old Paphos was desolate in the time of Jerome. New Paphos was the centre of the Roman administration in Cyprus. It was here that St. Paul encountered the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus in his first missionary journey - the first presentation of Christianity before Roman authorities (Ac.13.6-12). [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963 - A.E.H.]