This watercolour is a depiction of the famous rock of Dighenis and the birthplace of Aphrodite.
Two myths are associated with this location pertaining to the classical and Byzantine history of the island. The first legend has it that during the Byzantine era of Cyprus, the gigantic figure of Dighenis protected the island by throwing this rock from the northern coast of the island against a Saracen fleet sailing in the south.
The story is based on the existence of a body of professional soldiers guarding the external frontiers of the Byzantine Empire known as akrites. The name Dighenis pertains to the hero’s dual origins as being of mixed Greek and Arab descent.
At the same bay, purported to have the greatest number of living organisms in the Mediterranean, legend has it that the Goddess of love Aphrodite was born out of the froth.
PNT-00307 > J. Hughes, Rock of Aphrodite, watercolour, 20 x 29 cm, 1950.
