Des tours internes aux sanctuaires suburbains. Regards occidentaux sur des questions chypriotes

The sanctuary at Kition-Bamboula was bordered to the South by a fortification reinforced by a tower turned towards the North, that is towards the sanctuary. If the fortification was designed to defend the sanctuary, it must be admitted that it possessed “ internal” towers, turned towards the site that it defended, which would thus constitute an almost unicum. The interpretation relies on two parallels : Idalion (acropolis and “ palace”) and Palaepaphos (fortification at Marchello). We try to show, on the basis of West Mediterranean parallels, that for these two sites such an interpretation is, if not impossible, at least difficult to substantiate. The Bamboula walls must therefore have had external towers, as is the rule in the Greek and Phoenician worlds. It implies either that the fortification defended a building located further South, completely distinct from the sanctuary, or that it was part of the city walls, in which case the sanctuary was suburban, perhaps linked to the port activities.