Both the definition and identification of the ‘Cypriot Goddess’ before the Hellenistic period are problematic. There is no secure evidence for the equation of a ‘Cypriot Goddess’ with Aphrodite before the late Cypro-Classical period. The presence of a single distinctive deity, who is specifically Cypriot, and her interaction with other Mediterranean female goddesses (especially before the Hellenistic period) are also complex issues. The function and meaning of any female image before Late Cypriot IIIB remains an open question. During that period, however, and for the first time in the history of the island, we find a terracota female figure in a clearly (religious) ritual context. Based on the evidence from Enkomi, I argue that this figure relates to an indigenous goddess; and it is this goddess that in the Iron Age becomes directly linked to royal ideology at least in some kingdompolities of the island. Eventually, shortly before the abolition of the kingdoms by Ptolemy I, she begins to be addressed as Aphrodite.