Paphos
Paphos is a historic city located on the west coast of Cyprus, known for its rich archaeological heritage and deep cultural connections to ancient mythology. It was famously associated with the cult of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, whose temple was a significant pilgrimage site in antiquity. The city's origins are tied to legends of its founding by figures such as Agapenor and Cinyras, and it has been inhabited since at least the Later Bronze Age, evidenced by archaeological findings.
The area includes remnants of the ancient city of Palaipaphos, where early Iron Age tombs have been discovered, as well as structures from the Roman period, like impressive villas adorned with intricate mosaics. New Paphos, established around 312 BC, rose to prominence under the Ptolemaic dynasty and later became an episcopal see. The city experienced significant changes over the centuries, including restoration after earthquakes, which have shaped its contemporary archaeological landscape.
Visitors can explore various remnants, including the Tomb of the Kings, a well-preserved necropolis, and the impressive remains of public buildings and sanctuaries, which offer insight into the city's historical significance and architectural evolution. Today, Paphos is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, attracting those interested in its ancient history, vibrant mosaics, and diverse cultural narratives.
Paphos
Palaipaphos (Kouklia)
A city on the west coast of Cyprus. The temple of the Paphian fertility goddess, associated with sacred doves and probably also with temple prostitution, was identified by the Greeks with the cult of Aphrodite, and became her most celebrated shrine in the ancient world; it stood on the place where she was believed (despite alternative claims) to have first come ashore after her birth from the sea foam. Homer refers to her sacred grove and altar at Paphos, where her tomb was also later shown. According to one legend, this temple and the city itself were founded by Agapenor, king of Tegea in Arcadia. Another version, however, maintained that their founder was Cinyras, king of Paphos and all Cyprus, who was reported in the Iliad to have sent Agamemnon a breastplate for the war against Troy, and whose descendants the Cinyradae remained priest kings of the city down to Ptolemaic times.
There is archaeological evidence for the existence of Paphos in the Later Bronze (Mycenaean) epoch (c 1200), and early Iron Age tombs have been found at the Village of Skales. A local monarch (Eteandros) is mentioned on an Assyrian document of 673/2 BC, and the sequence of many later reigns is determined by coins and inscriptions. Parts of the early city defences have been cleared on a hill 3,000 feet above sea level, and excavations of siege and counter-siege works (including numerous objects taken from a nearby sanctuary to serve as building materials) point to heavy fighting at the time of the Ionian revolt against the Persians (498/7). Paphos later became a mint of Alexander the Great. Nicocles, the last of the Cinyrad line, transferred his capital to New Paphos c 312 (see below), but the old town, or at least its temple, continued to flourish in Roman times, remaining a place of pilgrimage for people from all parts of Cyprus.
Although most of the extensive site is still unexcavated, the outline of the shrine's great rectangular precinct, situated on the edge of a plateau overlooking a fertile plain and the sea, has been partially uncovered; it shows signs of ancient restoration, after damage by earthquakes. The complex tripartite building, depicted on coins and gems of New Paphos during the Roman imperial epoch, contained a tower that was fronted by a semicircular courtyard and surmounted by a sacred conical stone crowned by a star and crescent at its apex.
New Paphos (Nea, Kato Paphos) lies ten miles to the northwest of Old Paphos, and one mile from the sea. Its foundation by the last Cinyrad Nicocles (c 312) followed Ptolemy I's destruction of Marion (Polis), of which the inhabitants were transferred by his order to the new city as a reward for the local king's loyalty to the Ptolemaic cause. New Paphos grew in importance, maintaining autonomous institutions, a mint, and a shipbuilding industry utilized by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (289/8–246). By 200 it had taken the place of Salamis as the capital of the island, a position it retained under Ptolemaic princes who at times ruled Cyprus independently, and thereafter following annexation by the Romans.
Following a serious earthquake in 15, New Paphos was restored by Augustus and renamed Sebaste (Augusta). The Acts of the Apostles describe a visit by St. Paul to the proconsul Sergius Paulus in AD 45, and the emperor Titus visited New Paphos in 69. During the fourth century, however, the city lost its position as the provincial capital to Salamis, perhaps as a result of severe earthquakes in the fourth century, and especially, it has now been argued, in 365. The place was eventually rebuilt, but on a reduced scale, although it served as an episcopal see.
The breakwaters of its ancient harbors are still to be seen, and the outline of the city wall is traceable. Various religious cults are recorded, and the sites of various public buildings have been identified; one of them, a structure of late imperial date possessing a colonnaded courtyard, is now excavated, revealing polychrome floor mosaics of fine quality. Other such pavements of substantial dimensions have been uncovered in a number of private houses. At one of these, the `House of Dionysus,’ a mosaic of third-century date overlays a `pebble’ mosaic floor of the fourth century BC. Another very large residence, the `House of Theseus’—which owes its name to a mosaic of Theseus fighting the Minotaur—was constructed on top of an early imperial layout, and is currently under excavation. Its dimensions invite comparison with the palatial villa near Philosophiana (qv) in Sicily, which also has a central apsed room in one wing and a long room with rounded ends at the entrance to another.
A large and small theater (Odeon) have also been located at New Paphos; and the latter has now been partially restored. Outside the city walls are the remains of a sanctuary of Apollo Hylates of the later fourth century BC, and a necropolis of the Ptolemaic princes of the island, which contains tomb chambers cut into the rock to flank colonnaded courtyards. A recently discovered mansion known as the `House of Hercules’ displays evidence of the earthquakes of AD 365.