History and significance

The area around Paphos has been inhabited since at least the Chalcolithic period (c. 3900–2500 BCE). Old Paphos (Palaepaphos, at modern Kouklia) was the original Bronze Age settlement and the site of the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, which was already established by at least the 12th century BCE, probably incorporating an even older Bronze Age fertility cult. The sanctuary at Kouklia was not a typical Greek temple with a cult statue; instead, it centred on a large conical stone (a baetyl or sacred stone), understood to be the embodiment of Aphrodite herself. Pilgrims came from across the Greek world — from Sappho’s Lesbos to the cities of Ionia — to worship at Palaepaphos.

New Paphos (Nea Paphos, at modern Kato Paphos) was founded as a port city approximately in the late 4th century BCE, reputedly by the Cypriot king Nikokles. It quickly grew in importance and became the capital of the Roman province of Cyprus after Rome’s annexation of the island in 58 BCE. The city’s wealth in the Roman period is reflected in the richness of its private mosaic floors: the House of Dionysos, discovered in 1962, preserves extraordinarily vivid scenes from Greek mythology including the story of Pyramus and Thisbe (one of the earliest known visual representations of this tale) and a famous Triumph of Dionysos. The Villa of Theseus — one of the largest private Roman buildings yet excavated in Cyprus — preserves a central mosaic of Theseus killing the Minotaur surrounded by a complex composition of Cretan geography. The House of Aion contains a five-panel mosaic of exceptional artistic quality, including a scene of the beauty contest of Cassiopeia judged by the Nereids.

Christianity came early to Paphos: the Book of Acts records that Paul and Barnabas visited the city around 45–46 CE and converted the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus — one of the earliest recorded conversions of a Roman official to Christianity. Paphos suffered severe damage in earthquakes in 15 BCE and 77 CE and was gradually rebuilt, but the earthquakes of the 4th century CE, including the great earthquake of 365 CE, further reduced the city. By the Byzantine period, Paphos had diminished in political importance, though it remained a bishop’s seat. The medieval Frankish, Venetian, and Ottoman periods added further layers: the Tombs of the Kings (a rock-cut necropolis used by wealthy citizens, not actual royalty) are Hellenistic in origin but visible and accessible; the Saranta Kolones castle (Forty Columns) is a Byzantine fortress later used by the Crusaders and destroyed by another earthquake in 1222 CE.