Cyprus: historical Paphos

Today we will take a walk in the archaeological park, located in the territory of the city of Paphos, the homeland - the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite.

The archaeological park is located directly at the bay of Pafos, so it was not necessary to look for it.

We go to the main entrance.

It is paid, 4.5 euros.

At the entrance there is a map.

In my opinion, these should be hung and on exit. It's easier to perceive where you've already been.

We rise along the long stairs.

By the way, ancient Paphos, where we go for some reason is called Neo Paphos.

The first building is the UNESCO center-exposition. The whole park is listed in its list.

In the bright and the main thing - a cool room, at this time there is an exposition dedicated to the birds of the island.

Cooled .. Go ahead - to those ruins.

In the park are excavations of ancient villas of the ancient rich. And they are named not in honor of their former masters, but in honor of the ancient Greek gods and heroes. The House of Aeon - deities, personifying the length of time.

In fact, the most important thing in the park is mosaics. It was them that in 1962, during the leveling of the soil, was accidentally dug up by a bulldozer ... The work was immediately suspended and since then the local masters here are historians and archaeologists, who have already excavated a vast territory.

Mosaic in the House of the Aeon. Made conveniently - you walk inside the balcony, watching it from above. By the way, Paphos is more than five thousand years old. It was founded by one of the generals who took part in the Trojan battles - Agapenor.

Go ahead.

Ruins of the House of Theseus.

Here was the residence of the representative of the Roman emperor - the proconsul.

The conquerors built the house in a big way: there were more than 100 rooms with a total area of ​​over 9,000 m2.

It was built not one hundred years. But it was destroyed by the strongest earthquakes.

Small room.

For the Roman mother-in-law, I guess ...

Very beautiful mosaic of Theseus, glorifying the feat of the hero, famous for killing a monster with a human body and a bull's head.

The circle on the mosaic is symbolized by the Labyrinth. By the way, this mosaic is the most ancient and dates back to the 3rd century AD.

You can walk right along the ancient streets.

Captures the spirit, but somehow you worry about their safety ...

Of the colored pieces of the greatest masters of Alexandria carefully collected these picture-puzzles for years ...

In general it is very beautiful, majestic. Only all this under the scorching sun ..

It's getting scary for the historical heritage ..

Mosaic of Dionysius.

The rest of the column.

And here they were in general darkness ...It can be seen that many of the remains of the walls are laid out recently.

This house is not part of the story.

This is an important tourist hotspot! There are vending machines selling water and coffee.

A lighthouse is seen in the distance,

and right here - a UNESCO memorial plate.

Left - the remains of the House of Orpheus.

The structure was dragged along a pebble as a building material, and even archaeologists did not have time to unearth anything on-the-go.

Therefore, straight - to the villa of Dionysius (or Dionysus).

There are also very comfortable balconies for viewing mosaics. The villa occupies an area of ​​2000 m2 and is named after the god of winemaking. Mosaics, made from multicolored cubes, decorated rooms open to visitors. The bedrooms were satisfied with mosaics simpler, laid out from the local pebbles. And for the hard workers there was enough earth flooring.

In order not to drive ourselves into despondency, we go to this beautiful lighthouse ..

In the middle of the road there is a small platform with which the sea is clearly visible

and the city.

The lighthouse is beautiful, although small at all ..

From the hill you can clearly see the Odeon amphitheater.

We get down to him. The Odeon was built by the Romans in the third century almost from the cliff. There were theatrical performances and performances, as well as gladiatorial fights.

The theater's stage is about 11 meters in diameter. There were twenty-five rows in the amphitheater for the spectators.

I will not say that the amphitheater is big. But ... On the perimeter of the amphitheater were columns of marble. Judging by their ruins, they are not well preserved ...

We move along the wall to Agora - the so-called market square and the place of citywide meetings. Probably, it was fun and noisy. Once upon a time .. And now only cacti along the fences and desert paths ...

I would very much like to see this all live. But this, of course, is impossible.

So we read the myths of Ancient Greece, learn history and develop imagination on excavations!

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