Cyprus

We arrived at the port of Limassol, which was nostalgic for me, as 50 years ago during National Service I had been stationed at nearby RAF Akrotiri. We passed it by on today's excursion and were reminded by our guide that the base was now regarded as British land, under the agreement granting Cyprus independence.

We travelled to the SW corner of the island to Paphos, which was once the capital and which features in both mythology and history. We stopped briefly at Aphrodite's Rock, regarded since ancient times as the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility. At Paphos we visited the site of excavations at Nea Paphos, which is situated on a small promontory on the coast round a small sheltered harbour. Recent excavations indicate it was occupied from the 4th century BC by the Ptolemies, the Graeco-Macedonian rulers of Egypt, who had their capital at Alexandria. Nea Paphos was therefore their nearest point in Cyprus and it became the island's political and economic centre.

The town was surrounded by high walls and had a street system which has changed little over centuries. When the Romans came along they retained it as their main administrative centre and built their villas on top of the sites of the old houses. These were grand even by Roman standards, with magnificent 3rd century floor mosaics in multi roomed properties. We visited three of these, named after subjects of floor mosaics in them: Dionysos, Theseus and Aion. The first of these is the grandest of those so far discovered and contains the most spectacular mosaics widely featuring Dionysos (Bachus) the god of wine.

There was also uncovered the Scylla mosaic, flooring of the Hellenistic period at a level 1m below that of the Roman period. The size of the building and the wealth of its mosaics initially suggested it was the residence of a very high Roman official but subsequent excavations have discovered that Theseus was probably the residence of the Proconsol. All that can be said so far is that these were the norm for Paphos during the mid-Roman period.

One is left reflecting on how little we seem to have advanced in 2,000 years except that this high standard of living was available to the very few. There is still much more to be uncovered at Nea Paphos and it will be well worth a future visit. By contrast we were then transported to the monastery of St Neophytus, who lived in a cave hewn out of the mountainside and which was turned into a cell and church. In the 12th to 15th centuries this was decorated with fine Byzantine frescoes. Fortunately St Neophytus was a very small slight man, which he needed to be to live in such cramped conditions. There is now a rather more grand monastery and Byzantine church nearby.

 

Robert Cole