The Romans once used Paphos as their capital city, and it is no surprise. Rich with roman architecture and history, Paphos deserves a visit from anybody in Cyprus. The most captivating parts of Paphos is Aphrodites Rock, The Tombs of the Kings, and the house of Dionysos. All three of these sites are ones to remember.

Aphrodites Rock

When I was younger, I was fascinated by Greek and Roman mythology, so seeing such an important landmark up close excited me. The myth explains a ritual where one must swim around the rock three times, naked, and in full moonlight. The backstory of the creation of the rock is even more odd. Even though I found this story quite disturbing, I learned a lot about ancient Greek and Roman culture. There was no such thing as a weird story (most of them involved incest in one way or another), and instead of rejecting history, it is important to embrace it. The story of Aphrodite’s birthplace is definitely one I will remember, and found very intriguing. Not to mention, the site was absolutely beautiful.

The Tombs of the Kings

The Tombs of the Kings is a greatly important necropolis (Greek term for cemetery) in Cyprus. What impressed me the most was the physical state of the tombs. Despite being centuries old, the tombs were well preserved and easy to explore. This shows a lot about the intelligence of the people at the time. Being able to make such stable structures that withstood countless natural pressures over thousands of years truly fascinates me.

There were a few different types of tombs. Some were small tombs for one person, and some were larger complexes meant to house multiple of the deceased. These larger tombs were meant to resemble houses, some even having courtyards. One thing all of these tombs had in common was luxury. Given by the name “tombs of the kings”, these tombs were only meant for the noblest of the time. Because of this, many people were buried with valuables. To prevent these from being stolen, slabs were placed on top of the tombs. Overall, the tombs of the kings were a historically rich place to visit.

The House of Dionysos

As a person who is not particularly interested in art, this site took my breath away. The nearly perfectly preserved mosaics told in-depth stories about ancient history. Also, the story of how these works of art were discovered is slightly comical. A man was simply plowing his property when he found perfectly cut pieces of rock in the debris. Sooner or later, this man found that he was living above the House of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine. This luxurious house is home to some of the most impressive and beautiful mosaics in the world. The reason these mosaics are impressive is because they were ahead of their time. Besides these mosaics, the precision of cuts of the rocks was the same, if not better, than the precision of mosaics hundreds of years later.

Conclusion

Our visit to Paphos was none other than our most historically rich visit. We learned about ancient mythology which holds many similar moral lessons as today. One of these being a man who looked at his reflection so much he fell in the lake and drowned. Compared to the United States, Cyprian history is far older. Sites of cyprian history are some of the oldest in the world, and show us how intelligent mankind truly is. After the visit to Paphos, I am confident in my ability to do things ahead of our time.