Aphrodite’s Rock
Yassas! Today was an amazing day full of site visits and learning about the history of the Paphos areas of Cyprus! We started our day with a stop at the famous Aphrodite’s rock, or Petra Tou Romioi, on the coast of Paphos. According to the legend, the Ancient Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite, was born of the sea foam here. The beach and the rock formations were absolutely breathtaking, even better than the pictures I have seen. As we left the beach, our tour guide was sharing an old legend about the rock. It is said that if you swim around the rock at midnight, on the night of a full moon, with no clothes on, that you could be granted eternal youth and beauty. I wonder how many Cypriots and Travelers have tried this out! I have heard the stories about this place long before I ever applied to study abroad here in Cyprus, so getting to see this place today was a full circle moment for me. I love Greek mythology and I have always read about it growing up. At the beach, I took home a few rocks that I found along the shore, just so I always have a piece of the place with me. Seeing the birthplace of Aphrodite will be a memory I will always have!
Paphos Mosaics and Greek Mythology
After Aphrodite’s rock, we made our way to the town of Paphos. Paphos sits on the southern part of the island, and it is a harbor city. It was also the only town to have been developed after the events of 1974. There is a more modern and developed part of the town in higher elevations and the ancient city is right by the water through a set of medieval walls, which reminded me of the walled city, Famagusta. We went to the mosaic’s museum, and it was full of stories and beautiful artwork. There were many pieces of mosaics with their own ties to periods in history and Greek mythology stories, so I will talk about the 3 that I found most interesting! First, a price that was built during the Hellenic period. It features a pictorial image in the center, with geometric designs around it. It was made with either black or white pebbles from the sea, which is the most basic form of mosaics from history. The picture symbolized the legendary Ancient Greek monster Scylla. Scylla is a woman with the tail of a dragon, and 5 female dog heads. She is holding a ship mast, showing her destruction in the seas and how she would cause ships to crash.
The next room was built during the Roman period. It also features a pictorial illustration in the center with geometric designs around. The mosaics during the Roman period began using what is called tessera. Tessera are naturally colored pieces of rock, which is broke down to use in mosaics. The image features the ancient narcissus. Narcissus was a very beautiful man, so beautiful the only one he loved was himself. He would look at himself in the reflection of the water all day long, until one day he fell in and drowned.
The last room was built a little after the Roman period, and once again the mosaic style had become more advanced. The tesserae were still the main material used, however we start to see tinted glass being used as well, to help with shading and coloration of the design. This mosaic has a more advanced geometric design around the pictorial feature. This image depicts the story of Zeus. Zeus was the first God in Mount Olympus. He was getting bored of sitting around, so one day he yea formed himself into an eagle. He flew down to the town and kidnapped a young teenager to bring her back up to Mount Olympus to serve wine to the gods. You can see in the picture, the wings of the eagle Zeus uses the tinted glass mixed with the Tessera.
Learning even more about the Ancient Greek mythology and getting to see the stories depicted in one picture was such a cool moment!
The City of Paphos
After our visits we had time for free time and lunch in the city of Paphos by the harbor. A group of us went to a restaurant right by the water, then we visited some shops. The boardwalk in the area was very nice to walk on, and it was not too crowded today. While walking around we saw so many wild cats! After exploring the city, we made our way back to the bus and headed off to Nicosia. Today was such a great day. Anido!
