While the general goal of today was to relocate from Limassol to the capital city Nicosia, we naturally did much more than just that. In the morning we set out west where we followed the coastline until we arrived at Aphrodite’s Rock–the birthplace of the Greek God (or for the Romans, Venus’ Rock). It is said that Aphrodite emerged from the waters at this rock and, given one follows the 3 rules laid out to us by Dimitra (in short: midnight, full moon, unclothed) and finds the exact birthplace of Aphrodite, a woman will be granted gifts related to finding love and a man will be given eternal youth. Regardless, this rock is well celebrated in the area and even beyond, as during the festival for Aphrodite people travel from near and far to experience the festival in this special location. At one point, the temple that existed nearby for Aphrodite was the largest temple in the world. The views at the rock were absolutely incredible, and it is easy to see why the goddess of beauty is believed to have been birthed there as it is certainly a suitable location. The waves there were more noisy than other beaches we have been at because of the rock shore and the greater power of the waves, and this added to the tranquility and allure of the unique location. It was an incredibly peaceful and serene visit, and I would have loved to have been on the island at the height of Greek Mythology during the festival dedicated to Aphrodite.

Continuing west, we soon reached Paphos where we first went to The House of Dionysus in which lay many mosaics from numerous time periods. The first mosaic we visited was originally found about a meter below the others in the house and is dated to around the 3rd century BCE. Archaeologists were able to date this mosaic because of the Ptolemaic coins found with it, and because its style is much different (and older) than the rest as it is black and white and made from materials that would have been found on the ocean floor. After this initial mosaic we visited numerous other sites that were made of naturally occurring rock (meaning the tiles were not painted or dyed), and where necessary glass was used to expand the available colors and in turn increased the vibrance of those components. Of these other panels we saw, I was particularly interested in the one of Narcisus as the artist portrays him looking into a small pool of water and the viewer can actually see Narcisus’ reflection which was very neat as Greek Mythology tells that he was obsessed with vanity. I was also very interested in the lengthy corridor panel that depicted numerous stories from Greek Mythology, one of which is what inspired Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In another mosaic we saw what appeared to be several European and African people; however, Dimitra informed us that the artist intended to represent Asian people and due to the unavoidable lack of incredible detail in mosaics the artist could not represent different facial features and instead chose to use a darker tile color that was available. Past this we saw mosaics designed to shown depth, motion, and advanced geometric creativity. We were told that while the collection is referred to as The House of Dionysus, it would’ve been the home of a wealthy wine merchant who commissioned artists to make such intricate and relevant designs.

Following this guided explanation of the images and history, I continued to explore the unprotected ruins outside of The House of Dionysus. The grounds of the ruins are widespread and stunning, and there were several more mosaics that I found to be as impressive as–if not more impressive than–those during our guided tour. After exploring this area, another student and I walked around the long port in Paphos and visited the Paphos Castle that was built around the 14th century. The castle has endured numerous changes of power on the island and under British rule was even used as storage for salt before being recognized as an Ancient Monument and becoming more protected. The Castle itself is positioned nearly in the sea, and it was absolutely stunning. After this we wandered along the port until we found a place to eat, and we had a nice meal there. We learned the hard way that Cypriot meal culture is not nearly as rushed as it is in the US, and we found ourselves having to hurry to be able to eat and get back to the bus on time.