Paphos, also spelled Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of the Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were known as Paphos: Old Paphos in modern KoukliaOld Paphos, in Ancient Greek: , Ptol. v. 14. § 1; or, in one word, , Strabo xiv. p. 683; Palaepafos, Plin. v. 31. s. 35) and Nea Paphos,New Paphos in Ancient Greek (, Ptol. l. c.; Nea Pafos, Plin. l. c.. The name of Paphos, without any adjunct, is used by poets and writers of prose to denote both Old and New Paphos, but with this distinction, to ancient prose writers it commonly means New Paphos, whilst for the ancient poets it generally signifies Old Paphos, the seat of the cult of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. In inscriptions, also, both towns are called . This indiscriminate use sometimes produces ambiguity, especially in the Latin prose authors. both of which were at various times the capital of the ancient city-state of Paphos. It is the fourth-largest city in the country, after Nicosia, Limassol, and Larnaca, with an urban population of 55,000.
The modern city of Paphos lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of Limassol, the island's largest port; the two cities are connected by the A6 highway. Paphos International Airport is the country's second-largest airport, and serves as a gateway to western and southern Cyprus. The city has a subtropical-Mediterranean climate, and experiences the mildest temperatures on the island.
Paphos was counted as one of the "city-kingdoms of Cyprus" in antiquity. UNESCO inscribed the ruins of ancient Paphos as a World Heritage Site in 1980 under criterion (iii) for its unique testimony to a vanished civilization and criterion (vi) for its direct association with events or traditions of outstanding universal value. The Paphos World Heritage Site is managed by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities.
Geography Paphos is the most seismically active region in Cyprus, according to historical data which shows evidence of several strong earthquakes, some of which caused severe damage, loss of life, and tsunamis. The strongest earthquakes to strike Paphos occurred in 76 AD, 1222 (7.0–7.5), 1953 (6.5 ), 1995 (5.9 ), 1996 (6.8 ) and 2022 (6.6 ).
History
Foundation myth In its foundation myth, the town's name is linked to the goddess Aphrodite, as the eponymous Paphos was the son (or, in Ovid's account, the daughter) of PygmalionPygmalion's father was Belus, simply "lord". whose ivory cult image of Aphrodite was brought to life by the goddess, as 'milk-white' Galatea.
The Bibliotheke contains a genealogy.Bibliotheke, iii.14.3. Pygmalion was so devoted to the cult of Aphrodite that he took the statue to his palace and kept it on his couch. The daimon of the goddess entered the statue, and the living Galatea bore Pygmalion a son, Paphos, and a daughter, Metharme. Cinyras –either the son of PaphosAccording to the Roman Hyginus, Fabula 142, Cinyras was a son of Paphus, thus legitimate in the patrilineal manner, but Bibliotheke makes Cinyras an interloper, arriving with some of his people from Cilicia on the nearest coast of Asia Minor, and thus a suitor from outside, in the matrilineal manner. The conflict is instructive. or the suitor of Metharme– founded the city under Aphrodite's patronage and built the great temple to the goddess there. According to another legend preserved by Strabo (xi. p. 505), it was founded by Agapenor, a hero of the Trojan War. According to Pausanias, a storm drove Agapenor and the Arcadian fleet to Cyprus, where he founded Paphos and established the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos.Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.5
Old Paphos
Old Paphos (Palaepaphos), now known as Kouklia, is on a hillThe hill is celsa Paphos in Aeneid x. 51 to the east of the modern city. It had a road which spanned a few miles to the sea. It was not far from the Zephyrium promontory(Strabo xiv. p. 683) and the mouth of the Bocarus stream.Hesychius, under
Archaeology shows that Old Paphos has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. It was a centre for Aphrodite's cult. Aphrodite's mythical birthplace was on the island. The founding myth is interwoven with the goddess such that Old Paphos became the most important place for worshipping Aphrodite in the ancient world.
The Greek names of two ancient kings, Etevandros and Akestor, are attested in Cypriot syllabary on objects from the 7th century BC found in Kourion.
Aphrodite and Paphos
The Greeks agreed that Aphrodite had landed at the site of Paphos when she rose from the sea.Tac. Hist. ii. 3; Mela, ii. 7; Lucan viii.456 According to Pausanias (i. 14), although her worship was introduced to Paphos from Syria, it was more likely that it was of Phoenician origin. Before being proven by archaeology it was thought that Aphrodite's cult had been established before the time of Homer (), as the grove and altar of Aphrodite at Paphos are mentioned in the Odyssey (viii. 362). Archaeology established that Cypriots venerated a fertility goddess in a cult that combined Aegean and eastern mainland aspects before the arrival of the mainland Greeks. Female figurines and charms found in the immediate vicinity date back to the early third millennium. The temenos was well established before the first structures were erected in the Late Bronze Age:
Old Paphos was the centre of worship for Aphrodite in the Aegean world. The Cinyradae, or descendants of Cinyras, were the chief priests; Greek by name but of Phoenician origin. Their power and authority were great, but it has been inferred from certain inscriptions that they were controlled by a senate and an assembly of the people. There was also an oracle there.Engel, i.p. 483. The ruins of Aphrodite's vast sanctuary are still discernible, its circumference marked by huge foundation walls. After its destruction by an earthquake it was rebuilt by Vespasian, on whose coins it is represented, as well as on earlier and later ones, and in the style on those of Septimius Severus.Engel, vol. i. p. 130. From these representations and existing ruins, Gustav Friedrich Hetsch, an architect of Copenhagen, attempted to restore the building.Müller's Archäol. § 239, p. 261; Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 86.
Nea Paphos
Nea Paphos ("New Paphos") was founded on the sea near a natural harbour. It lay about 60 stadia or northwest of the old city.Strabo xiv. p. 683. According to its own origin myth, Nea Paphos was founded by Agapenor, chief of the Arcadians at the siege of Troy,Iliad. ii.609 who, after the capture of the city, was driven to the coast of Cyprus by the storm that separated the Greek fleet as it returned home. (Pausanias viii. 5. § 2.) An Agapenor was mentioned as king of the Paphians in a Greek distich preserved in the Analecta;p. 181, Brunk and Herodotus (vii. 90) alludes to an Arcadian colony in Cyprus.
Nea Paphos was likely founded by Nicocles (d. 306 BC), the last king of Palaepaphos, based on an inscription in the temple of Artemis Agrotera at New Paphos and other historical evidence. The inhabitants of Marion were probably also transferred to this new city after it was destroyed by Ptolemy in 312 BC. A hoard of unused silver coins (in the Cyprus Museum) dating back to the end of the 4th century BC are the earliest find at the site.
Old Paphos always retained its pre-eminence in worship of Aphrodite, and Strabo states that the road leading to it from New Paphos was annually crowded with male and female devotees travelling to the ancient shrine, coming from New Paphos and other towns. When Seneca said (N. Q. vi. 26, Epistle 91) that Paphos was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, it is difficult to say to which of the towns he refers. Cassius Dio (liv. 23) relates that Paphos was restored by Augustus and re-named "Augusta" in his honor; this name has been preserved in inscriptions but never supplanted the original name.
An inscription from the 80s BC speaks of a certain Onesander of Paphos being appointed to the Great Library of Alexandria.
According to the biblical Acts of the Apostles, after landing at Salamis and proclaiming the Word of God in the synagogues,Acts 13:5 the prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Saul of Tarsus, traveled along the entire southern coast of Cyprus until they reached Paphos.Acts 13:4-6 There, Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, was converted after Saul rebuked the sorcerer Elymas.Acts 13:6–12 In Paphos, Acts first identifies Saul as Paul.Acts 13:9
Tacitus (Hist. ii. 2, 3) records a visit of the youthful Titus to Paphos before he acceded to the empire, who inquired with much curiosity into its history and antiquities. (Cf. Suetonius Titus c. 5.) Under this name, the historian included the ancient as well as the more modern city, and among other traits of the worship of the temple he records that the only image of the goddess was a pyramidal stone.
The sanctuary was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
Archaeology The ancient city of Nea Paphos is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is managed as the Paphos Archaeological Park by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities.
Remains discovered include four large and elaborate Roman villas dubbed the House of Dionysos, the House of Orpheus, the House of Aion, and the House of Theseus, all with preserved mosaic floors. In addition, excavations have uncovered an agora, Asklepion, the Basilica of Panagia Limeniotissa, a theatre, and a necropolis known as the Tombs of the Kings.
Post-Classical history
Paphos gradually lost much of its attraction as an administrative centre, particularly after the founding of Nicosia. The city and its port continued to decline throughout the Middle Ages and Ottoman rule, as Nicosia, and the port city of Larnaca became more important.
The city and district continued to lose population throughout the British colonial period and many of its inhabitants moved to Limassol, Nicosia and overseas. The city and district of Paphos remained the most underdeveloped part of the island until 1974.
Modern Paphos
Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, there was rapid economic activity in all fields, especially tourism in the Kato Paphos area. The government invested heavily in irrigation dams and water distribution works, road infrastructure and the building of Paphos International Airport, the second international airport in Cyprus.
In the 1980s, Kato Paphos received most of the investment. In the 1990s, Coral Bay Resort was further developed and in the 2000s, the Aphrodite Hills resort was developed.
Today Paphos, with a population of about 35,961 (), is a popular tourist resort and is home to a fishing harbour. Ktima is the main residential district while Kato Paphos, by the sea, is built around the medieval port and contains most of the luxury hotels and the entertainment infrastructure of the city. Apostolou Pavlou Avenue (St. Paul's Avenue), the busiest road in Paphos, connects two quarters of the city. It begins near the city centre at Kennedy Square and ends outside the medieval fort at the harbour.
Economy
The economy of Paphos is heavily dependent on tourism. There are four resorts in the district: Kato Paphos, Coral Bay, Latchi, and Aphrodite Hills. Kato Paphos, the largest, employs over half of Paphos's population. Farming, especially banana, grape and tobacco cultivation, contributes significantly to Paphos's economy.
Landmarks
Paphos Castle stands by the harbor, and was originally a Byzantine fort built to protect the harbour. It was rebuilt by the Lusignans in the 13th century before being dismantled in 1570 by the Venetians, who were unable to defend it against the Ottomans who restored and strengthened it after capturing the island. Saranta Kolones, near the harbor, is a castle built in the first years of Lusignan rule (beginning of the 12th century) maybe on the site of a previous Byzantine castle. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1222.