Paphos Mosaics
Jun. 16th, 2026 07:41 pmThe conference in Cyprus organised us a trip to the Paphos Archeological Park. This is an excavation of the old city, parts of which date back to prehistoric times, and there are definitely Greek bits but in the main it is a Roman city and it is famous for the mosaic floors.
We were appointed a guide who showed us around the House of Dionysus

This fortunate/unfortunate young lady was turned into a monster for spurning the advances of, honestly I forget who, but I suspect Zeus. It is usually Zeus. It wasn't actually originally found on the Paphos site but had been moved there.


The closest mosaic here represents the seasons, with the people in the four corners representing Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.


Pyramus and Thisbee. The guide appeared unaware of the Shakespeare connection.

This is Ikarios who learned wine-making from Dionysus and came to a sticky end.

This is Poseidon on the the left, but I have forgotten who the other two are.

Apollo and Daphne

Hunting scene
The guide left us free to explore after the one house and suggested people go down to the harbour, but there seemed to be much more on the site to investigate, so investigate I did.





It looks like even the cellars had mosaics.
We were appointed a guide who showed us around the House of Dionysus

This fortunate/unfortunate young lady was turned into a monster for spurning the advances of, honestly I forget who, but I suspect Zeus. It is usually Zeus. It wasn't actually originally found on the Paphos site but had been moved there.


The closest mosaic here represents the seasons, with the people in the four corners representing Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.


Pyramus and Thisbee. The guide appeared unaware of the Shakespeare connection.

This is Ikarios who learned wine-making from Dionysus and came to a sticky end.

This is Poseidon on the the left, but I have forgotten who the other two are.

Apollo and Daphne

Hunting scene
The guide left us free to explore after the one house and suggested people go down to the harbour, but there seemed to be much more on the site to investigate, so investigate I did.





It looks like even the cellars had mosaics.