purplecat: Black and White photo of production of Julius Caesar (General:Roman Remains)
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The 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

A black and white mosaic of a lady with a reptilian fishy tail, what looks like dogs instead of legs, holding some kind of spear
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.

View of a mosaic floor with a curved geometrical design around the border that stands out most and what looks like a picture of a garden in the middle.

View along the remains of three small square rooms with mosaic floors in each.  The closest is most elaborate with a square of nine images, those in the corners and center of the heads of people.
The closest mosaic here represents the seasons, with the people in the four corners representing Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.

A mosaic floor with a wide geometic border and a small peacock in the middle

A mosaic with a geometric border and a woman who appears to be fleeing.  A man reclines holding some kind of horn.  What could be a lion sort of floats between them with a garment in its mouth.  Words tell us the woman is Thisbee (in greek lettering) and the man Pyramos (in greek lettering)
Pyramus and Thisbee. The guide appeared unaware of the Shakespeare connection.

Half fof a mosaic showing a garlanded man with possibly a drinking horn and a woman with a plate.  Another man is leading oxen.  Over the first man and woman is the work Dionysos Akah (in greek) and above the other man is Ikarios Half of a mosaic showing a man (Ikarios) leading oxen and then one man beating another labelled Oiprotoi Oinonpiontes.
This is Ikarios who learned wine-making from Dionysus and came to a sticky end.


A mosaic of a man with a trident, a seated lady holding out her hand and a small winged person holding a stick with some kind of plank on the end.
This is Poseidon on the the left, but I have forgotten who the other two are.

A mosaic of a reclining garlanded man with a horn, a naked lady with a long floating scarf, and a naked man with small bow.
Apollo and Daphne

Mosaic of a Tiger and a Boar Mosaic of a man with a spear who seems to be attacking a horse
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.


A long mosaic floor with a geometric design, out in the open surrounded by low stone walls.

An elaborate mosaic with multiple panels (not all complete) showing revelry.

A long mosaic corridor, now out in the open.

A circular mosaic with a zigzaging spiral design and an image of someone running in the centre.

A cellar, now open at the front with a mosaic floor visible inside.
It looks like even the cellars had mosaics.

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