“New Ideas about the Destruction of Paphos,” D. Soren and E. Lane 1980David Soren and Eugene Lane

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such as the so-called Gymnasion of the city of Kourion or the Temple of Apollo at the Sanctuary of Apollo.⁶

Drs. Bullard and Koucky also observed that such quake activity as occurred in the Kourion area normally is not an isolated shock but rather a series of events which may occur over a period of months and indeed very often years. Dr. Neophytou agreed with this and directed the attention of David Soren to a quote by N.N. Ambraseys:

"370: Soon after, one or more earthquakes shook Cyprus again. The dates of these events are difficult to ascertain. Ammianus gives 378 and from Fabricius and Siever we gather that this should have happened before 380 and most probably about 367. It is very likely that what we have here is a series of earthquakes which shook Cyprus between 365 and 378. It seems probable that the first shock was from the earthquake of 21st July 365 which caused considerable damage in Greece, Crete, Asia Minor and Egypt. Another shock occurred probably in 367 followed by a strong earthquake in 375. This shock was mostly felt in Crete and in the neighboring islands and it is mentioned by Zosimos as exceptionally severe. Libanius (sic) and others who talk about these earthquakes in Cyprus do not give enough data to enable the determination of the exact dates of these events. It is, however, very probable that these shocks caused considerable damage in Cyprus and also they continued for some time, perhaps between 364 and 375. One or more of these earthquakes marked the end of the theater at Curium... The accumulative effects of these earthquakes in Cyprus seem to be considerable, particularly in Paphos and in the area of Akrotiri."

Although there are some problems with the passage quoted above (such as the citation of Ammianus), the archaeological work at Kornion has confirmed much of the hypothesis of Ambraseys and the fact of a series of quakes over a long period would explain why nobody returned to retrieve or bury the bodies found in 1935 at the city of Kourion. The area may well have been abandoned for some time.

Dr. Neophytou has spent considerable time attempting to approximate … continues