ExcavationDepartment of Antiquities

Nea Paphos: Department of Antiquities excavations under Kyriakos Nicolaou

Name: Nea Paphos: Department of Antiquities excavations under Kyriakos Nicolaou
Start: 1962
End: 1978

1962–1978 · Nea Paphos

Also known as House of Dionysos excavation; Odeon, Asklepieion and Agora excavations; Fouilles de la Villa romaine à Paphos

"The Department of Antiquities' digs at Nea Paphos under Kyriakos Nicolaou, 1962 to 1978: the House of Dionysos with its Hellenistic levels and 2,484-tetradrachm hoard, then the Odeon and the buildings south of it."

Map of Cyprus

Where the work took place

Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m

Site

1Nea Paphos

Modern coastline (OpenStreetMap) and relief (Copernicus DEM).

The project

A plough that damaged a mosaic floor at Malloutena in 1962 began Department of Antiquities digging at Nea Paphos that ran to 1978 and uncovered a Roman house with polychrome mosaics, a Hellenistic hoard of 2,484 silver tetradrachms and a theatre that proved to be an Odeon.^1,2,3 The Department of Antiquities, called in at the discovery, made a small excavation, directed by Kyriakos Nicolaou, printed K. Nikolaou in the 1962 report.¹ Nicolaou, Curator of the Cyprus Museum, was still directing the work in 1978, usually in two campaigns a year.⁴

The House of Dionysos

By the end of 1962, 22 rooms of a Roman villa had been cleared, 14 of them with polychrome mosaics: mythological panels in a corridor, hunting scenes in the portico, Meleager and Atalanta, Ganymede.¹ Nicolaou's first summary placed the occupation of the villa in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and attributed its destruction to the earthquakes of 332 and 342.¹ In 1963 two campaigns of about a month each, in summer and autumn, exposed about 1,400 square metres with 74 rooms, some contemporary with the villa and some older, built round an atrium with impluvium and portico, and a roof went up over the mosaics.⁵ A more efficient shed replaced it in 1977.⁶

From 1964 the aim was to clear the whole house. The plan that emerged had reception rooms around an atrium-peristyle, private rooms to the east, kitchens and workshops to the west and a fish tank.² In 1965 the excavators looked for the outer limits of the house and dug deep for its earliest structures, and found a pebble-paved corridor 47.30 m by 4.20 m in the west.⁷ Nicolaou reported that illness prevented any season at the house in 1966.⁸ Work resumed in 1967 with the west side and the south street, followed for over 130 m and 6 m wide, with small shops and workshops along it.⁹ The report on 1974 says the main excavation of the house was finished that year, after minor checks of the quarry pits west of it.¹⁰

In 1965 Nicolaou also cleared the dromoi of two painted rock-cut tombs at Ammoi, in the North necropolis. The first had three built sarcophagi and libation pipes.⁷ The dromos of the first tomb was finished in 1975 and had been refitted in the Roman period with four arched sarcophagi; the tomb itself had been looted and had long been known for its frescoes.¹¹

Below the mosaics

Deep soundings found a late Hellenistic house of well-cut stone under the villa, built on by the Roman house. A supposed tomb turned out to be an underground rock-cut sanctuary, probably of Harpocrates.² A bone knife handle showing Harpokrates is exhibited in the Paphos District Museum.⁶

The 1964 hoard lay in an amphora below a mosaic pavement: 2,484 Ptolemaic silver tetradrachms struck at Salamis, Kition and Paphos, dated by a preliminary study between 204 and 88 BC, which the report called the largest hoard found on Cyprus in excavation.² In 1968 a room in the north-west was interpreted as a Ptolemaic coin-minting workshop, with an ash floor, two hearths, slag, moulds and unfinished bronze flans; the report presented it as the first mint located on Cyprus.¹²

In 1970 UNESCO restorers lifted two pavements, the Hippolytus and Phaedra room and the triclinium, to relay them on new foundations, which let the excavators dig beneath.³ Under the first lay redeposited fill with at least 11,000 clay sealings, which Nicolaou took to come from a nomophylakion, an official archive; no date can be drawn from the fill. Below the triclinium mosaic was a late Hellenistic bronze-statue foundry with a nearly intact furnace and plaster moulds.³ J. Młynarczyk proposed instead that the sealings may point to an archive office in a Hellenistic agora, as Łukasz Miszk reports.¹³ In 1977, foundation trenches for the new shelter exposed a Hellenistic pebble mosaic of Scylla about 1 m under the Roman mosaics, which Nicolaou dated from coins on its floor to the end of the 4th century BC.^14,15

The Odeon and the buildings to the south

In late autumn 1968 a trial trench along the main axis of the theatre, by the modern lighthouse on Fanari hill, crossed cavea, orchestra and stage. It found fourteen rows of stripped seating and an underground tunnel, and indicated a Roman date.¹² Clearing in 1969 showed a cavea of fourteen rows over a vaulted substructure on radial walls, described as unique on Cyprus, and nine hearths in front of the stage building for metal-working. A statue base of the time of Septimius Severus and three earlier inscriptions were taken by the report to confirm a third-century date.¹⁶ The date given for the Odeon changed in later reports: the 1st century AD in the report on 1971, and the first half of the 2nd century AD in Nicolaou's notice of 1977 to 1978. Miszk calls the chronology imprecise, ranging between the 1st century BC and the 3rd or 4th century AD.^13,15,17

From 1971 Jean Travlos, architect of the American School at Athens, was invited to advise on the building, and the Department's restoration service rebuilt the orchestra, the parodoi and part of the stage.^17,18 In 1973 the frontal portico was exposed along about 100 m.¹⁹

From 1974 the work extended south of the Odeon. A large stoa-like building with painted stucco and an apsidal public building were cleared in 1975, and a bouleuterion or Asklepieion was suggested. The south portico of the peristyle court measured 96.50 m.¹¹ In 1976 the Gymnasium and the building provisionally identified as an Asklepieion were dated to the 1st century AD; Nicolaou thought them destroyed by early earthquakes and 6th-century earthquakes respectively.²⁰ In 1977 an Early Byzantine stable with three mangers was found in the halls south of the Odeon.¹⁴ In 1978 Nicolaou concluded that Odeon, Asklepieion and Agora formed one public complex.^4,15 Miszk records that J. Młynarczyk criticised the idea of one uniform complex of temple, Odeon, Asklepieion and Agora, since the temple lies on a different axis.¹³

Publication and the finds

Annual reports appeared in V. Karageorghis's Chronique in the Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, which carries Nicolaou's own report for each year, and in Nicolaou's surveys in Archaeological Reports and the American Journal of Archaeology.^8,15,21 I. Nicolaou published the coins and the stamped amphora handles: the hoard with O. Mørkholm in Paphos I (1976), the House of Dionysos coins in Paphos II (1990) and the handles in Paphos V (2005).^22,23,24 Miszk describes the work on the Odeon, Asklepieion and Agora as published only in brief, mutually copied reports, with the documentation unavailable, and holds that the research of 1968 to 1978 needs re-evaluation, though not all of it should be rejected.¹³ He also reports that Nicolaou's late reading of the court as an Agora was confirmed by the Jagiellonian University project.¹³ In 1996 the Archaeological Site of Kato Paphos was created, about 75 hectares or three quarters of ancient Nea Paphos.²⁵

Directors and team

Directed by

Kyriakos Nicolaou1962–1978

Team

Institutions

Department of Antiquities of CyprusSponsor
UNESCOFunder

Seasons

16 seasons

1962
First systematic excavation of a Roman villa after plough damage exposed mosaics: 22 rooms cleared, 14 with polychrome mosaics, incl. Pyramus and Thisbe, Dionysos and Ikarios, hunt scenes, Meleager and Atalanta, Ganymede; a central impluvium and peristyle; wine amphora sherds; house destroyed by the 332 and 342 earthquakes.
Directed by K. Nikolaou[1]
1963summer and autumn 1963
Two month-long campaigns (summer, autumn): about 1,400 m2 with 74 rooms; one more damaged Narcissus mosaic; earliest remains Hellenistic; rock-cut tombs of Hellenistic/early Roman date; cistern below the impluvium; painted stucco; roof built to protect the mosaics.
[4]
1964
Two campaigns (summer and autumn) cleared the atrium-peristyle villa, kitchens, workshops, fish tank; a Hellenistic house below, a rock-cut Harpocrates shrine, bronze coins, terracottas and a hoard of 2,484 Ptolemaic silver tetradrachms in an amphora, dated 204–88 BC.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[7]
1965spring and autumn 1965
Dromos cleared and two long-known painted tombs conserved; a second burial with three sarcophagi under imitation arcosolia and libation pipes found in the first tomb. Spring and autumn campaigns defined the house limits: streets with sewers, workshops with coins and mould fragments, a collapsed wall over a skeleton of an earthquake victim with 12 coins, and a 47 m galleried corridor. Two painted tombs at 'Ammoi' cleared and conserved; over 600 amphora stamps from the harbour dredging.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[8]
1967April-May and November-December 1967
West part of the house and earlier peristyle portico with euripus; main south street 6 m wide and over 130 m long with a central drain, shops and workshops; a probable latrine room; terracottas including a double-flute player; painted stucco with a hand holding a bow; first gold jewellery.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[10]
1968summer 1968
Summer season: a room of the House of Dionysos identified as Ptolemaic coin-minting workshop (stone moulds, rejects), public latrines confirmed, part of a late Hellenistic courtyard house with painted stucco wall fallen intact and a large window grille; finds include lamps, bronze coins, stamped amphora handles, Isis bronze plaque, winged Eros statuette. Trial trench across cavea, orchestra and stage along the main axis, uncovering fourteen rows of stripped seating and an underground tunnel; the standing theatre is Roman in date; fragmentary inscriptions and architectural pieces found.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[12]
1969summer and autumn 1969
Two campaigns: summer cleared the cavea (14 rows, vaulted substructure unique in Cyprus); autumn cleared the orchestra and stage building, with nine metal-working hearths, a drain tunnel and an inscribed Septimius Severus statue base dating the theatre to the 3rd c. AD.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[14]
1970summer 1970
Summer campaign: excavation below lifted mosaics in the House of Dionysos found a layer with at least 11,000 clay sealings (an archive), a terracotta Omphale figurine, lamp moulds and a bronze-statue foundry with plaster moulds; the Odeon's outer wall and vaulted passages cleared.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[15]
1971spring and autumn 1971
Spring and autumn campaigns: outer perimeter and analemma exposed, a paved stair-support behind the building, the central tunnel confirmed as a sewer, a room south of the Odeon, a paved street to the north; bronze coins, inscription fragments, tiles; 1st c. AD. First phase of restoration done after J. Travlos advised.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[16]
1972seven weeks, May-June 1972
Exterior of the Odeon cleared to the original ground (6 m wide), an annex hall south-west, partial rebuilding of the parodoi and stage; rock-cut steps perhaps a temple stylobate on the acropolis; stratigraphic sounding by the House of Dionysos found quarry pits turned cellars, with Hellenistic lamps and two torch-shaped lamps.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[17]
1973
Odeon: the frontal portico exposed along c. 100 m with the south portico's stylobate foundations; west of the House of Dionysos, quarry pits cleared, with three wells and rich Roman pottery, lamps, coins, terracottas and clay masks.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[18]
1974summer and autumn 1974
Two campaigns (summer, autumn) limited to the Odeon after the Maison de Dionysos dig was finished. Large room south of the Odeon with painted-plaster wall, south portico of the peristyle court (possible gymnasium or Asklepieion), and an 8 m deep pit cleaned.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[19]
1975
South of the Odeon a large stoa-like building and a further apsidal public building cleared (bouleuterion or Asklepieion?); portico of the gymnasium palaestra measured 96.5 m. In the North necropolis the dromos of a Hellenistic painted tomb at 'Ammoi' was reused in the Roman period (four arched sarcophagi, libation pipes, 3rd c. AD) with a later enclosure of at least six child jar-burials (4th c. AD).
Directed by K. Nicolaou[23]
1976
Gymnasium: east and south porticoes cleared (95 m sides, stylobate steps, Corinthian capital, Ptolemaic and Roman coins, Rhodian stamped handles); building dated 1st c. AD and destroyed by early quakes. Asklepieion(?): southern part cleared with an apsidal hall and painted plaster, destroyed in the 6th c. quakes. Acropolis, Odeon, Gymnasium and Asklepieion on one axis.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[24]
1977
Vaulted long hall and apsidal hall of a building south of the Odeon, stairs, Early Byzantine squatters' stable; peristyle court below original floor; a Hellenistic pebble mosaic of Scylla found under the Roman mosaics of the House of Dionysos.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[25]
1978
Clearance of the Asklepieion south wing (entrance, long barrel-vaulted gallery, a damaged geometric mosaic room) and the court and apsidal hall of the main building (used as a stable in Byzantine times); a colonnaded passage links Asklepieion, Odeon and Agora, all of the 1st century CE after the 76/77 earthquakes.
Directed by K. Nicolaou[26]

What was found

Periods

Hellenistic
Roman
Late Antique

Features and finds

Dionysos mosaic corridor; impluvium; peristyle; hunt mosaics; atrium villa; mosaics; cistern; Narcissus mosaic; Roman villa; Harpocrates shrine; coin hoard; corridor 47.30 m; sewer; mint workshop; latrines; Hellenistic house; window grille; cavea; orchestra; underground tunnel; stage building; metal-working hearths; House of Dionysos; clay sealings archive; bronze foundry; Odeon; analemma; central tunnel (sewer); quarry pits; peristyle court; stoa; apsidal building; gymnasium palaestra; painted tomb dromos; child burials in amphorae; Gymnasium; Asklepieion; Corinthian capital.

Publications

16 items

Chronique des fouilles (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique)

Other fieldwork at Nea Paphos · 24

12 more

References

1.V. Karageorghis, 1963, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1962, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
2.V. Karageorghis, 1965, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
3.V. Karageorghis, 1971, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
4.V. Karageorghis, 1979, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1978, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
5.V. Karageorghis, 1964, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1963, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
6.W. A. Daszewski, D. Michaelides, 1988, Guide to the Paphos Mosaics.
7.V. Karageorghis, 1966, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
8.K. Nicolaou, 1969, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1966–69, Archaeological Reports 15.
9.V. Karageorghis, 1968, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
10.V. Karageorghis, 1975, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1974, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
11.V. Karageorghis, 1976, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1975, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 100.
12.V. Karageorghis, 1969, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1968, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
13.Łukasz Miszk, 2020, The Agora of Nea Paphos – Overview of Research, Paphos Agora Project (PAP) Volume 1.
14.V. Karageorghis, 1978, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
15.Kyriakos Nicolaou, 1980, Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1977–1978, American Journal of Archaeology 84.
16.V. Karageorghis, 1970, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
17.V. Karageorghis, 1972, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
18.V. Karageorghis, 1973, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
19.V. Karageorghis, 1974, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique.
20.V. Karageorghis, 1977, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 101.
21.K. Nicolaou, 1966, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1961–66, Archaeological Reports 12.
22.I. Nicolaou, O. Mørkholm, 1976, Paphos I. A Ptolemaic Coin Hoard, Department of Antiquities, Nicosia.
23.I. Nicolaou, 1990, Paphos II: The Coins from the House of Dionysos, Department of Antiquities, Nicosia.
24.I. Nicolaou, 2005, Paphos V. Stamped Amphora Handles from the House of Dionysos, Department of Antiquities, Nicosia.
25.E. Papuci-Władyka, 2020, Interdisciplinary Research of the Jagiellonian University in Nea Paphos UNESCO World Heritage Site (2011–2015): First Results.

Sources

1.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1962, pp. 60–63.
2.Paphos: History and Archaeology, p. 20.
3.Guide to the Paphos Mosaics, p. 11; p. 46.
4.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1963, pp. 85–86.
5.The Conservation of the Orpheus Mosaic at Paphos, Cyprus.
6.Interdisciplinary Research of the Jagiellonian University in Nea Paphos UNESCO World Heritage Site (2011–2015): First Results, Fig. 4 caption.
7.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964, pp. 51–52.
8.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, p. 89–90; pp. 87–90.
9.Archaeology in Cyprus, 1961–66, p. 41.
10.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967, p. 84–86.
11.Archaeology in Cyprus, 1966–69, p. 50; p. 51.
12.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1968, pp. 130–132; p. 132.
13.Where does the water go? A comparative technological and chronological study of water-related conduits in the Agora and adjacent areas of Nea Paphos, Cyprus, p. 4.
14.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, pp. 96–98.
15.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, pp. 82–84.
16.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, pp. 75–78.
17.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, pp. 78–80.
18.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973, pp. 73–74; p. 892.
19.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1974, p. 42.
20.Nouvelles recherches archéologiques à Paphos. Premiers résultats de la mission française sur la colline de Fabrika (2008–2009), p. 429.
21.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1960, p. 314; p. 315.
22.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1961, p. 410.
23.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1975, pp. 58–60.
24.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976, pp. 68–69.
25.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977, pp. 53–54.
26.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1978, pp. 48–49.
27.Review of Kondoleon, Domestic and Divine, p. 524.
28.Chronique d'archéologie chypriote, p. 50.
29.The Agora of Nea Paphos – Overview of Research, p. 112.
30.An unknown Graeco-Roman temple from the lower town of Amathous, p. 301.
31.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1977–1978, p. 70.