ExcavationForeign missions

Nea Paphos: the Polish Archaeological Mission (Maloutena)

Name: Nea Paphos: the Polish Archaeological Mission (Maloutena)
Start: 1965

1965–today · Nea Paphos

Also known as Villa of Theseus and House of Aion excavations; Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at Nea Paphos; Mission polonaise à Nea Paphos

"The Polish Archaeological Mission at Maloutena in Nea Paphos from 1965: a late Roman building with the Theseus and Minotaur mosaic, Hellenistic and early Roman houses beneath it, and the House of Aion."

Map of Cyprus

Where the work took place

Main site
Also worked at
Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m

Sites

1Nea Paphos
2Nea Paphos-Fabrika (approx.)

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

The project

At Maloutena in the south-west of Nea Paphos, a Polish team dug through a late Roman building, its baths and the Hellenistic and early Roman houses below it, and found the mosaic of Theseus killing the Minotaur.^1,2,3 The mission belonged to the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, whose director Kazimierz Michałowski led the first campaign in May and June 1965.^1,4 Antoine Hermary calls it the oldest European mission on the island at the time of his writing.⁵

Trial trenches and a town plan

The first campaign was a reconnaissance of four trial trenches on ground the Department of Antiquities made available, with six soil layers recorded.⁴ A hoard of 13 silver coins of Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaios lay on the floor of a house built on virgin rock; the report of the campaign takes it as showing the foundation of Nea Paphos in the 4th century BC.⁴ There were Hellenistic rooms with incrustation-style painted plaster and a stone-built drain 2 m high, and in the Roman layer Parian marble statues including a headless Asklepios, an archaizing Artemis and a satyr bust.⁴

The trenches suggested many buildings, so the campaigns of 1966 and 1967 examined the Malloutena plot closely.⁶ Wiktor Andrzej Daszewski led in Michałowski's absence. They dug about 600 square metres, often to virgin rock, and thought they were dealing with four main building phases.⁶ By 1968 Daszewski directed the work.⁷ He judged the upper building almost certainly public and asked whether it was a sanctuary, noting two Asklepios statues, eleven marble statues and no inscription in three seasons.⁷ A cistern gave a gem inscribed LEG XV APOLLINARI, which the excavators linked to the stay of that legion on the island.⁷ From 1971 the reports describe a late Roman palace or official residence, which Daszewski compared in scale to late imperial palaces and thought unequalled on the island.⁸

The late Roman building

In 1969 the first room of the east wing yielded the Theseus and Minotaur mosaic, with Ariadne, the Labyrinth and Crete. Daszewski dated its oldest parts to the second half of the 3rd century AD and the figures of Theseus and Crete to a restoration in the 4th.¹ The same season opened a south corridor 56 m long with a geometric mosaic, and the large central apsed hall in the south wing, with a marble-paved apse, followed in 1970.^1,9 Daszewski thought the south wing and the Theseus room belong to the first phase of the building.¹

Between 1971 and 1973 the baths in the south-east corner were cleared: a frigidarium of 15.03 by 4.29 m with two cold pools and polychrome geometric mosaic, hot rooms with hypocaust, latrines and an outside entrance.^2,10 Later seasons turned to the east wing: a vestibule or waiting hall of 22.50 by 5.50 m in 1975, and domestic rooms with a large embedded pithos in 1976.^11,12 In 1977 a sounding by the entrance hall found the skeleton of an elderly woman under collapsed wall stones, tentatively tied by the report to the earthquake of 76/77, and below it a bronzesmith's workshop. The same season used a geophysical survey by J.-P. Thalmann over three days.¹³ In 1982 the excavators had the impression that a group of storage and domestic rooms at the centre-south of the east wing served for a time as a farm or independent dwelling.¹⁴

In 1983 the aim was to uncover new parts of the late Roman residence and to verify the Hellenistic and Roman street plan; a large figured mosaic with five mythological panels was recorded.¹⁵ The street grid led Daszewski to argue that Nea Paphos was probably laid out on an orthogonal plan from its foundation, with an eastern commercial part and a western residential part.¹⁵ In 1984 the season was meant to expose as much of the palatial building as possible, partly to speed the opening of the monuments of Paphos under a general tourist development plan; the whole east portico (42.5 m) with its 13-field geometric mosaic was cleared.¹⁶

Houses beneath and beside the palace

In 1986 the work went to two sectors, south of the south wing of the Villa of Theseus and the House of Aion across the road to the north. South of the villa a late building overlay an earlier late Hellenistic or early Roman house.¹⁷ In 1987 trenches in the west wing area found an early Roman building, probably a large and richly decorated house, with a fragment of an inscription reading TIBERI. Further south lay a late Hellenistic peristyle house with Ionic columns, destroyed by earthquake.³ Steel's survey gives that peristyle house as a two-storey building used between the late 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD.¹⁸

Under a shelter roof

Henryk Meyza directed the 2008 and 2009 seasons.^19,20 In 2008 trial pits were sunk for the supports of the roof shelter planned over the site; the season found a cistern in room 48B, built drains in Hellenistic streets and a painted plaster bust, most probably of a Dioskouros.¹⁹ In 2009 the western part of the Hellenistic House was excavated regularly, with a tetrastyle courtyard destroyed by earthquake not before Hadrian's time, and four new rooms were found in the House of Aion.²⁰

Daszewski's work through 1995 is summarised in Nea Paphos 1965–1995, and the Theseus mosaic has its own volume, Nea Paphos II.^21,22 Meyza reported the seasons from 2008 to 2016 in Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean.^{23,24,25,26,27} The report on 1966 and 1967 says the coins were to be cleaned at the Museum in Nicosia; where the finds are held now is not recorded.⁶ The Archaeological Site of Kato Paphos was created in 1996.²⁸

Directors and team

Directed by

Kazimierz Michałowski1965–1970
Wiktor Andrzej Daszewski1966–2007
Henryk Meyza2007–2017
Ewdoksia Papuci-Władykajoint head of the two Polish missions from 20192019

Team

Institutions

Seasons

28 seasons

1965end of May - early June 1965
Four trenches: a hoard of 13 silver coins of Alexander and Philip Arrhidaios on a house floor (foundation date for Nea Paphos), Hellenistic rooms with painted incrustation plaster, a drain, and a Roman villa with Parian marble sculptures including Asklepios, Artemis, a satyr.
Directed by K. Michalowski[4]
1967May-June 1966 and 1967
About 600 m excavated: four building phases from early 3rd c. BC to late 7th c. AD; an upper public building and a lower Roman villa with geometric mosaics and painted stucco; six marble statuettes in 1967 (Asklepios, Herakles, Dionysos, two women, a female head) plus a satyr in 1966.
Directed by K. Michalowski, W. A. Daszewski[5]
19681968
About 500 sq m: west corridor of the public building (c. 43 m, mosaic-paved), south wing with mosaic and marble revetment later turned into village stables; earlier private villa below with a cistern yielding a Legio XV Apollinaris engraved gem; stone coin mould; eleven marble statues incl. two of Asklepios (previous season).
Directed by Wiktor A. Daszewski[16]
1969April-May 1969
Fifth season in the large peristyle house: figured mosaic of Theseus and the Minotaur with Ariadne, Labyrinth and Crete in a labyrinth frame (3rd c. with 4th-c. restoration); south wing with seven rooms, two large reception rooms, 56 m portico with mosaic; earlier 1st-c. AD building below; farm reuse mid-5th to late 7th c.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[14]
1970September-October 1970
South wing of a late Roman villa with central courtyard: rooms 31, 35, 38, 39, 40 excavated, with marble-lined apse and a mosaic floor with a hunt frieze and the Birth of Achilles scene; a Theseus mosaic room; geometric mosaics; early squatters in the 7th c.
[22]
1971April-May 1971
Seventh campaign on the south and east wings: ten rooms cleared, apse rooms with imitation-marble painting, a corridor with large-cube mosaic leading past the baths, likely small baths at the wing junction, rooms 45 and 36 (Theseus mosaic), squatter occupation with a lime kiln until the Arab invasions, a small marble Silvanus torso (Antonine).
Directed by V. Daszewski[23]
1972late August - September 1972
Cleared the baths of the Late Roman palace: seven rooms with frigidarium (15 x 4.3 m, two cold plunge pools, polychrome geometric mosaic), hypocaust, hot basins and latrines; also palace latrines in the east wing, a laundry, drainage network and the east portico; baths added after the palace was built.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[24]
197317 September - 17 November 1973
Ninth campaign: the palace baths fully exposed with praefurnium, hypocausts and mosaics; the SE corner of the palace fixed; an apsidal aula; a group of Roman marble sculptures (Artemis, nude woman, heads); and soundings dating the south wall to after the late Hellenistic period.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[25]
197522 March - 30 April 1975
Continued excavation of the Roman palace: 22.5 m entrance hall (vestibule) with geometric mosaic, atrium with impluvium, podium, east wing rooms 74–75 reused by squatters, new rooms 76–78 with Poseidon and Amphitrite mosaic (room 76), a polygonal structure west of the west wing, four soundings, glass cup, bronze boat model, hellenistic coin mould.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[19]
197627 March-6 May 1976
Continued clearing of the east wing of the Roman palace: rooms 84–87 (domestic, with a water basin and drain), rooms 81–83 (a large pithos in room 82), corridor 49 with mosaic, NE corner of the peristyle court found by mosaic, long south enclosure wall, an octagonal tower in the west wing with monumental entrance, and stratigraphic soundings including under the Poseidon mosaic (coins of Constans give a post-332/342 date).
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[20]
1977
Five rooms of the south wing cleared, completing it, with mosaic, painted plaster and squatters' lime kiln; domestic rooms of the east wing; a sounding under entrance hall 69 found a woman's skeleton under quake debris (perhaps 76/77 CE) and a Hellenistic bronzesmith's workshop; tower 80 and earlier large building outside the west wall.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[27]
1978
Rooms 83, 88–92 of the east wing around small court 91 (domestic and storage, bronze cauldron), small domestic rooms and a laundry with channels in the north wing, two earlier Hellenistic and Augustan buildings west of the octagonal tower (Second Style painted blocks), and soundings in hall 69 and room 38 suggesting the palace may date to the early 1st century CE.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[29]
1979October 1979
October season on the S and E wings of the late Roman palace: 56 m portico with geometric mosaic, a cistern, earlier painted-wall structures, rooms 74–75, possible hive, rooms 85–87 with a drain and pear-shaped Hellenistic cistern, possible laundry, Hellenistic coin mould, relief bowls with battle scenes.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[30]
1980May 1980
May campaign: north half of the east wing (rooms and corridor with beaten-earth floors, no mosaics), six trenches in the palace courtyard showing no paving, Hellenistic rock-cut drain, older walls, mosaic fragments of the late 2nd-3rd c. AD, bronze slag, lead weights, a mould with palmette and bird.
Directed by A. Daszewski[15]
1981October 1981
South part of the west wing: a large apse at the west end of a three-aisled hall (20 x 13 m), painted Hellenistic stucco; east wing: service rooms, and an older north-south street 4.35 m wide with drain, proving a Hippodamian plan, shops with buried pithoi; marble Dionysos/Silenus statue fragments, Knidian lamps, a glass Harpocrates pendant.
Directed by A. Daszewski[31]
198227 September–29 October 1982
Centre-south of east wing cleared as storerooms and domestic rooms later reused as a farm; vestibule 69 apse with mosaic; Hellenistic street drains; N wing water reservoirs and cisterns; Roman street with collapsed blocks, a niche with leaf capitals, Aphrodite head, Dionysos statue joins.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[33]
198319 September - end October 1983
Late Roman residence ('palace'): soundings in all wings, N wing rooms with basins and cisterns over earlier Hellenistic ones, grid of streets and drains showing Nea Paphos was laid out orthogonally, an east-side building with a niche and a large hall with a splendid mosaic of five mythological panels (Leda, Dionysos child, Cassiopeia, Dionysiac thiasos, Apollo and Marsyas); flints below.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[34]
198426 September-8 November 1984
Excavation of the Hellenistic-Roman palatial complex at Maloutena: full east portico with geometric mosaic (13 fields), water-use rooms in the north wing, a collapsed vaulted underground room in the west wing, a west wing 90 m long; soundings in the House of Aion found new mosaic rooms, painted plaster and a Licinius coin under a mosaic.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[36]
19868 September-18 October 1986
Villa of Theseus: south trench found a late wall over an earlier late Hellenistic/early Roman house (LHH) with painted plaster and quake-collapsed wall; heated rooms 42A and 47 with hypocaust; west wing room 23 had no apse. House of Aion: rubble, cistern, Hellenistic closed deposit with Dressel 1C amphorae, Ptolemaic seal impressions.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[38]
19877 September-16 October 1987
Soundings west of the villa found early Hellenistic and early Roman houses (a Julio-Claudian house with murex shell and a TIBERI... inscription) before the palace; south of the villa a well-preserved late Hellenistic peristyle house with ionic columns, destroyed by earthquake; House of Aion cistern with wall paintings and simple mosaics. Documentation of underground rooms at Garrison's Camp began.
Directed by W. A. Daszewski[39]
1991late August to mid-September
short season
1992about one month
students from Warsaw and Trier
2002
intensive work
2007
intensive work 2007–2009
2008March-June, September, and 6 Nov-14 Dec 2008
Listed among the foreign missions of 2008 as working at the Kato Pafos. Trial pits for the shelter supports: cistern in Room 48B of the House of Theseus, streets 9, A and A' with built drains, a cistern dromos, a painted plaster bust of a Dioskouros, finds from the House of Aion cistern (c. 100 AD), a Late Hellenistic deposit with limestone naiskos, bone ring with a Ptolemaic queen bust, entrance podium portico of the Villa of Theseus.
Directed by H. Meyza[12]
2009Dec 2008-Feb 2009; 9 March-17 April; 29 Aug-3 Oct 2009
Western Hellenistic House: peristyle courtyard 13 with impluvium, entablature fragments, restored Nabatean capital, cisterns, a bath with hypocaust and praefurnium; four new rooms in the House of Aion, two with monochrome mosaics.
Directed by Henryk Meyza[44]
2010
Hellenistic House excavation 2010–2016
2015
Fifty years of Polish digging; exhibition at the Cyprus Museum 25 May-30 November

What was found

Periods

Hellenistic
Roman
Late Antique

Features and finds

west corridor; south wing; cistern; gem of Legio XV Apollinaris; coin mould; Theseus mosaic; south portico; reception rooms; Achilles mosaic; apse room 39; room 40; Theseus mosaic room; east wing; room 36 Theseus mosaic; baths; latrines; drainage; east portico; palace baths; aula; marble sculptures; vestibule room 69; atrium; room 76 mosaic; room 77; polygonal structure; octagonal tower; Poseidon mosaic room 76; pithos room 82; East wing; North wing; room 38; hall 69; rooms 74–75; rooms 85–87; courtyard trenches; room 997; hall 23 with apse; rooms 83, 91; street; Villa of Theseus; vestibule 69; late Roman residence; mosaic of five panels; East wing portico; West wing; House of Aion; room 18W; room 19W; Villa of Theseus rooms 8,31,35,39,48B; LHH; hypocaust rooms 42A,47; room 23; House of Aion cistern; Villa of Theseus west wing; peristyle house; House of Theseus; Hellenistic House; streets A, A', B, 9.

Publications

23 items

Annual reports of the Department of Antiquities

Chronique des fouilles (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique)

References

1.V. Karageorghis, 1970, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 94.
2.V. Karageorghis, 1973, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 97.
3.V. Karageorghis, 1988, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1987, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 112.
4.V. Karageorghis, 1966, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90.
5.Antoine Hermary, 2012, L'archéologie de Chypre en Europe, Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
6.V. Karageorghis, 1968, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 92.
7.V. Karageorghis, 1969, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1968, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 93.
8.V. Karageorghis, 1972, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 96.
9.V. Karageorghis, 1971, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 95.
10.V. Karageorghis, 1974, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 98.
11.V. Karageorghis, 1976, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1975, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 100.
12.V. Karageorghis, 1977, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 101.
13.V. Karageorghis, 1978, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 102.
14.V. Karageorghis, 1983, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1982, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 107.
15.V. Karageorghis, 1984, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1983, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 108.
16.V. Karageorghis, 1985, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1984, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 109.
17.V. Karageorghis, 1987, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1986, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 111.
18.Steel, 1997, Archaeology in Cyprus 1987–1997.
19.Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 2008, Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities for the year 2008.
20.Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 2009, Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities for the year 2009.
21.W. A. Daszewski, 1998, Nea Paphos 1965–1995, in Daszewski and Meyza 1998, 5–24.
22.W. A. Daszewski, 1977, Nea Paphos II. La mosaïque de Thésée: études sur les mosaïques avec représentations du labyrinthe, de Thésée et du Minotaure, Éditions Scientifiques de Pologne, Warsaw.
23.H. Meyza with W. A. Daszewski and others, 2011, Nea Paphos, Season 2008, PAM 20, 283–294.
24.H. Meyza in cooperation with W. A. Daszewski and others, 2012, Nea Paphos, Season 2009, PAM 21, 407–422.
25.H. Meyza, M. Słowińska, R. Tybulewicz, M. Woźniak, 2014, Nea Paphos: seasons 2010 and 2011, PAM 23/1, 391–402.
26.H. Meyza, 2015, Nea Paphos: seasons 2012 and 2013, PAM 24/1 (Research), 443–452.
27.H. Meyza, M. M. Romaniuk, M. Więch, 2017, Nea Paphos. Seasons 2014 and 2016, PAM 26, 399–428.
28.E. Papuci-Władyka, 2020, Interdisciplinary Research of the Jagiellonian University in Nea Paphos UNESCO World Heritage Site (2011–2015): First Results.

Sources

1.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1968, p. 74.
2.Cyprus in the Long Late Antiquity: History and Archaeology Between the Sixth and the Eighth Centuries, p. 113.
3.Nouvelles recherches archéologiques à Paphos. Premiers résultats de la mission française sur la colline de Fabrika (2008–2009), p. 429.
4.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965, p. 354; pp. 60–63; p. 355.
5.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967, p. 334; p. 75–80.
6.Archaeology in Cyprus, 1961–66, p. 41.
7.Introduction to the History of Cyprus, p. 27.
8.Paphos: History and Archaeology, p. 20.
9.Maritime Archaeology and Maritime Heritage Protection in the Disputed Territory of Northern Cyprus, p. 5.
10.Archaeology in Cyprus, 1966–69, p. 40, p. 50.
11.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1967.
12.Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities for the year 2008, p. 69; p. 12; pp. 68–72; p. 68; p. 70.
13.Archaeology in Cyprus, p. 340.
14.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1969, p. 282; pp. 93–96.
15.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1980, p. 967; pp. 39–42.
16.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1968, pp. 127–130.
17.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1969.
18.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1970.
19.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1975, p. 891; pp. 54–58.
20.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976, p. 769; pp. 64–68.
21.L'archéologie de Chypre en Europe, p. 22.
22.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970, pp. 77–82.
23.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1971, pp. 74–75; p. 1077.
24.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972, pp. 75–78.
25.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973, pp. 69–73; p. 888.
26.Interdisciplinary Research of the Jagiellonian University in Nea Paphos UNESCO World Heritage Site (2011–2015): First Results, Pl. 13 caption; Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 captions; Fig. 5; p. 66; Fig. 2.
27.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1977, pp. 50–53.
28.New research in the sacred zone of the Fabrika hill in Nea Paphos, Cyprus.
29.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1978, pp. 40–46.
30.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1979, pp. 39–42.
31.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1981, pp. 49–53.
32.Archaeology in Cyprus, 1981–85, p. 74.
33.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1982, pp. 36–41.
34.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1983, pp. 58–62.
35.Chronique d'archéologie chypriote, p. 50.
36.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1984, pp. 55–59.
37.Chronique d'archéologie chypriote (1984–1985).
38.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1986, pp. 22–28; p. 683.
39.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1987, pp. 45–48.
40.Archaeology in Cyprus 1987–1997, p. 12; p. 147.
41.Archaeology in Cyprus.
42.Reconstruction of the Western Courtyard of the 'Hellenistic House' in Nea Paphos, Cyprus, p. 57.
43.Nea Paphos as a center of pottery production, p. 63.
44.Annual Report of the Department of Antiquities for the year 2009, pp. 79–81; p. 80.
45.Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1977–1978, p. 71.