Description of the attraction
As is often the case, great discoveries are made by accident. So, in 1961 in Paphos, not far from the city harbor, one of the local farmers, plowing a field, discovered an amazing thing - the remains of unique structures from the times of the Roman Empire. Soon an archaeological park was created on this site, which now attracts antiquity lovers from all over the world. At the moment, three of the four main structures discovered are open to tourists - these are houses that belonged to noble Romans, built around the 3rd century AD. They were conventionally called the villas of Dionysus, Aion and Theseus. These ruins got their names thanks to the miraculously preserved mosaics that adorn the floors and almost completely destroyed walls of these buildings. Each of the mosaics depicts scenes from the life of one of the gods or heroes of ancient times. Beautiful designs are made of small stone, glass and marble tiles of different colors.
So, the most interesting is the house of Dionysus - it is almost 556 square meters of remarkably preserved mosaic drawings, in which you can see scenes from ancient myths about the god of winemaking Dionysus, as well as images of people intoxicated with wine. In the rest of the villas, the mosaics are not so impressive in scale and are not so well preserved, but they are also quite interesting. For example, it is worth paying special attention to the scene of Theseus' battle with the Minotaur in the house of Theseus, as well as the depiction of the moment of the birth of Dionysus in the villa of Aion.
Mosaics are considered one of the main attractions of Paphos, moreover, they were included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.
