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Ancient Paphos splits between Palaepaphos (Kouklia), the Bronze Age and archaic sanctuary of Aphrodite, and Nea Paphos on the western harbour, founded in the late 4th century BCE and capital under the Ptolemies and Rome. The Archaeological Park of Kato Paphos holds the House of Dionysos, House of Theseus, House of Aion, and House of Orpheus—floor mosaics that are among the finest in the eastern Mediterranean. Tombs of the Kings, rock-cut peristyle tombs for local elites, line the coast north of the harbour.
Excavations by the Cypriot Department of Antiquities, Polish missions at Nea Paphos, and Swiss–German work at Palaepaphos have clarified the sanctuary’s open court and conical baetyl cult of Aphrodite, mentioned by Homer and Tacitus. The city minted coins, hosted a Roman proconsul, and remained a bishopric into Byzantine times before earthquakes and shifting trade favoured other ports.
Pair Paphos with Delos for Hellenistic island capitals and with Volubilis for Roman provincial mosaic culture at the empire’s edges.