Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Archaeologists blog as they excavate Nea Paphos World Heritage site
Archaeologists excavating at the ancient city of Nea Paphos in Cyprus have written about their work and discoveries in a blog.
A University of Sydney team has been working to uncover medieval walls built atop a Classical theater and investigating a public fountain dating to the first century AD, the Cyprus Mail reports.
Nea Paphos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was founded around 300 BC, and the theater was built around the same time. It served as the capital of Cyprus during the Hellenistic and Roman periods and was an important spot in Byzantine times, when a castle was built nearby. Legend has it that Aphrodite emerged from the sea at the nearby beach. I've been to that beach and it's so beautiful I'm not surprised the legend arose there. Aphrodite probably started as a Phoenician fertility goddess long before the Greeks and Romans arrived, and continued as the cult of Aphrodite until 391 AD when the Roman Emperor Theodosius banned all pagan religions.
The team has wrapped up its work for the season but they and their blog will return in 2012. I'm glad to see archaeologists reaching out to the public this way and I hope more follow the University of Sydney's example. There's a lot of popular misconception about how archaeologists do their work and blogs like theirs help remedy that.
Photo of the Odeon of Nea Paphos from second century AD courtesy user einalem via flickr.
Add your comments