Photo credit: http://www.sunshineestates.net/reg_sum/paphos.html
The city of Paphos is located on the southwest coast of Cyprus. Paphos was founded in the 4th century B.C. and was the capital of Cyprus for almost eight hundred years. Paphos is filled with Greek mythology, and being the home of the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite it brought fame and many worshippers that followed the cult of the beautiful Goddess. Some of the famous landmarks that are associated with Aphrodite are the huge, rugged rocks of her birth shore that are known as Aphrodite’s Rocks or “Petra tou Romiou”, the Baths of Aphrodite at Polis, and a sanctuary of Aphrodite in the Kouklia Village. Remember that Aphrodite’s Roman counterpart was Venus? Well the name of the city Paphos is even linked to the Goddess. Paphos was the name of Venus and Pygmalion’s mythological daughter.
Photo credit: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/cyprus/aphrodites-rock-petra-tou-romiou.htm
"Chronos took the great long jagged sickle; eagerly he harvested his father's (Zeus) genitals and threw them all off behind.... The genitals...were carried for a long time on the waves. White foam surrounded the immortal flesh, and in it grew a girl...
her name is Aphrodite among men and gods, because she grew up in the foam (aphrizo)." This is from Theogony (178-206) depicting the legendary foam birth of Aphrodite in the location shown here, the Petra tou Romiou. Translated, this means "the Rock of the Greek" and does not actually refer to Aphrodite but to another myth, that of the Byzantine hero Dighenis, who threw the rocks at pirates to protect his lady. It however, has become known as Aphrodite's Rock.
Photo credit: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/cyprus/images/aphrodite-rock/pano-cc-trof.jpg
Photo credit: www.flickr.com
About 48 kilometers north of Paphos, located in the Polis area is the beautiful and relaxing baths of Aphrodite. According to legend, Aphrodite would take her baths in a pool that was made of natural grotto and shaded by a fig tree. Many have said that if you bathe in Aphrodite’s bath it will increase one’s fertility.
Photo credit: http://www.paphosfinder.com/gallery/kouklia/aphrodite_temple7.JPG
Around 14 kilometers east of Paphos in the Kouklia Village you can find the ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite. This is Palaepaphos, commonly called Old Paphos, which is an ancient city kingdom of Cyprus. The Temple of Aphrodite was one of the most important places of cult and pilgrimage to the ancient world which dates back to the 12th century B.C. until the 3rd-4th century A.D. In 1888 excavators found a large black conical stone which was the earliest representation made of Aphrodite. The finds are able to be seen in the Kouklia Museum housed in what was once a Lusignan manor, Chateau de Covocle.
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