From Toumpallos to Saranta Kolones

Published 12th of March, 2020

From The Top

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So if you were walking through the park and met a strange man who told you about an ancient cinema, then I do apologise. I didn't mean to say that.

The Asclepieion

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There are also ruins to the right of the Odeon. Turning to the sign again:


The building situated to the south of the Odeon has been identified as an Asclepieion, the sanctuary of Ascleepios and a medical establishment. The complex consists of three main parts: a long corridor, and apsidal room flanked by two square rooms and a long gallery with an entrance from the south.

Prehistoric NHS

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And from the guidebook:


The Asklepeion

The building in the southern side of the Odeion also falls in the same period as the Agora of the city. This has been identified with Asklepeion, the Sanctuary of Askleeius, god of medicine, used also as an infirmary. This was a large building complex with three unified spaces, which communicated directly with the adjacent buildings of the Odeion and Agora. The first space consisted of two rectangulart rooms, built on both sides of a large corridor, the second one of an apsidal room, framed by two other square rooms which led to a subterranean room, while the third one of another rectangular room with the entrance in its southern side, communicating with a square roofed court with two large rooms on both sides right and left. The Odeion and Argora of Nea Paphos, as well as the Asklepeion of the city were all completely destroyed by earthquakes in the middle of the 4th century A.D.

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Agora

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To be frank, there is not a lot to see at the Asklepeion. You may at first sight think the same of the Agora, which, for all intents and purposes, looks like a field. But you would be wrong. From the sign:


The Agora was the central square court of the city and was surrounded by porticoes of grey granite columns surrounded byu white marble Corinthian capitals.


So before the earthquakes knocked them all down, this must have been quite a sight.

Recent Excavations

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The book goes on...


The Agora

The city's - Roman Forum has been discovered directly in front of the Odeion. It is a large square colonnaded courtyard with dimensions of 95 x 95m, from which only the foundations and in some parts the stylobates are preserved. The missing columns of its porticoes (stoae) were smooth and made of gray granite, supporting Corinthian capitals. The Agora was built after the Odeion, around the middle of the 2nd century A.D. and crumbled into ruins as a result of the earthquakes in 332 and 342 A.D.

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And if you are wondering, a stylobate is a continuous base, supporting a row of columns.

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