The excavations here recently made the press. Several skelatal remains were dug up, and thought to be near an ancient Basilica:

Archaeologists working on the Paphos Agora Project (PAP) have made an unexpected discovery of several skeletal burials dug into earlier structures, the Department of Antiquities said on Thursday.

At present, not much can be said about the nature of this small necropolis but it cannot be ruled out that it may be related to an unearthed basilica, which may have been located a little further to the north-west, it added.

The Department was reporting on the completion of the 2019 excavations of the Department of Classical Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.

Source: In Cyprus

So now, we reach the final destination on our tour. We will soon be at Saranta Kolones, of the Forty Column Fortress. And don't worry, we are going out with a bang.

The first time I approached the fortress I was perplexed. I couldn't believe that such a big place had been under my nose all these years and I hadn't heard of it.

There is a sign at the fort, with a useful map.

"Saranda Kolones" Castle

The castle was erected around 1200 A.D, after the Frankish conquest of Cyprus, on the site of an earlier Byzantine fort. It was destroyed by the earthquake of 1223 and never rebuilt. The building was a compact fortress surrounded by a massive external continuous wall with eight towers and a moat. The outer entrance of the castle was situated in the east square tower and was approached by a wooden bridge over the ditch. The interior of the castle consisted of a square yard with four towers.

Fortunately there is a bit more information in the Paphos Archaeological Guide. This book is well worth buying, and has information covering the whole of the Paphos region, not just the Archaeological Park. The book was published in 2008, and contains more accurate information than the sign, I think.

The Byzantine Fortress is located on a small elevation a short distance from the city's harbour and very close to the Odeion and the "House of Dionysos" at the site "Saranta Colones2. The site's name is owed to the numerous fragments of granite columns, which covered the archaeological site before it began to be excavated and which were initilaly thought of as ruins from the Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Nea Paphos. The area has been partially researched between 1957 and 1959 by the then director of Antiquities A.H.S Megaw. Under the same direction the excavations have been gradually repeated from 1966 till 1970 and from 1980 till 1985 by the cooperative Expedition of the British School of Athens and the American Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Studies Centre.

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