Polis Archaeological Museum of Marion - Arsinoe

Published 10th of December, 2025

Room II

Room II

Moving to the second room, the centrepiece is the large statue. There is a lot of information on this, on the sign at its base. I will reproduce some of it here:

The colossal male statue seen here originally stood over three meters in height an was one of the largest pieces of sculpture ever crafted from clay that was made in Cyprus. Fragments of the statue were found during excavation of a sanctuary in Polis-Maratheri that dated to the 6th to the 4th centuries B.C. The sanctuary was ultimately destroyed in 312 B.C. in the aftermath of the death of Alexander the Great when his generals, Ptolemy and Antigonus, struggled to control the island. The statues was intended as a votive gift in a temple that likely was dedicated to Zeus and Aphrodite. Badly broken by the soldiers of Ptolemy, who destroyed much else that had been placed in the temple, the statue has been reconstructed from numerous fragments that were found in the burned remains of the structure. Notice that the statue is made from numerous parts that have been added together. Because the original statue was so large, it had to be made from smaller, joining pieces, and because the material was clay, the clay had to be fired in a kiln to harden the clay to make the material structurally sound and durable.

More Maps

More Maps

More information for budding explorers...

Like the other museums we have visited in Paphos, it won't take you more then 30 - 40 minutes to visit all the exhibits. It isn't like the Natural History Museum where you can spend all day and not see everything. But it doesn't claim to be. It is just the local museum showcasing the finds that have been made in the local area.

This does also mean that none of the exhibits were stolen from foreign lands.

What are these funny jugs? I originally thought they might be old hot water bottles, but according to Google they are examples of a Grecian Askos. They are used to pour small quantities of perfume or oil.

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