Cyprus: Acoustics, Mosaics, & Aphrodite - Days 4

The next day found us skipping across the island yet again, but this time in the other direction. Our goal was to visit Kurion and Paphos. Kurion is significant because it houses some of the oldest Christian inscriptions in the world. And of course, Paphos is the city where Paul confronted the infamous sorcerer, Bar-Jesus.

Kurion was situated on a hill that overlooked the sea. One of the most famous mosaics is found on the threshold of a bathhouse. After a devestating earthquake, a rich individual Eustolios, took it upon himself to fund the rebuilding of many private and public buildings, including the bathhouse. on the threshold he had it written: "In place of large stones and solid iron, gleaming bronze and even adornment, this house is given with much venerated signs of Christ."

One of my favorite parts about visiting Kurion was the theater. I really do love theaters guys, and in my defense theaters are almost always intentionally located in the areas with the best view, so of course they are the most awe inspiring locations to visit. But this theater was really spectacular, not just for the refreshing view and ocean breeze that blew in off the waves but because of the acoustics. I know I said that the last theater had good acoustics, but this one's were even better. As i stated before, listeners in the highest row can usually here orators standing at the bottom of the theater. However, this is really only possible if the orator stands on a very specific mark in the very center of the platform. It is one thing to listen to an orator form the highest row, it is another to orate. When standing on this mark, you can usually hear your voice projecting much like the effect of speaking into a microphone. Now, depending on the angle, build, and material of the theater, not only do you hear your voice, but it bounces back at you in a strange, metallic way. I had seen videos of this strange effect occurring at Ephesus, and of course, had to try it everywhere I went. However, I knew that this particular effect was not universal. So imagine my delight when I stepped on the mark at Kurion, clapped my hands together as loud as I could, and heard the metallic ring! I stood there experimenting for a very long time until someone yelled at me to hurry up. :)

The engineering needed to produce this phenomenon is really astounding and Google summarizes it better then I can: The specific type of limestone used in the seats has tiny, patterned corrugations (grooves) that act like natural acoustic traps, absorbing lower-pitched sounds (around 500 Hz and below) but letting higher frequencies pass through. This filtering effect means background noise gets dampened, while the sharp, high-frequency clap of hands (or the clear voices of actors) isn't absorbed; instead, it's reflected back toward the audience. This reflection enhances the clarity and projection of sounds, making the clapping seem louder and more resonant, creating that distinct metallic or bell-like ring.

This was one of the highlights of my trip and I am not even exaggerating about that.

The theater at Kurion

Finished at Kurion, we headed towards Paphos. On our way there, we took some detours, but as we were driving we saw the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite in the distance. I had done quite a bit of research on this location for my school project and I really wanted to stop. However, our tour coordinator decided we didn't have time. The other girls and I were pretty disappointed, but we snapped a few photos anyways.

Legend has it that Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was born miraculously out of the sea foam that sprayed up around these rocks. Swimming around the rocks at midnight will grant one eternal beauty, but should not be attempted due to dangerous currents. This location remains a famous spot for honeymooners to this day.

Paphos was a striking contrast to Kurion. We visited the famous House of Dionysus which contains over forty rooms, many of which are paved with mosaics that depict different mythological scenes. Just a few houses away, Paul would have confronted Bar-Jesus and Sergius Paulos.

I found this round stone while we were listening to my professor tell the story of Paul
I think it might be a money weight.

Standing in front of a Mosaic depicting Theseus.
Behind me you can see the ruins of Sergius Paulos home.

After we were finished at Paphos, we got a chance to explore the waterfront of the modern town. I caught a little crab and got coffee and rose gelato. Coffee and rose is a really famous combination in Cyprus and they usually drink their coffee with rose flavored Turkish Delight.

Shout out to my professor for this amazing photo of my one clawed crab.

On our way back to the hotel, our professor advocated for us girls and our tour coordinator decided to let us stop at the birthplace of Aphrodite for all of fifteen minutes. We were very grateful though and had so much fun! Our main goal was to recreate a really famous picture by Boticelli called the Birth Of Venus. See below for reference:

I look very tired and disheveled in that picture, but its fine. This is one of my friends favorite paintings, and I even have a picture of her in a museum wearing a dress depicting this painting.

Isn't she pretty?

Anyways, we had planned the whole thing out and the result was really spectacular. Here is the actual painting one more time for reference:

And here is our version:

Resourceful, no? I think we really captured his image well with what we had. And I really thing I make a great shell. Shout out to Mrs. Giselle for the awesome photography.

Just a picture of me in a place I thought I'd never actually see.

I'm not entirely sure what the context for this photo is, but
we were exploring a Crusader fortress.

That night, we had the opportunity to go swimming down at the beach. And when I say that night, I mean it was dark out when we went. As we were swimming, one of the girls started to notice little winking lights in the water every time she moved her hands. And in this manner, we all discovered the little bioluminescent plankton swimming around us. They weren't glowing super bright, but when we would move our hands or our feet they would swirl and flash, if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't have noticed it. It was still really incredible though because none of us were expecting it, and it is such a rare thing to see bioluminescent creatures.

The next day, we visited a museum, but didn't really do much else worth recounting. We were flying to Thessaloniki at 4:00 am the next day and had to be up by 2:00 am, so we all went to bed early that night, excited for the next adventure!

Here are my journal entries for this day. Please ignore the spelling mistakes. It was very late at night when I wrote this.