Currently, the area of the ancient city of Nea Paphos is one of the best archaeologically studied areas in Cyprus. For many years, several archaeological missions have been working here, both Cypriot and foreign (from Poland, Italy, Australia, France). However, at the beginning of the 20th century, Paphos was a small, little-known fishing village. The first excavations were carried out by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus in 1935. They led to the discovery of a Roman cistern near the amphitheater. However, the importance of this site was not fully appreciated until the early 1960s when large-scale archaeological works began. The first effect of them was the discovery of the House of Dionysus. Shortly afterwards, foreign missions began their excavations, the first of which was the Polish Archaeological Mission of the University of Warsaw. The area belonging to the southwestern part of the ancient city, about 250 m west of the port was chosen by prof. K. Michałowski, a pioneer of Polish Mediterranean archaeology, during his visit to Cyprus in 1963. The first surveys in the field called Maloutena were conducted in June 1965 and brought immediate success by discovery of a treasure of silver coins of Alexander the Great and his successor Philip Arridajos, as well as marble sculptures. Polish archaeological research was led from 1967 to 2007 by prof. W.A. Daszewski, and then until 2019 by dr H. Meyza. Work under the direction of prof. E. Papuci-Władyka is still being carried out. The area covered by the Polish concession is located within the Archaeological Park, which was established in 1996. It is about 75 hectares big and covers about 3/4 of the area of the ancient city. Except for 1974, when the Turkish invasion took place, annual excavation campaigns were carried out until 1998. A break in research occurred in the years 1999-2003, when only small surveys were done, supervised by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities.
During the excavations at the site, several impressive architectural complexes were uncovered, which were given the following conventional names: the Villa of Theseus (VT), the House of Aion (HA) and the North-East House (NEH), the "Hellenistic" House (HH) (about 1/3 of whose surface is located under the southern wing of the Villa of Theseus), the Early Roman House (ERH) and the Roman House (RH), which was probably built in the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD on the ruins of the south-western part of the insula of the "Hellenistic" House.
The first building discovered by Polish archaeologists after the excavations began was the Villa of Theseus, probably the seat of the Roman proconsul. During the works, it was determined that its construction probably began in the early 2nd century AD, after the earthquake that hit the city during the reign of Hadrian (in 126 AD). The axes of this building run along the same directions as the street grid, but its area exceeds the boundaries of the insula. For this reason, it was necessary to create a new street, the so-called Late Roman Street, separating the villa from the buildings located to the east of it. The southern wing, the most important, representative part of the Villa of Theseus, was built in the 2nd half or at the end of the 2nd century AD. In addition to the third-century mosaic depicting Theseus killing the Minotaur, this part of the building was decorated with a mosaic depicting Poseidon and Amphitrite (dining room) and presenting Achilles' bath (state hall). The palace was expanded in the fourth century AD, adding a large peristyle courtyard to the north. As a result, the building began to occupy an area of six insulae. The next stage in the development of the building was the insertion of an entrance complex into the eastern wing in the fifth century AD, consisting of a wide vestibule equipped with benches, an atrium with an impluvium and a nymphaion. The slow degradation of the Villa of Theseus probably began in the second half of the fifth century AD. The building was abandoned by its inhabitants, and then occupied by squatters at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century AD. The last phase of use is characterized by the division of rooms into smaller rooms for utility purposes and the presence of agricultural tools and equipment, such as millstones, mortars, troughs, made of reworked elements of architectural decoration. To the southeast of the Villa of Theseus is the richly decorated House of Aion. Its banqueting hall, the triclinium, is accessible almost directly from Street B, running east-west. The most magnificent mosaic decorates the floor of the triclinium and consists of five paintings enclosed on three sides in a frame on which the banqueters’ beds were placed. The mosaic is well dated thanks to the discovery of a coin of the Emperor Licinius (ruled 308-324 AD) in its base. In addition to the main hall with the mosaic, the building of the House of Aion contains a number of rooms that pose difficulties for interpretation. Its eastern part was utility, with a courtyard with a cistern for collecting rainwater and, among other things, a room with a number of large clay pithoi and kitchen amphoras sunk into the floor. The House of Aion was partially destroyed in the 2nd half of the 4th century AD and in the northern part it was replaced by the Northeast House, located on a higher level. In the southern part the main halls were crudely renovated, but the utility facilities were further degraded.
The so-called "Hellenistic" House was discovered in the mid-1980s and has been gradually uncovered since then. Contrary to its name, this building was inhabited in the Early Roman period, not the Hellenistic period, and for a rather short period of time, probably from the late 1st century to the first half of the 2nd century AD. It is a large peristyle building, whose walls and colonnades surrounding the inner courtyard collapsed during the earthquake of 126 AD. The southern wall of HH borders Street A', the northern (unexposed) wall borders Street A, the western, shorter side of the building borders Street 10, and the eastern side borders the Early Roman House, which reaches Street 9. The "Hellenistic" House occupies about 75% of insula 10A'. At least in the late phase of development, the insula was divided between several separate houses. Unfortunately, fragmentary information referring to small sections of earlier buildings or phases does not always allow us to assess whether we are dealing with only transformations of the same building or new constructions. The building that originally probably occupied the entire insula was erected in the early 3rd century BC. It was destroyed by an earthquake probably around 14 BC. Its western part, around a small courtyard with an impluvium, was rebuilt into a Roman-style bathhouse with underfloor heating. New mosaic floors were also laid, including figurative ones: with an image of armed Aphrodite and the three Graces or the seasons. This particular section of the insula was called the Roman House by archaeologists. Probably the rooms located directly west of the main courtyard (No. 1) in the central part of the insula also belong to the late phase of construction, e.g. the great hall with a black and white mosaic floor (made in the Hellenistic style).
