DESCRIPTION:

The two adjacent rooms, located south of the large reception room, which preserve the unique figurative mosaic floors of the house, belong to the Roman house that replaced the original Hellenistic house. While their exact function is unknown, the mosaics decorating these rooms indicate that they were part of the official space of the house. The mosaic that adorns the center of the larger room to the west depicts a female figure standing and resting the elbow of her left arm, with which she holds a spear, on a column. The figure is naked but is draped in a long cloak that covers only her legs. With her right hand, she holds the cloak high behind her head. This representation is of the "Armed Aphrodite". The goddess, known for her associations with beauty and love, had many other attributes and iconographic types. One such representation was of Aphrodite with military characteristics. The depiction of the goddess armed with a spear, like the one in Pafos, is unique in mosaic depictions, although Roman statues and terracotta figurines exist that show the armed goddess, not with a spear but with a sword. The finest example of this type is a marble statue from the 2nd or 3rd century AD, found in the nearby "Villa of Theseus," and is now displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Pafos District. The mosaic is dated to the 3rd century AD.