The Roman agora at Kourion: a public centre and its date

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

According to the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus page on Kourion, in the Episkopi area, the agora in its present state dates from the beginning of the 3rd century CE. The page mentions excavations by the Pennsylvania Museum in 1933-1954. Source 1.

What "in its present state" means

The date applies to what is visible today, that is, to the last phase preserved on the ground. Such wording leaves open whether there were earlier phases on the spot and, if so, when; the sources used here neither mention such phases nor rule them out. The agora should therefore be read not as a picture of the public centre throughout the Roman period, but as evidence for the beginning of the 3rd century CE. Source 1.

Excavation and record

The years 1933-1954 are those the Department of Antiquities page gives for the excavations of the Pennsylvania Museum. The sources used here do not say which parts of Kourion these excavations uncovered or whether the agora itself was among them, and they give neither the excavators' names nor the excavation publications. Those can be established only from the excavation reports. Source 1.

Placement and what remains open

The beginning of the 3rd century CE lies within the Roman period of the Department of Antiquities table, 58 BCE-395 CE, well away from both its limits, so the article is placed there without reservation. The question of what a Roman public centre in Cyprus shows remains largely open: the sources used here do not describe the buildings around the agora, their functions or finds from them. At the same site, the article on the Early Christian basilica at Kourion, of the 5th and 6th centuries, deals with a later stage of the place. Sources 2, 1.

Scope of reading: the Department of Antiquities pages cited here could not be opened for checking on 24 October 2026; the details from them follow notes taken from those pages at an earlier stage and were not re-checked. The excavation reports were not read, so this page gives no plan, measurements or finds from the agora.