Birthplace of Aphrodite – Petra tou Romiou

The legend of Aphrodite says that she had neither a mother or a father, but was born after a murder, and the victim’s body was thrown into the sea. Then from the foam arose a beautiful maiden, and when she stepped ashore flowers bloomed and the sandy beach around her birthplace of Petra tou Romiou (Rock of the Roman) was said to have turned to green.

Aphrodite’s rock, set just off the shoreline, is said to have been the place where she first appeared, and the myth is portrayed in the famous painting Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Aphrodite was the Greek Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and fertility, and a large cult following developed in Paphos until this was crushed by the Romans. One local myth says that any person who swims around Aphrodite’s Rock will be blessed with eternal beauty.