By: Jackson Warner

The Kourion Amphitheatre was first built in the second century BCE, but the remains we saw at the ancient site in Kourion were from the Roman period in Kourion, dating to the third century CE. It was a large amphitheater that could seat three thousand five hundred. At the peak of Kourion, there were around twenty thousand civilians, meaning close to twenty percent of the citizens in the city could come and enjoy their time in the amphitheater. The amphitheater itself rests on a hill overlooking the sea, and it has a stunning view of the ocean. The theater, like much of Kourion, was likely damaged and destroyed in the earthquake that affected Kourion in the fourth century and was subsequently abandoned. Standing in the middle of the amphitheater that has been restored gives you a great image of the scale of the structure and how a performance would go there. Listening to the reverberations of your voice in the center is quite exciting.

The Kourion Stadium, which is the only known ancient stadium in Cyprus, is also an impressive site. It would have been home to various games and athletic events, with a capacity for 6,000 spectators. The stadium is quite long but not very wide. The stadium is a total of 229 meters long and 24 meters wide. At the stadium, we ended up having a race with running half the stadium.

The Kourion Forum and Baths, in my opinion, are the most impressive part of the site at Kourion. The Forum was a large, very heavily developed area that would have been central to the city of Kourion during the Roman years. There were locations for private housing, a church, and an area for shops. It would have been the central area for public life in Kourion, where the majority of people would have congregated during the day. But most impressive were the public baths; at Kourion, there were multiple different areas with public baths. With one hosting five different baths that you would bathe in, successively going from warm all the way to the hottest and ending with a cold bath in the star-shaped bath. Although the baths might not look as impressive as other Roman baths in Europe that have survived in better conditions, you can still see how impressive the public baths would have been in its heyday.   

The Kourion site is absolutely impressive, featuring numerous interesting and beautiful structures. It has a rich history packed into it, with multiple different habitations dating back to the Neolithic period and continuing through to the Roman Period, until the earthquake. There are also stunning views around the ancient city that will take your breath away. Kourion is an amazing place to explore with your friends on the trip, and it was extremely impressive. Kourion was highly anticipated by the leaders on this trip, and it completely exceeded the expectations set! The Amphitheatre, Stadium, and Baths were the three most impressive areas I saw at the site. However, there were even more interesting and amazing areas there as well.