House of the Gladiators in Episkopi, Cyprus

Kourion's ruins are full of mosaics: mythological scenes, geometric patterns, hunting parties. But tucked near the main courtyard of one villa is something the rest of the island almost never shows: gladiators, fighting, identified by name. According to Cyprus's own Department of Antiquities, gladiatorial combat is a rare subject for mosaic art anywhere on the island, which is what gives this otherwise modest 3rd-century house its name. The floor is split into several panels. In one, two fighters face off under their own inscribed names in Greek, Margarites and Hellenikos, locked mid-duel. In another, a heavily armed gladiator named Lytras advances on an opponent of whom only a helmeted head and a foot survive, while a third figure in civilian dress, a referee named Darios, holds a rod and tries to intervene. It is one of the few places in the Roman world where you can put faces, poses and even names to the men who fought in Cyprus's arenas, most of which have left no other trace.

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