Colonnaded Hall in Kourion: How the Oecus Corinthius Was Interpreted in the Roman Houses of Cyprus

Abstract

This contribution analyses the architecture of the public reception area of a house in Kourion, on the southern coast of Cyprus. Known as the Early Christian House due to the discovery of a later phase, characterised above all by mosaics, the house, which is only partially excavated, boasts architectural features that date back to the Hellenistic era. These sprang from official Alexandrian models that subsequently spread across the Mediterranean. In territories such as Cyprus, where ties with the Ptolemaic Kingdom were close, this new form of architectural expression continued to flourish, with transformations and elements of innovation, even during the Imperial Age. In the Early Christian House this phenomenon is particularly evident in a colonnaded room in which the model defined by Vitruvius, the Oecus Corinthius appears. In this particular instance, the style is embellished with the use of simplified capitals and angular heart-shaped pillars of the Doric order. The architectural elements of the house are analysed here in order to provide a stylistic and chronological framework what contribute to the reconstruction of the history of the early Imperial phase of the building.