CVAR | A great disaster befell the city of Paphos by a Genoese raid in 1373.

A great disaster befell the city of Paphos by a Genoese raid in 1373. Leontios Macheras describes what happened:

And the Genoese galleys cruised round the island and pillaged property, killed cattle, burned crops, received runaway slaves and did all manner of mischief…Then a company of Bulgarians gathered together and the Genoese went with them, and the slaves were pillaging and bringing them everything of which they had need. And there gathered together of Bulgarians, Greeks and Tartars close upon two thousand men and went and took the castles of Paphos. At that time the castles had low walls, and they set to work and heightened them, and they cut a trench so that the sea flowed in and surrounded them with water, making the place so strong that, when the Cypriots brought up fighting towers and soldiers in them, they resisted the attack without anxiety for the result.

Watercolour: Pauline G. Brown, The Old Fort, Paphos, Cyprus, Circa 1950

The 'What I Saw...' series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus) and the Active Citizens Fund.

A great disaster befell the city of Paphos by a Genoese raid in 1373.

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