Fodor's Expert Review Ancient Theater and Residential Quarter

Beyond the path that leads to the southern part of the island is this ancient theater, built in the early 3rd century BC. It once sat 5,500 people. Close by was the elegant residential quarter inhabited by Roman bankers and Egyptian and Phoenician merchants. Their one- and two-story houses were typically built around a central courtyard, sometimes with columns on all sides. Floor mosaics of snakes, panthers, birds, dolphins, and Dionysus channeled rainwater into cisterns below; the best-preserved can be seen in the House of the Dolphins, the House of the Masks, and the House of the Trident.