Amathus was one of the most ancient royal cities of Cyprus, on the southern coast, about 24 miles west of Larnaka and 6 miles east of Limassol. Larnaca, or Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus. ... View of Limassol from the medieval castle museum Limassol (Greek: Λεμεσός, Lemesos; Turkish: Leymosun) is the second-largest city of Cyprus, with a population of 161,000 (2001 census), and the biggest municipality of the island. ...

The pre-history of Amathus mixes myth and archaeology. Archaeology has detected human activity is evident from 1100 BC. Its legendary founder was Cinyras, linked with the birth of Adonis, who called the city after his mother Amathous. According to one version of the Ariadne legend, Theseus abandoned Ariadne at Amathousa, where she died giving birth to her child and was buried in a sacred tomb. The Amathousians are said to have called the grove where she was buried the Wood of Aphrodite Ariadne. It was said in antiquity that the people were autochthonous, or "Pelasgian". Their non-Greek language is confirmed on the site by inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary used down to the fourth century BC. In Greek mythology, King Cinyras of Cyprus was a son of Apollo and husband of Metharme. ... A 19th-century reproduction of a Greek bronze of Adonis found at Pompeii. ... Drinking scene with Dionysus and Ariadne on his lap. ... Theseus (Greek Θησεύς) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aegeus (or of Poseidon) and of Aethra. ... Ancient Greek writers used the name Pelasgian to refer to groups of people who preceded the Greeks and dwelt in several locations in mainland Greece, Crete, and other regions of the Aegean as neighbors of the Hellenes. ... The Cypriot syllabary is a syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from ca. ...

More purely Hellenic myth would have Amathus settled by one of the sons of Heracles, accounting for the fact that he was worshipped there. Hercules, a Roman bronze (Louvre Museum) In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Herakles (glory of Hera, Ἥρα + κλέος, )(Etruscan Hercle) was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, stepson of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus. ...

Amathus was built on the coastal cliffs with an amazing view to the sea. It flourished and became a rich kingdom since the early years of its settlement. During the Post Phoenician Era (800 B.C.) a port was also constructed there, which served the trade with the Greeks and the Levantines. High on the cliff a temple was built, which became a special worship site to Aphrodite, the goddess of Beauty and Love. The excavators discovered the Temple of Aphrodite, which dates approximately to the first century B.C.. According to the legend, it was where Adonia took place, in which athletes competed in hunting wild boars during sport competitions. They also competed in dancing and singing to the honour of Adonis.

The earliest remains hitherto found on the site are tombs of the early Iron Age period of Graeco-Phoenician influences (1000-600 B.C.). Amathus is identified by some (E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cypern, i., 1902, pp. 13-14; but see Citium) with Kartihadasti (Phoenician "New-Town") in the Cypriote tribute-list of Esarhaddon of Assyria (668 B.C.). It certainly maintained strong Phoenician sympathies, for it was its refusal to join the phil-Hellene league of Onesilos of Salamis which provoked the revolt of Cyprus from Persia in 500-494 B.C. (Herod. v. 105), when Amathus was besieged unsuccessfully and avenged itself by the capture and execution of Onesilos. Herodotus reports Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... (Redirected from 1000 BC) Centuries: 12th century BC - 11th century BC - 10th century BC Decades: 1050s BC 1040s BC 1030s BC 1020s BC 1010s BC - 1000s BC - 990s BC 980s BC 970s BC 960s BC 950s BC Events and Trends 1006 BC - David becomes king of the ancient Israelites (traditional... Centuries: 8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 650s BC 640s BC 630s BC 620s BC 610s BC - 600s BC - 590s BC 580s BC 570s BC 560s BC 550s BC Events and Trends Fall of the Assyrian Empire and Rise of Babylon 609 BC _ King Josiah... Larnaca, or Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus. ... Esarhaddon (Greek and Biblical form; Akkadian AÅ¡Å¡ur-aha-iddina Ashur has given a brother to me), was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 BC-669 BC), the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramaic queen Naqia (Zakitu), Sennacheribs second wife. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plains of what are now Lebanon and Syria. ... Motto: Persian: Esteqlāl, āzādÄ«, jomhÅ«rÄ«-ye eslāmÄ« (English: Independence, freedom, (the) Islamic Republic) Anthem: SorÅ«d-e MellÄ«-e Īrān Capital Tehran Largest city Tehran Official language(s) Persian Government Islamic Republic  - Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei  - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Revolution Overthrew Monarchy   - Declared February 11... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created...

"Because he had besieged them, the Amathusians cut off Onesilaos’ head and brought it to Amathous, where they hung it above the gates. As it hung there empty, a swarm of bees entered it and filled it with honeycomb. When they sought advice about this event, an oracle told them to take the head down and bury it, and to make annual sacrifice to Onesilaos as a hero, saying that it would be better for them if they did this. The Amathusians did as they were told and still perform these rites in my day." (Histories 5.114)

The phil-Hellene Evagoras of Salamis was similarly opposed by Amathus about 385-380 B.C. in conjunction with Citium and Soli (Diod. Sic. xiv. 98); and even after Alexander the city resisted annexation, and was bound over to give hostages to Seleucus (Diod. Sic. xix. 62). Euagoras was the king of Salamis (410 - 374 BC) in Cyprus. ... Larnaca, or Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus. ... Soli is an ancient city on the island of Cyprus, located west of Kyrenia. ... Sikandar - Simas Lover. ... Seleucus was the name of several Macedonian kings of the Seleucid dynasty ruling in the area of Syria. ...

Its political importance now ended, but its temple of Adonis and Aphrodite (Venus Amathusia) remained famous in Roman time. The epithet Amathusia in Roman poetry often means little more than "Cypriote," attesting however the fame of the city. A 19th-century reproduction of a Greek bronze of Adonis found at Pompeii. ... Birth of Venus (a. ... Octavian, widely known as Augustus, founder of the Roman empire The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...

The wealth of Amathus was derived partly from its corn (Strabo 340, quoting Hipponax, fi. 540 B.C.), partly from its copper mines (Ovid, Metamorphoses x. 220, 531), of which traces can be seen inland (G. Mariti, i. 187; L. Ross, Inselreise, iv. 195; W. H. Engel, Kypros, i. 111 ff.). Ovid also mentions its sheep (Metamorphoses x. 227). the Greek georgapher Strabo, in a 16th‑century engraving. ... Hipponax of Ephesus was an Ancient Greek iambic poet. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic brown Atomic mass 63. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ...

Amathus was a rich and densely populated kingdom with a flourishing agriculture and mines situated very close northeast Kalavasos. In the Roman era it became the capital of one out of the four administrative regions.

In Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Later, in the 4th century A.D. it became the Episcopal see and continued to flourish until the Byzantine period. At approximately the Late 6th century A.D., Ayios Ioannis Eleimonas (Saint John Charitable), protector of the knights, was born in Amathus. Byzantine Empire (Greek: Βυζαντινή Αυτοκρατορία) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ...

Until 1191 when Richard the Lionheart arrived in Cyprus, Amathus had declined. The tombs were plundered and the stones from the beautiful edifices were brought to Limassol to be used for new constructions. Much later, in 1869, a great number of blocks of stone from Amathus were used for the construction of the Suez Canal. 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal. ...

Amathus still flourished and produced a distinguished patriarch of Alexandria (St. John the Merciful), as late as 606-616, and a ruined Byzantine church marks the site; but it was already almost deserted when Richard Plantagenet won Cyprus by a victory there over Isaac Comnenus in 1191. For other uses, see Alexandria (disambiguation). ... John the Merciful (also known as John the Almsgiver, John V of Alexandria, and Johannes Eleemon) was the Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria in the early 7th century (from 606 to 616). ... Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered around its capital in Constantinople. ... Richard I (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. ... Isaac Comnenus was the last ruler of Cyprus before the Frankish conquest during the Third Crusade. ...

A new settlement close to Amathus but further inland was created, and named after St Tykhon, a bishop of Amathus. The land were the ruins are is within the borders of this village, though the expansion of the Limassol tourist area has threatened the ruins (it is speculated that some of the hotels are on top of the Amathus necropolis).

Archaeological excavations in the area by parties of Cypriots and French archaeologists started in 1980 and continue. The Acropolis, the Temple of Aphrodite, the market, the city’s walls, the basilica and the port have all been excavated. St. ...

It is an amazing opportunity for the visitor to ramble over the area and have the feeling of living as they used to live. The visitors have a wonderful chance to explore the area and see rare and beautiful archaeological treasures, which are buried in the soil for centuries.

In the market there are marvellous marble columns decorated with spiral ornaments and huge paved precincts. At the coastal side of the city there are indications of an Early Christian Basilica with floors decorated with precious gems. Farther, near the terraced road leading to the Temple, situated on the top of the cliff, several houses built in a row dating to the Hellenistic Period have been discovered. In the east and west extremes of the city the two acropolis are situated, where a number of tombs have been found, many of which are intact.

The rich necropolis, already partly plundered then, has yielded valuable works of art to New York and to the British Museum; but the city has vanished, except fragments of wall and of a great stone cistern on the acropolis. A similar vessel was transported to the Louvre in 1867. You might admire many of the interesting hand-made items with an archaeological value, which have been found during the excavations and are actually exposed at the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia as well as at the Limassol District Archaeological Museum or even at the New York Metropolitan Museum. The biggest treasure of Amathus is exposed at Paris Louvre Museum. It is a dim made from limestone, which dates to the 6th century B.C. It is 1.85 m. high and weighs 14 tons. It was made from a single big stone and has four (4) curved handles decorated with the head of a bull. It was used for storing the must from the grapes, which after the fermentation it became wine, which Cyprus is famous for. A necropolis (plural: necropolises or necropoleis) is a cemetery or burying-place, literally a city of the dead. Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used of burial grounds near the sites of the centers of ancient civilizations. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ... I.M. Peis Louvre Pyramid: one of the entrances to the galleries lies below the glass pyramid. ... The central lobby of the museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to simply as The Met, is one of the worlds largest and most important art museums, located on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan, New York, United States. ...

Two small sanctuaries, with terracotta votive offerings of Graeco-Phoenician age, lie not far off, but the great shrine of Adonis and Aphrodite has not been identified (M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros, i. ch.1).

The ruins of Amathus are less well-preserved than neighbouring Kourion. Kourion was a city in Cyprus from antiquity until the early middle ages. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Amathous, Cyprus"
• Municipality of Limassol