Amathus
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.
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.
More purely Hellenic myth would have Amathus settled by one of the sons of
Heracles, accounting for the fact that he was worshipped there.
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:"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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
*
Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Amathous, Cyprus"
*
Municipality of Limassol
