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[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Kypros | Phoenicians, Poeni (Κούριον). Town on the southern coast of  Cyprus, according to Hdt. 5,113 and Str. 14,6,3 founded by  Argus [II]. Remains of settlements from the Bronze Age. The first mention of a king is in the time of  Asarhaddon 673/2 BC. At the battle of Salamis in 480 BC, King Stasanor went over to the Persian side. The last king, Pasicrates, who was on the side of Alexander the Great, took part in the siege of Tyrus in 312 BC [4]. Diocese in late antiquity. In the city area, fortification walls, thermal …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros | | Phoenicians, Poeni | Aegean Koine (Ταμασ[σ]ός/ Tamas(s)ós). City in the centre of Cyprus at the eastern fringes of the Troodus Mountains at the modern village of Politiko to the southwest of Nicosia. T. was known in Antiquity for its wealth of copper (Hom. Od. 1,184: Τεμέση; Str. 14,6,5). The settlement can be traced back as far at the Bronze Age. T. is first mentioned as an autonomous city kingdom in 673/2 BC in an Assyrian inscription [1]. …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros | (Καρπασία, Καρπάσεια; Karpasía, Karpáseia). Town on the north coast of the northern tip of Cyprus -- also named C. -- north of the modern Rizokarpaso (Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 57). Remains of port installations, town walls and necropolis with chamber tombs; so far, houses from classical to Roman times have been excavated, also an early Christian basilica complex. In 306 BC, C. was captured by  Demetrius [2] Poliorcetes. As an independent pólis, C. is epigraphically verified only for the Ptolemaic period. Bishop'…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Κίτιον; Kítion). Important port city on the south coast of  Cyprus, modern Larnaca. Fortified Mycenaean town with temples and necropoleis [1], destroyed in the 11th cent. BC. On a stele from C., Sargon II claims Assyrian suzerainty in 709 BC.  Colonization emanating from Tyre in the 9th cent. BC established an increasing Phoenician presence, which peak…

[German version] (Πεδιαῖος; Pediaîos). Main river (present-day Pidias) on the island of Cyprus. It crosses the plain of Messaria from west to east and flows into the sea by the ancient coastal town of Salamis (Ptol. 5,14,3). Senff, Reinhard (Bochum) Bibliography E. Oberhummer, s.v. Pediaios, RE 19, 31  Id., Die Insel Cypern, vol. 1, 1903, 163f.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni (Μάριον/ Márion). Capital of a local kingdom on the north-west coast of Cyprus near the modern Polis tis Chrysochou. Some of its coins display the name of the city as well as the name of the dynast [1]. Finds go back to the Geometric period (900-700 BC). The export of copper from the mines of the nearby modern Limniti intensified the contact with Greece, especially with Athens (cf. IG II2 1675 l. 18). This is also demonstrated by finds from the extensive necropoleis and the locally produ…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni | Pompeius (Λάπηθος; Lápēthos). Port on the northern coast of Cyprus [1]. According to Str. 14,6,3, it was founded by Lacones under Praxander (Λάπαθος, Str. l.c.; Λάπηθις Φοινίκων, Scyl. 103). Phoenicians are attested epigraphically and through coins of king Sidqimelek ( c. 440-420 BC) [1]. The last king, Praxippus, was on the side of Antigonus [1] and was deposed by Ptolemy I in 312 BC (Diod. Sic. 19,59,1; 62,6; 79,4). In the Hellenistic period, there is evi…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros (Ἰδάλιον; Idálion). Mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions of 672 BC, a Graeco-Phoenician city in the interior of Cyprus, known to ancient literature as a principal seat of the cult of Aphrodite (Theocr. 15,100; Verg. Aen. 1,681; 692). Inhabited since the late Bronze Age. Ruins close to modern Dhali, between Larnaka and Nicosia, with two acropoleis, a city wall, house remains and necropoleis [1]. In the sanctuaries of Anat-Athena, Rešef-Apollo…

[German version] (Πηδάλιον; Pēdálion). The south-eastern cape of the island of Cyprus, today called Kap Greco. According to Str. 14,6,3, it was sacred to Aphrodite (cf. Ptol. 5,14,3). Senff, Reinhard (Bochum) Bibliography E. Oberhummer, s.v. Pedalion (2), RE 19, 18  Id., Die Insel Cypern, vol. 1, 1903, 125f.

[German version] Modern name for an extensive fortified palace site on a hill above the bay of Morphou on the northern coast of Cyprus, about 7 km to the west of Soli [1], probably the residence of one of the Cypriot city kings. Built in c. 500 BC, destroyed in c. 380 BC (it is not known by whom). In the first two phases of building up to the middle of the 5th cent., a site developed with a central peristyle courtyard, around which the residential and representational rooms were grouped, and a storage section in the south-west. In subsequent co…

[German version] (Λιμενία; Limenía). City on the north coast of Cyprus [1]. L. also appears under the names Limen and Limnitis in early Christian texts, from which the existence of a harbour is apparent (discussed in [1. 17-20]); this speaks against the inland location suggested by Str. 14,6,3. Remains near the modern Limniti show a short-term settlement as early as the Neolithic [2]. At the mouth of the river is a sanctuary with finds from the Archaic to Hellenistic periods [3]. Senff, Reinhard (Bochum) Bibliography 1 A. Westholm, The Temples of Soloi, 1936 2 E. Gjerstad, Petra tou Limni…

[German version] The country A. is named in late Bronze Age documents from Egypt,  Ebla, Mari, Babylon,  Alalah,  Ugarit and Hattuša. Topographical information contained therein points to the island position of A., which with the listing of the country's products, especially copper (production and export in the Bronze Age is well documented for  Cyprus), has tipped the scales for identifying A. with Cyprus. In the  Amarna letters, the king of A. is described as the ‘brother of pharaoh’, Hittite so…

(Κερύνεια; Kerýneia). [German version] [1] Town in Achaea (Arcadian Καρύνεια; Karýneia). Inland town in Achaea (Peloponnese), not originally listed amongst the 12 cities of the Achaean Confederacy in Hdt. 1,145 and Str. 8,7,4. According to Str. 8,7,5, C.'s location was high up in the mountains between Bura and the sea. For a long time, C. was identified with remains found above the village of Rizomylo and the coastal road near the modern Keryneia. Following on from Wilhelm, Meyer suggested to localize the…

(Σαλαμίς/ Salamís). [German version] [1] Largest island in the Saronic Gulf This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Natural catastrophes | Persian Wars | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture Largest island (93 km2) in the Saronic Gulf (Saronikos Kolpos), with a deeply punctuated coastline, 0.5 km from the coast of Attica at the nearest point; three main mountainous massifs with hilly valleys between them; the highest elevations (366 m) are on the central massif (modern Mavrovouni). The island was original…

This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Writing | Christianity | Zenobia | Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni | Natural catastrophes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Πάφος; Páphos). [German version] I. Old Paphus In antiquity two cities on the southern coast of Cyprus bore the name P.; from the Roman Imperial period, they were differentiated as New P. (Νέα Πάφος/ Néa Páphos, near modern Kato P.) and Old P. (Παλαίπαφος/ Palaípaphos, near modern Kouklia). (Old) P. is first mentioned on the Prism of Asarhaddon (673/2 B…

(Σόλοι; Sóloi). [German version] [1] City on the northern coast of Cyprus This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Kypros | Diadochi and Epigoni | Education / Culture City on the northern coast of Cyprus at modern Karavostasi with a harbour which was also usable in winter (Scyl. 103; Str. 14,6,3). According to Plut. Solon 26,2 named after Solon [1], who advised the king Philocyprus of Aepeia to relocate his unfavourably situated city to the plain. But according to Str. loc. cit. S. was founded by Phalerus and Ac…

This item can be found on the following maps: Kypros [German version] A. Location Near the modern village of Hagia Irini (HI) on the northwest coast of  Cyprus there are remains of an ancient port, inhabited from the late Bronze Age to the middle Imperial period. On the altar of a sanctuary outside the town a large number of clay votives was found in situ. Senff, Reinhard (Bochum) Bibliography E. Gjerstadt et al., Ajia Irini, in: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, vol. 2, 1935, 642-824 L. Quilici et al., Rapporti di scavo ad Aghia Irini. Studi ciprioti e rapporti di scavo 1, 1971, 9-170 S. Törnquis…

(Ἀμ(μ)αθοῦς; Am(m)athoûs). [German version] [1] Fortress to the east of the Jordan A fortress to the east of the Jordan, tell 'ammatā, which towers over the north bank of the wādi raǧib and has control over three roads, one of which runs close beside it on the west towards Pella ( ṭabaqāt faḥil) (Eus. Onom. 22,24) [1; 2]. Ceramics found here have so far shown no evidence of either pre-Hellenistic settlement or Cypriot imports [3. 44; 4. 301]. After 98 BC it was taken by  Alexander Iannaeus from the tyrant Theodorus of Philadelphia and razed to th…

(Λευκωσία; Leukōsía). [German version] [3] Island on the Lucanian coast (Mela 2,7,121; Plin. HN 3,83: Leucothea) on the Punta della Licosa, modern Isola Piana. Uggeri, Giovanni (Florence) Bibliography G. Brugnoli, s.v. L., EV 3, 1987, 196f. BTCGI 9, 1991, 5; 14, 1996, 505f. [German version] [1] One of the three post-Homeric Sirens One of the three post-Homeric Sirens, who no longer - as with Homer - appear in a group but as individuals: L. reaches south-west Italy through colonization. Consequently her suicide (she plunges into the sea) is local…

(Δρέπανον; Drépanon). Name of several foothills; the external shape of the mountain may have given rise to the name D. (‘sickle’). [German version] [1] Vorgebirge an der Nordküste von Westkreta On the north coast of western Crete (Ptol. 3,15,5), known in antiquity and today as D. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Lienau, Cay (Münster) Bibliography M. Guarducci, Inscript. Cret. 2,10. [German version] [2] Nördlichster Vorsprung der Peloponnesos in den Korinth. Golf Northernmost outcrop of the Peloponnese into the Corinthian Gulf, 7 km north-east of Rhion (with which i…