Amathus or Amathous () was an ancient city-kingdom of Cyprus. It came under Ptolemaic rule in the 300s BC. Its ancient cult sanctuary of Aphrodite was the second most important in Cyprus—where her cult is thought to have originated—after Paphos.Walter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985, p. 153; John Karageorghis, La grande déesse de Chypre et son culte, 1977.
Remains of Amathus can be seen today on the southern coast near Agios Tychonas, about east of Limassol and west of Larnaca. Archaeological fieldwork at the site continues; many finds are exhibited in the Limassol Museum.
History Pre-history and ancient era
The pre-history of Amathus survives in both myth and archaeology.T. Petit, "Eteocypriot myth and Amathousian reality," JMA 12 (1999:108-20) No traces of human activity was detected in the site before the earliest Iron Age, ,M. Iacovou, "Amathous, an early Iron Age polity in Cyprus: the chronology of its foundation", Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (2002) pp 101-22. and no town is mentioned in the space between Kition and Kourion in the list of Cypriot cities from Medinet Habu. The city's legendary founder was Cinyras, linked with the birth of Adonis, who named the city after his mother Amathous.Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Amathous According to a version of the Ariadne legend noted by Plutarch,Plutarch, vita of Theseus (20.3-.5), citing the lost text of an obscure Amathusan mythographer, Paeon. Theseus abandoned Ariadne at Amathousa, where she died giving birth to her child and was buried in a sacred tomb. According to Plutarch's source, Amathousians called the sacred grove where her shrine was situated the Wood of Aphrodite Ariadne. myth would have Amathus settled instead by one of the sons of Heracles, named Amathes (Ἀμάθης),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Amathes thus accounting for the fact that he was worshiped there. Another ancient legend claims that the city was named after Amathusa, the mother of Cinyras.
It was said in antiquity that the people of Amathus were autochthonous, most likely Eteocyprian or "Pelasgian". Their non-Greek language is confirmed on the site by Eteocypriot inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary which alone in the Aegean survived the Bronze Age collapse and continued to be used down to the 4th century BC.Baurain, C. 1984. Réflexions sur les origines d’Amathonte d’après les sources littéraires, in P. Aupert and M.- C. Hellmann (eds) Amathonte I. Testimonia 1. Auteurs ancients, Monnayage, Voyageurs, Fouilles, Origines, Géographie: 109–117. Paris: École Française d’Athènes/Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations.
Amathus was built on coastal cliffs with a natural harbour and flourished at an early date, soon requiring several cemeteries. Greeks from Euboea left their pottery at Amathus from the 10th century BC. During the post-Phoenician era of the 8th century BC, a palace and port were constructed. The port served the trade with the Greeks and the Levantines. A special burial ground for infants, a tophetAgelarakis A., Kanta A., and N. Ch. Stampolidis, “The Osseous Record in the Western Necropolis of Amathous: an Archaeo-Anthropological Investigation”, Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus-Dodecanese-Crete 16th-6th c. B.C., Proceedings of the International Symposium: The Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus-Dodecanese-Crete 16th-6th c. B.C., Rethymnon, Crete, 1998: 217-232Agelarakis A., “The Amathous (tophet) cremations in Cyprus”, In D. Christou on “Human Cremations at the Western Necropolis of Amathous” <Cremations in Bronze and Early Iron Age>, Proceedings of Int. Symposium. Ministries of the Aegean and of Culture, Greece, 2001: 201-204 served the Phoenicians. A temple was built high on a cliff for the Hellenes, which became a worship site devoted to Aphrodite, in her particular local presence as Aphrodite Amathusia along with a bearded male Aphrodite called Aphroditos.Macrobius, Saturnalia III, 8. Hesychius s.v Ἀφρόδιτος. Catullus 68, 51, calling the Amathusian Aphrodite duplex, confirms the attribution to Amathus. The excavators discovered the final stage of the Temple of Aphrodite, also known as Aphrodisias, which dates approximately to the 1st century BC. According to the legend, it was where festive Adonia took place, in which athletes competed in hunting wild boars during sport competitions; they also competed in dancing and singing, to honour Adonis.
The earliest remains found on the site are tombs of the early Iron Age period of Graeco-Phoenician influences (1000–600 BC). Amathus is sometimes identifiedFor example by E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cypern, i., 1902, pp. 13-14. with Qartiḫadasti (Phoenician "New-Town") in the Cypriote tribute-list of Esarhaddon of Assyria (668 BC) and some Phoenician inscriptions from the island, although others identify this Qartiḫadasti with Kition or a part of it. It certainly maintained strong Phoenician sympathies, for it was its refusal to join the philhellene league of Onesilos of Salamis which provoked the revolt of Cyprus from Achaemenid Persia in 500–494 BC,Herodotus, v. 105 when Amathus was unsuccessfully besieged and avenged itself with the capture and execution of Onesilos. Herodotus reports "Because he had besieged them, the Amathusians cut off Onesilos’ 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.The mytheme of bees in the carcase, familiar from the legend of Samson ( Judges 14:8, a lion's carcase) and the Greek myth of Aristaeus (a bullock carcase), and in Virgil's Georgics, is examined by Othniel Margalith, "Samson's Riddle and Samson's Magic Locks" Vetus Testamentum, 36.2 (1986:. 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 Onesilos 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)
Amathus was a rich and densely populated kingdom with a flourishing agriculture (grainStrabo 340, quoting the mid-6th century writer Hipponax. and sheep) and copper mines situated very close to the northeast Kalavasos.See Ovid, Metamorphoses x. 220, 227. 531.G. Mariti, i. 187; L. Ross, Inselreise, iv. 195; W. H. Engel, Kypros, i. 111 ff.
Hellenistic era
Around 385–380 BC, the philhellene Evagoras of Salamis was similarly opposed by Amathus, allied with Kition and Soli;Diodorus Siculus xiv. 98. and even after Alexander the Great the city resisted annexation, and was bound over to give hostages to Seleucus.Diodorus Siculus xix. 62. Its political importance was over but its temple of Adonis and Aphrodite Amathusia remained famous in Roman times. The epithet Amathusia in Roman poetry often means "Cypriote," attesting to the city's fame.
From the 4th century BC the pedestals of two sculptures donated by the last Basileus of Amathous, Androkles, representing his two sons, Orestheus and Andragoras, have survived. Their inscriptions are in both Eteocyprian and Greek.
The decline of Amathus is often measured by the Ptolemaic gifts to Argos, where Amathus donated only 40 drachmas in 170–160 BC, but Kition and Salamis gave 208, Kourion 172, and Paphos 100. However, this figure contradicts the archaeologic evidence of new buildings in this period including a balneion, a bath, a gymnasium, as well as fortifications of the Acropolis, including a new tower. The port of Paphos appears to have lost traffic compared to Amathus in the Ptolemaic period, an indication that Paphos, as the capital of the island, perhaps offered fewer drachmas than the other cities for different reasons, like Amathus.Giorgos Papantoniou: Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus. From the Cypriot Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos, Brill, 2012, S. 221.
Roman era
In the Roman era Amathus became the capital of one of the four administrative regions of Cyprus.
A Roman temple was built in the 1st century AD on top of the Hellenistic predecessor. The temple facilities remained so important in Roman times that 'Amathusia' was used as a synonym for 'Cypriot'.
Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages Later, in the 4th century AD, Amanthus became the see of a Christian bishop and continued to flourish until the Byzantine period. Of its bishops, Heliodorus was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and Alexander at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. In the late 6th century, Saint Ioannis Eleimonas (John the Charitable) was born in Amathus and after 614 sent Theodorus, bishop of Amathus, to Jerusalem to ransom some slaves.Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 1063-1066Siméon Vailhé, v. 1. Amathus, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. II, Paris 1914, coll. 982-983
Today, Amathus is a see of the Church of Cyprus and is also listed (under the name "Amathus in Cypro", to distinguish it from "Amathus in Transjordan") as a titular see by the Catholic Church, which however, in line with the practice adopted after the Second Vatican Council, has made no appointments to the bishopric since the death of the last titular bishop of the Latin Church in 1984.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 830
Anastasius Sinaita, the prolific 7th-century monk of Saint Catherine's Monastery, was born here. It is thought that he left Cyprus after the 649 Arab conquest of the island, setting out for the Holy Land, and eventually becoming a monk on Sinai.A. Binggeli, 'Anastasius of Sinai' in D. Thomas (ed.) et al., Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 1 (600-900). Brill 2009, pp. 193-202; K.H. Uthemann, 'Anastasius the Sinaite' in A. Di Berardino, Patrology: the Eastern fathers from the Council of Chalcedon (451) to John of Damascus (+750). Cambridge 2006, 313-331
Amathus declined and was already almost deserted when Richard Plantagenet took Cyprus in 1191. The tombs were plundered and the stones from the 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. A ruined Byzantine church marks its site.
In modern times A new settlement close to Amathus but further inland, Agios Tychonas, is named after the bishop Tychon of Amathus. The site of the ruins 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.
The site and archaeology
The Swedish Cyprus Expedition
From April to May 1930 the Swedish Cyprus Expedition excavated a necropolis on both sides of Amathus's acropolis. Amathus was known and visited during the 18th century and 19th centuries by travelers and archaeologists. Earlier excavators, such as General Luigi Palma Di Cesnola, the first American consul in Cyprus, excavated the necropolis's large tombs situated north of the acropolis and the tombs in the necropolis west of the acropolis hill. Since he did not publish any plans or drawings John Lindros illustrated two of the tombs from the old excavations that were still possible to visit. The necropolis had partly been excavated by the English Expedition to Cyprus in 1893–1894 and published in Excavations in Cyprus, London 1900. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition excavated around 25 tombs.