Kition

The name of the city comes from the Phoenician (, pronounced Kitiya). ==History==

During the Late Bronze Age, the area was settled by Mycenaean Greeks who exploited the local copper deposits. This settlement was destroyed around 1200 BC but was rebuilt soon after. The new town was rebuilt on a larger scale; its mudbrick city wall was replaced by a cyclopean wall. Around 1000 BC, the religious part of the city was abandoned, although life seems to have continued in other areas as indicated by finds in tombs.|left Literary evidence suggests an early Phoenician presence at Kition under Tyrian rule at the beginning of the 10th century BC. Some Phoenician merchants who were believed to come from Tyre colonized the area and expanded the political influence of Kition. After , the city's sanctuaries were rebuilt and reused by Phoenician settlers. The kingdom was under Egyptian domination from 570 to 545 BC. Persia ruled Cyprus from 545 BC. Kings of the city are referred to by name from 500 BC—in Phoenician texts and as inscriptions on coins. Marguerite Yon claims that literary texts and inscriptions suggest that by the Classical period Kition was one of the principal local powers, along with its neighbour Salamis. Persian rule of Cyprus ended in 332 BC. Ptolemy I conquered Cyprus in 312 BC and killed Poumyathon, the Phoenician king of Kition, and burned the temples. Shortly afterwards the Cypriot city-kingdoms were dissolved and the Phoenician dynasty of Kition was abolished. Following these events the area lost its religious character. The community of Kitian merchants in Athens asked and received from the Athenian authorities in 333/332 BC permission to own a plot of land (probably in Peiraeus) and build on it a temple for Aphrodite (Astarte). The permission is recorded on a stele that contains the official decision (probably erected by the Kitian themselves); in addition, an inscription dedicated by "Aristoklea of Kition to Aphrodite Urania", which probably originated in this temple, was found in Attica. Cyprus was annexed by the Roman Republic in 58 BC. Strong earthquakes hit the city in 76 AD and the year after, but the city seems to have been prosperous during Roman times. A curator civitatis, or financial administrator of the city, was sent to Kition from Rome during the rule of Septimius Severus. The city was destroyed by successive earthquakes in 322 and 342 AD, which also destroyed Salamis and Pafos. ==The Kition archaeological sites==

Kition was first systematically excavated by the Swedish Cyprus Archaeological Expedition (under the direction of Einar Gjerstad) from October 1929 until April 1930. The ruins can be found within the borders of the modern town of Larnaca. The ancient city was surrounded by massive walls which can still be traced today. At the Bamboula hill, in the northeastern part of the city, was the acropolis. Here, the Swedish archaeologists discovered a sanctuary dedicated to Heracles-Melqart. Between the acropolis and the modern seashore was the ancient harbour. In 1879 the Government of Cyprus filled this marshy area with soil from the upper strata of the Bamboula Hill because they wished to get rid of the mosquitos which transmitted malaria. Because of this the Bamboula Hill and especially the upper layers of the acropolis were much disturbed. A small part of the city was excavated as early as 1894 by British archeologists. The Swedish archaeologists attempted a stratigraphic examination of the Bamboula mound to obtain information about the dating of the Phoenician colonization of Cyprus. They wanted to study the ceramic development and collect archaeological material to explain how the Phoenicians affected the development of the Cypriote culture. But, after three days of digging, they found a large deposit of sculptures and needed to enlarge the excavation. Einar Gjerstad explains the reason why the temenos were never rebuilt as a consequence of the last king of Kition, Pumiatihon. Pumiatihon sided with Antigonus in the struggle between him and Ptolemy I Soter. He lost his life and throne which meant that Kition ceased to be an independent state after Ptolemy's conquest of Kition in 312 BC and since the temple was the religious sign of the political independence of Kition it couldn't be rebuilt after the conquest. It was found under Kyriakou Matsi Street when clearing a sewer and is expected to be transferred to the museum. Kathari site (a.k.a. Area II) This Kathari site is located around north of the Bamboula site and is sometimes referred to as "Kition Area II". The Department of Antiquities (under the direction of Vassos Karageorghis) started excavating in 1959 continuing until 1981. Excavations have revealed part of a defensive wall, dating from the 13th century BC and remains of five temples including cyclopean walls. The largest temple's (horizontal) dimensions were . and was built using ashlar blocks. Temple (2) was rebuilt—around 1200 BC. when traces of settlement dating to the tenth century BC were found along ramparts next to the port at Bamboula. 1987 saw the discovery of the Phoenician harbour for warships built in the 5th century BC. In its final stage, it consisted of ship sheds (six of them have been recorded), wide and about long, with shipways on which triremes were pulled up to dry under tiled roofs Two important stele with inscriptions in the Phoenician script were found in the Turabi Tekke cemetery in the late nineteenth century. They are now in the British Museum's collection. Kition Area I, "close to the west [city] wall of the Pre-Phoenician period, seems to have been a residential area" according to architectural and moveable finds. "Kition Area III" and "-IV" are names of other archaeological sites at Kition. The Mnemata Site == See also ==