Marion was already inhabited at the end of the
Neolithic and through the
Chalcolithic period. According to tradition, the Athenian
Acamas, son of Theseus, disembarked near Polis after the
Trojan War and gave his name to the Cape of
Akamas and the city of
Akamantis, a legendary city which has never been found. Marion was probably founded by Acamas or a certain Marieus. In
Egypt at
Medinet Habu in the
temples of
Ramesses III, there is a large 12th-century BC inscription which refers to Cypriot towns including Marion. The
Mycenaeans, or
Achaeans settled in Cyprus between 1400 and 1100 BC and Marion was one of the city-kingdoms they founded.
Iron Age It began to prosper from the Cypro-Archaic period onwards and became one of the most important ancient Cypriot city—kingdoms in the Cypro-Classical period with important commercial relations with the East
Aegean Islands,
Attica and
Corinth. The city became wealthy from the nearby copper and gold mines. It also served as an important trading port for both metal and timber. The foundations of the ancient harbour are visible to this day in the current port of Latchi.
Persian/Athenian period The first definite reference to Marion occurred in 449 BC when
Cimon, the great Athenian general, freed the city from the
Persians following the
Battle of Salamis and in an attempt to re-establish Athenian supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Later, the ancient geographers spoke of the town as "Marion Hellenikon"—The Hellenic Marion. The kingdom was rich in
gold and
copper ore, mined chiefly in the nearby Limni Mines. It was the natural wealth which led the city to a period of flourishing trade, especially with
Athens, which in its turn, exported many
Attic pots to Marion.
Hellenistic period The battle for Cyprus between the successors of
Alexander the Great,
Antigonus and
Ptolemy, led to Marion's destruction in 312 BC. Ptolemy, who finally prevailed, laid waste the city whose last king (Stasioikos II) had sided with Antigonus, and transferred its inhabitants to
Paphos. Later, another member of the
Ptolemaic dynasty,
Philadelphus, founded a
new city on the ruins of Marion around 270 BC and gave it the name of his wife,
Arsinoe. The city, under its new name, prospered during the
Hellenistic and Roman Ages. According to
Strabo there was a grove sacred to
Zeus. ==Excavations==