Skip to main content

Amathous, the ancient city of Cyprus, and sacred site dedicated to Aphrodite



Amathous, on the coast of Cyprus, is an ancient city with its first foundations dating to 11th century BC. Alexander the Great of Macedonia ruled Amathous in the 4th century BC, and afterwards Ptolemy ruled the city before the Romans.

There was an earthquake in the 4th century AD and the Christians took over the city until the 7th or 8th century. From then on, it was abandonned. The locals call the ruins ‘Old Lemesos’ or Old Limassol.

It has been an archeological site for 40 years by the French School at Athens and the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus. They found the city of Amathous to be ‘complex and cosmopolitan.’

Amathous was probably a wealthy Eteocypriot Kingdom with a strong Phoenician presence. A sanctuary existed on the top of the acropolis with two large stone vases nearby. The sanctuary seems to have been rebuilt at least once – and this is where the goddess Aphrodite is worshipped. There was also a temple and a banquet hall. In the 7th century AD the Christians built a basilica next to the temple using stone blocks. There is also a Royal Palace with a storeroom. Several cemeteries contained female figurines buried with the dead. There are also public baths and a fountain.

Amathous is one of the two great sites dedicated to Aphrodite in Cyprus. The other is Palaepaphos. The archeological ruins are the remains of the temple to Aphrodite, built in the first century AD on the site of a previous temple dating to the Hellenistic period.

Archeologists think that the first Amathusians worshipped an ancient Cypriot Goddess, but by the end of the 4th century BC to the end of the 4th century AD they called her Aphrodite, represented as a Greek deity. She was seen to have universal power, promoting fertility by inspiring desire and love. As a fertility goddess she also protected agriculture and metallurgy, and she is said to have had sacred gardens in her sanctuaries.

It was Homer who first referred to the Goddess of Cyprus as Aphrodite but she was not called Aphrodite until the 4th century BC. From inscriptions the Goddess of Cyprus was called Anassa, the Sovereign, the Paphian, and the Golgian. In fact she had many names, such as Kyprogenea the Cyprus born goddess; Potnia Kyprou the mistress of Cyprus; Akraia the goddess of promontories; Pontia the marine goddess; Ourania the heavenly goddess; Pandemos the goddess of all; Egchelos the goddess with the spear; Aphroditos the male Aphrodite; Adoneia the funereal Aphrodite; Eleemon the compassionate goddess; Chrysostephanos the goddess with the golden crown; and Kourotrophos the goddess patron of infants.

























MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more