Page "Amathus" Paragraph 6

Amathus was built on the coastal cliffs with a natural harbor and flourished at an early date, soon requiring several cemeteries.

Greeks from Euboea left their pottery at Amathus from the tenth century BC.

During the post-Phoenician era of the eighth century a palace was erected and a port was also constructed, which served the trade with the Greeks and the Levantines.

A special burial ground for infants, a tophetAgelarakis 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 </ ref > served the culture of the Phoenicians.

For the Hellenes, high on the cliff a temple was built, which became a worship site devoted to Aphrodite, in her particular local presence as Aphrodite Amathusia along with a bearded male Aphrodite called Aphroditos.

The excavators discovered the final stage of the Temple of Aphrodite, also known as Aphrodisias, which dates approximately to the first 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, all to the honour of Adonis.