Amathus () was one of the most ancient royal cities of Cyprus, on the southern coast in front of Agios Tychonas, about 24 miles west of Larnaca and 6 miles east of Limassol.

Its ancient cult of Aphrodite was the most important, after Paphos, in Cyprus, her homeland, though the ruins of Amathus are less well-preserved than neighboring Kourion.

More purely Hellenic myth would have Amathus settled instead by one of the sons of Heracles, thus accounting for the fact that he was worshiped there.

It was said in antiquity that the people of Amathus were autochthonous, or " Pelasgian ".

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

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 500-494BC, when Amathus was besieged unsuccessfully and avenged itself by the capture and execution of Onesilos.

About 385-380 BC the philhellene Evagoras of Salamis was similarly opposed by Amathus, in conjunction with Citium and Soli ; and even after Alexander the city resisted annexation, and was bound over to give hostages to Seleucus.

The wealth of Amathus was derived partly from its grain partly from its sheep and copper mines, of which traces can be seen inland.

In the late sixth century, Ayios Ioannis Eleimonas ( Saint John the Charitable ), protector of the Knights of St. John, was born in Amathus.

Amathus still flourished and produced a distinguished patriarch of Alexandria, St. John the Merciful, as late as 606-616, and a ruined Byzantine church marks the site ; but it declined and was already almost deserted when Richard Plantagenet won Cyprus by a victory there over Isaac Comnenus in 1191.

Limassol was built between two ancient cities, Amathus and Kourion, so during Byzantine rule it was known as Neapolis ( new town ).

Limassol was probably built after Amathus had been ruined.

Alcmaeon had given these jewels to Phegeus, who had his sons kill Alcmaeon when he discovered Alcmaeon's plan: thus lest the curse be transmitted to a next generation it was dedicated to Aphrodite at Amathus in Cyprus.

A relic was being shown in Amathus in Cyprus, in the time of Pausanias ( 2nd century CE ):

An ancient cult of Aphrodite-Ariadne was observed at Amathus, Cyprus, according to the obscure Hellenistic mythographer Paeon of Amathus ; Paeon's works are lost, but his narrative is among the sources cited by Plutarch in his vita of Theseus ( 20. 3 -. 5 ).

According to the myth that was current at Amathus, the second most important Cypriote cult centre of Aphrodite, Theseus ' ship was swept off-course and the pregnant and suffering Ariadne put ashore in the storm.

So these councils governed the people ; the first was at Jerusalem, the second at Gadara, the third at Amathus, the fourth at Jericho, and the fifth at Sepphoris in Galilee.

He was born at Amathus.

Following resistance from the kings of Kition, Amathus and Soli, who fled to the great king of Persia in 390 BC to request support, Evagoras received less help from the Athenians than he had hoped for and in about 380 BCE, a Persian force besieged Salamis and Evagoras was forced to surrender.

Amathus is identified with Kartihadasti ( Phoenician " New-Town ") in the Cypriote tribute-list of Esarhaddon of Assyria ( 668 B. C .).

He is best known for composing a very large compendium of the heresies up to his own time, full of quotations that are often the only surviving fragments of suppressed texts, and for instigating, with Tychon ( Bishop of Amathus ), a persecution against the non-Christians living on Cyprus, and the destruction of most of their temples.

The town of Limassol is situated between the ancient towns of Amathus and Curium ( Kourion ).

A new settlement close to Amathus but further inland, Agios Tychonas, is named after the bishop Saint Tychon of Amathus.

The pre-history of Amathus mixes myth and archaeology.

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

Much later, in 1869, a great number of blocks of stone from Amathus were used for the construction of the Suez Canal.

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.

In the 1870s Luigi Palma di Cesnola carried out excavations in the necropolis of Amathus, as elsewhere in Cyprus, enriching the early collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ; some objects went to the British Museum.

The ten kingdoms listed by an inscription of Esarhaddon in 673 / 2 BC have been identified as Salamis, Kition, Amathus, Kourion, Paphos and Soli on the coast and Tamassos, Ledra, Idalium and Chytri in the interior.

Limassol's tourist strip now runs east along the coast as far as Amathus.

According to the Council of Chalcedon which took place in 451, the local bishop as well as the bishops of Amathus and Arsinoe were involved in the foundation of the city, which would be known by the names of Theodosiana and Neapolis.

Richard destroyed Amathus and the inhabitants were transferred to Limassol.

He was stern and overbearing with his flock, but obsequious and conciliatory with the whites, especially the rich who partly supported the church.

How could the rich, for whom life was made so simple, ever understand the subterfuges, the lies, the frauds, the errors, sins and even crimes to which the poor were driven in their efforts to overcome the great advantages the rich had in the race of life??

The land of the Lublin Uplands was rich, but no one seemed to care.

`` Uncle Sam '' was, indeed, a rich uncle to Prokofieff, in those opulent, post-war victory years of peace and prosperity, bold speculations and extravaganzas, enjoyment and pleasure: `` The Golden Twenties ''.

Nevertheless, Prokofieff was much influenced by Paris during the Twenties: the Paris which was the artistic center of the Western World -- the social Paris to which Russian aristocracy migrated -- the chic Paris which attracted the tourist dollars of rich America -- the avant-garde Paris of Diaghileff, Stravinsky, Koussevitzky, Cocteau, Picasso -- the laissez-faire Paris of Dadaism and ultramodern art -- the Paris sympathique which took young composers to her bosom with such quick and easy enthusiasms.

So Prokofieff was able to cultivate his musical talents and harvest a rich reward from them.

Except for a rich friendship with the painter, Chauncey Ryder who gave him the only professional instruction he ever had -- and this was limited to a few lessons, though the two artists often went on painting trips together -- Roy developed his art by himself.

Her uniform was of rich, raw silk, in a shade which matched her hair, skin, housepaint, and cats, and since she was so thin as to be almost shapeless, she rather resembled a frozen fish stick.

The savage barbarian hordes of red Russian Communism descended on the Athens that was mighty Metronome, sacking and despoiling with their Bolshevistic battle cry of `` Soak the rich '!!

By springtime, he was supported by a rich merchant syndicate under the patronage of Henry, Prince of Wales.

He was always well groomed and well tailored, and he had that rich man's look which was authentic enough and came from two good prep schools and a proper university.

It was done with great taste, was big and spacious, sumptuous as the dreams of any peasant in its courtly costumes, but sumptuous in a muted, pastel-like style, with rich, quiet harmonies of color between the costumes themselves and between the costumes and the scenery.

First, it came out after Mr. Cooper's will was settled -- he had died the year before -- that John and his mother weren't rich any more.

There was no connection between the two events, because Bobbie wasn't rich, either, though he was more aggressive than John.

It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich.

Abu Bakr was born in Mecca some time in 573 CE, to a rich family in the Banu Taym clan of the Quraysh tribe.

Like other children of the rich Meccan merchant families, Abu Bakr was literate and developed a fondness for poetry.

Selection by lottery was the standard means as it was regarded as the more democratic: elections would favour those who were rich, noble, eloquent and well-known, while allotment spread the work of administration throughout the whole citizen body, engaging them in the crucial democratic experience of, to use Aristotle's words, " ruling and being ruled in turn " ( Politics 1317b28 – 30 ).