CITY OF SALAMIS
The city of Salamis was founded during the
migrations that started towards the end of the
Bronze Age by the tribes that came from Anatolia,
and Akas who came from Greece and joined them in
Kilikya.
The founder of the city is Tefkros – the son of
Telamon who was a Trojan hero and the king of
Salamis island.
After the Assyrian domination in 707
B.C., it is understood from the coins minted in 560
B.C. that the Salamis king Evelthon gained
sovereignty over Cyprus. The attempt by Kimon of
Athens in 499 B. C. to put an end to Persian
dominance of the island failed and upon the death of
Kimon, the Athenians gave up on their plans to
capture the island.
Following this, the Phoenicians govern the island
but a recession in trade and other fields starts. In
411 B.C. Evagoras, a descendant of Tefkros, seizes
power in Salamis. When he attempts to take over the
whole of Cyprus, the Persians lay siege to Salamis
and force him to pay taxes to the Persian Kingdom.
This state of affairs continues until the Iskender
period. When Pyntagoras, the king of Salamis in this
period, provides military aid to Iskender he gets
rewarded by being given the city of Tamusus.
After Iskender’s death, Salamis keeps falling into
different hands all the time. Following the invasion
of Cyprus by the Ptolemes under difficult conditions
in 294 B.C., the islanders enjoy a period of calm
and Salamis becomes the capital of the island. The
prosperous conditions of the city continue during
the Roman period as well.
The present ruins mostly
belong to the Roman period. Under Roman rule, the
city has a public assembly, a senate, and a council
of elders. The city suffers a lot of destruction
because of earthquakes in 76 and 77 A.D. and during
the Jewish riots in 116 A.D.. The city is then
annexed to the Antioch province and since the
harbour of Salamis becomes the first stop of Syrian
ships, a period of prosperity starts.
The earthquakes of 232 and 342 A.D., however, cause
great destruction to the city once again. The
Byzantine emperor Konstantinus rebuilds the city on
a smaller scale and names it after himself.
The city replaces Paphos as the capital of Cyprus.
The people of Salamis abandon the city in 647 A.D.
because of the raids of Arabs and earthquakes and
settle in the area now known as Famagusta.
Architectural Remains The city-walls and the
harbours In addition to the walls to the West, North
and South of the city, a second wall has been
discovered surrounding the inner city.
These walls
are thought to have been built in the 7th century
A.D. for protection against the Arab raids. To the
South-east of the city lies the oldest harbour of
Salamis. The North and South of this harbour was
protected by man-made breakwaters. The second
harbour used in the late Roman period, on the other
hand is to the North of the city. Apart from these
two, a third harbour used by Demetius is also
mentioned in some sources.
Salamis
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