kingdom · Greece and the Aegean

Kingdom of Amathus

1050 BCE – 312 BCE (approx.) · capital Amathus

Cypriot kingdom on the south coast that kept the island's pre-Greek Eteocypriot language alive into the 4th century BCE.

Origins

Amathus was founded c. 1050 BCE on a hill near modern Limassol. Ancient writers regarded its people as autochthonous Cypriots, and the city preserved the Eteocypriot language, written in the Cypriot syllabary, alongside Greek. It also had close links with Phoenicia, and it was probably among the Cypriot kingdoms that paid tribute to Assyria in the 7th century BCE.

Rule and society

The acropolis held a palace and a major sanctuary of the Cypriot goddess later called Aphrodite, with a giant stone vase now in the Louvre. The kingdom grew rich from copper and agriculture. It was loyal to Persia: in 498 BCE it refused to join the revolt led by Onesilus of Salamis and was besieged.

Decline and legacy

King Androcles sent ships to help Alexander the Great at Tyre in 332 BCE. The monarchy was ended under Ptolemy I c. 312 BCE, and Amathus continued as a city under the Ptolemaic Empire and Rome. It declined after the 7th century CE and was abandoned.

Connections (2)

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Amathus. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-amathus
MLA
“Kingdom of Amathus.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-amathus. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Amathus.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-amathus.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Amathus’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-amathus (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻