Kingdom of Kourion

Origins

Kourion arose in the Episkopi area of southern Cyprus, near a Late Bronze Age settlement, in the 11th century BCE. Its Greek inhabitants claimed descent from settlers from Argos. By the 7th century BCE it was one of the island's city-kingdoms, listed among the Cypriot rulers who paid tribute to the Assyrian king Esarhaddon.

Rule and society

The kings ruled a fertile territory along the Kouris river. The sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, god of the woodland, was its chief cult centre, and Luigi Palma di Cesnola claimed to have found a rich gold and silver hoard there, the so-called Curium treasure, though its true findspots are doubtful. Kourion followed the Cypriot syllabary and Greek institutions, under Assyrian and then Achaemenid overlordship.

Decline and legacy

In the Ionian Revolt, King Stasanor deserted to the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 497 BCE. Later King Pasicrates aided Alexander at Tyre. The monarchy was abolished under Ptolemy I c. 312 BCE, and Kourion flourished as a Roman and early Christian city until earthquakes in the 4th century CE.