Cyprus

The Castle of Lemesos (Limassol) can be found on the western edge of the historic city center and its purpose was to guard and protect both the port and the city itself. The present edifice dates back to the Ottoman period (1590) and it was in this architectural phase that the remains of the earlier and larger medieval castle were incorporated. Althought the oldest written reference to the Castle of Lemesos dates back to 1228, archeological evidence indicates that it existed during the Byzantine period. Today, the castle houses the Medieval Museum of Cyprus. The castle has a rectangular shape and the thickness of its wall is two mwtres. A...

According to the ancient historian Herodotus, the ancient city-kingdom of Kourion was founded by the Argives, the inhabitants of ancient Argos in the Peloponnese. Later writers associated the place-name with the name of the founder Koureas, son of the mythical king Kinyras The Mycenaean colonization of the area, which began in the 14th century and was completed at the end of the 12th century BC, does not comprise the beginning of this civilization. Rather, it defines the continuation of an already developed civilization, whose course had already been set in the area from the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods with a continued presenc...

Towards the beginning og the 9th millenium B.C., continental settlers arrived in Cyprus introducing new plant and animal species. It seems that gradually this population lost its connections with its motherland and, int he insular isolation, developed into a unique civilization, known as the Cypriot Recent Aceramic Neolithic - aceramic because the skill of pottr-making was unknown. The site of Choirokoitia provides a fine example of this cultural phase as its apogee in the second half o the 7th millenium B.C. The site was discovered in 1934 by Porfyrios Dikaios, who conucted several excavation season between 1936 and 1946 for the Departme...

The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates was one of the most important sanctuaries of ancient Cyprus, with a history going back as early as Late Bronze Age ( 2000 BC). It reached its zenith during the Roman architecturally overlayed all previous phases. During the Roman period, it was considered to be one of the three most important sanctuaries of Cyprus. Like all the sanctuaries of Apollo, it was located outside the residential area, to the west of the ancient city of Kourion. Its ruins are located today in the north side of the main Lemesos ( Limassol) -Pafos highway, at a short distance from the ancient city. Initially, worship at the sanctuary...