Ancient Kition (kathari)

This archaeological site on Pasicratous Street is one of the first sites that the Cyprus Department of Antiquities excavated after independence in the early 1960’s. It is here that it was clearly found that the Mycenaean Greeks arrived in Larnaka in the 13th century BC and the Phoenicians in the 9th. The site is the Temple area of the ancient city Kingdom of Kition. In the same area exist Egyptian style Temples of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty, which are older than the Greek and served the eteocypriot (pre-Hellenic) population. Besides the Temples the archaeologists uncovered here the history of the cyclopean walls and the history of the copper metallurgy of the town. The site can be visited on a daily basis during working hours and the most interesting architectural remains are those of the Temple of Aphrodite – Astarte built by the same Phoenician masonry that built the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem the same period (9th century BC).