Tamassos

35.02533.241666666667Koordinaten: 35 ° 1 ' 30 " N, 33 ° 14' 30" E

Tamassos, Assyrian Ta-me-si/su, ancient Greek Ταμασσός, is a mention since the Iron Age city and an Iron Age kingdom in the center of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on the eastern edge of the Troodos Mountains. Ruins can be found at the village in the southwest of Nicosia Politiko. In ancient times the city was known for rich copper deposits.

Traces of settlement can already be detected from the Bronze Age. The city is busy on the Kition stele as " Ta-me-si/su ". 673/72 BC the city was mentioned as an independent Stadtkönigtum " Tamesu / i" on the prism of Esarhaddon. His king was Admesu / Gimesu. Pasykypros, the last king of the city, this sold for 50 talents to King Pumiaton of Kition. Alexander the Great placed the city on its ally, the king of the Cypriot city-state of Salamis, Pnytagoras. Later, the city, like the whole of Cyprus came to the Ptolemies. In Christian times Tamassos bishop's seat, on the back is the current titular Tamasus.

Excavations were high fortification wall, exposed houses from several eras and sanctuaries of the gods Cybele and Aphrodite. At the necropolis of the city include chamber tombs from the Archaic period. Near the city at Pera and Frangissa on the banks of Pediaios two sanctuaries of Apollo were found. In the second temple various statues were found, including a bronze statue of the 5th century BC, the head of which is today in London at the British Museum.