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Ancient Kition in Larnaca


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Larnaca is situated in Cyprus and was formed 6000 years back. It is in fact, the oldest city in Cyprus. Larnaca can be reached by air as there are several flights to Larnaca every day from domestic as well as international locations. Larnaca is a great place to be for all kinds of activities especially for exploring its old sites bearing endless archeological significance.

Kition happens to be an interesting site that is known for its ancient city with the same name. Most of the ancient city is buried beneath the modern-day Larnaca. Kition was initially inhabited by Phoenicians and Mycenaeans around 3,000 years back. It also happens to be a place where the philosopher by the name of Zeno was born. According to a number of tales surrounding the city Lazarus was the first bishop of Kition. Numerous old Greek shrines have also been discovered around this site.

The most significant discoveries of the northwest part of Larnaca have been the ruins from ancient temples of Kition. There are 5 such temples that are dated back to the 13th century BC. The Phoenician Temple belonging to Astarte has been of particular interest among the archeologists. This temple is known to have been built at a place that consisted of ruins from a temple from the Bronze Age. The walls from the northern city made from large stones look a lot like cyclopean walls of Mycenaeans and can still be seen in this site.

The Area II which has a catwalk made from wood provides a great vantage point to have a look at the excavation work revealing newer objects ever day. The site is continuously uncovering the Phoenician structures on top of foundations made by people of the Bronze Age. This site has revealed numerous sacred ancient sites, out of which a huge shrine makes for a great revelation of their architectural abilities. This shrine is known as Temple 1. The other temples are joined to smelting workshops or a place that produced copper in some form.

The site has been opened for visitors and visitors are allowed Monday through Friday from 7.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. On Thursdays it is open in the evenings too, from 3 to 6 p.m. The entry fee is 0.75 Pounds. The excavation work at the site of ancient Kition began in 1920, conducted by the Swedes. Later even the British pitched in to assist in taking out all the artifacts that came out of the site.

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