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| Salamis | |
| district | Famagusta |
|---|---|
| Residents | unknown |
no value for residents on Wikidata:  | |
| height | 6 |
| no value for height on Wikidata: | |
| no tourist info on Wikidata: | |
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Salamis is the name of an ancient city and archaeological site in Northern Cyprus.
background
Salamis is one of the main attractions of this part of the island and has a long and eventful history.
History (short version)
The founding of the city of Salamis can be dated to the 11th century BC, between 1160 and 1120 BC. There were several waves of immigration from the Greek mainland and the islands to Southeast Anatolia and Cyprus: several cities emerged or were shaped by Mycenaean. Salamis could also have belonged to this. The city continued to expand in the 8th century, perhaps in connection with further immigration from the Greek area towards Anatolia. Salamis became an important city sanctuary in Cyprus and amassed considerable wealth within its walls. Around 450 BC At the end of the Persian Wars, the Greek fleet triumphed over the Persians and the Phoenicians, Cypriots and Cilikians who cooperated with them at Salamis, but the inhabitants of Salamis came to terms with the foreign rulers and thus consolidated their position. Salamis experienced a further boom under the Ptolemaic rule in the late 4th century BC. 58 BC. BC (Cleopatra & Co.!) Came the island under Roman rule, finally 31 BC. BC Cyprus remained Roman and Byzantine until 1184, but was last independent under Emperor Isaac Komnenos. With its port, Salamis benefited from its new role as an important trading center for the Romans in the Levant. Around 45 AD The city had around 100,000 inhabitants and became the mission region of the Apostles Paul, John Mark and the Cypriots Barnabas. Salamis also had to endure great destruction: in 76 AD by a devastating earthquake, around 115 AD in the course of a revolt of the Jews and in 332 by another earthquake. Under Emperor Constantius II, the son of Constantine the Great, Salamis was rebuilt on a smaller area and in honor of the emperor Constantia renamed (345). Salamis also played a leading role on the island as a Christian-Byzantine metropolis, even though Paphos had meanwhile become the capital of Cyprus. However, when the port, the basis for the city's prosperity, silted up and later, in 647, the Arabs with a fleet of 1,700 ships appeared off Salamis, the heyday of Salamis was over: the Arabs laid the city in ruins, theirs Residents fled to nearby Arsinoë, the later one Famagusta.
getting there
By plane
Those arriving from Turkey, e.g. from Izmir, Ankara or Antalya: The closest airport is Ercan Airport, about 15 km east of Nicosia. Those arriving from Germany or other Central European countries use the airport in Larnaca, in South Cyprus, the Greek part of the island.
By train
There are no rail connections in Cyprus.
By bus
The best way to get to Salamis is by minibus, the so-called Dolmuş. From Nicosia these drive from the Kyrenia Gate on the northern edge of the old town.
In the street
Anyone who has rented a car can reach Salamis from
- Famagusta (start at the roundabout at the Rivellino Bastion) via Ismet Inönü-Bld. and the Salamis Yolu (10 km)
- Ercan Airport from via Ercan Havaalani Yolu, Lefkoşa-Gazimağusa Anayolu (50 km)
All other roads from North or South Cyprus also lead via Famagusta.
By boat
In Girne is a port to and from which there are daily ferry connections to Anatolia. There are car ferry connections to Taşucu and Mersin, which is also connected by a hydrofoil line.
mobility
Salamis can be easily explored on foot.
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Dynamic cardsTourist Attractions
- 1 amphitheater: If you walk from the entrance kiosk in a north-westerly direction, after a few meters you come across the remains of a Roman amphitheater, of which currently (2017) only a few rows of seats can be seen. The uncovering and exploration of this area has not yet taken place.
- 2 theatre: The large theater south of the amphitheater was excavated between 1952 and 1974. It was one of the largest theaters in the Mediterranean. It was built in the time of Emperor Augustus (around the turn of the century). It held about 15,000 spectators. The auditorium was originally 20 m high and had 50 rows of terraced seating steps. Eight flights of stairs led the audience to their rows of seats. Where the rows of seats end today, there used to be a 1.8 m wide walkway (Diazoma), which separated the lower from the upper tiers. This used to be the place of honor for important personalities, they had the sun behind them and possibly sat under awning. The demonstrations took place on a stage platform, which is now overgrown and no longer recognizable. The stairs divided the auditorium into nine wedge-shaped blocks. It had a 40 m long stage house, which has completely disappeared down to the foundation walls, but many pieces of the marble columns and inscription panels on the magnificent facade have been rediscovered. Among them was a plaque praising Emperor Hadrian (117-138) as a benefactor who had the theater transformed into a magnificent building. The theater also had a 27 m wide orchestra pit with a marble floor. In late Roman times, naumachia were held here, for which purpose the ditch was filled with water. Many statues were later mutilated ("beheaded") because the type of representation or the persons represented no longer corresponded to the taste of the time or the religious direction. In 332 the region was struck by a major earthquake that collapsed the supporting arches of the theater. The upper tier of the rows of seats fell 20 m deep with the supporting arches. The stage house, the stage platform and the richly designed rear wall collapsed. The theater was not rebuilt, but much of the equipment, especially the marble columns and the inscription panels on the magnificent facade, were used to build the baths and the gymnasium. Today the theater has been rebuilt up to the rank and often serves as a stage or backdrop for concerts or plays.
- 3 Gymnasion: The grammar school, in the ancient place of rest, meeting and relaxation, was built under Ptolemy V (Pharaoh 205-180 BC) on a modest scale and expanded at the turn of the times under Augustus. After the devastating earthquake in 76 AD, the grammar school under the Roman emperors Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138) became the splendid building that is known and praised far beyond Cyprus. The sports field with the marble columns and Cyrinthian capitals has the dimensions of 52.5 x 39.5 m.
- 4 Latrines: The latrine system, unfamiliar to us Central Europeans, was designed for 44 users. At that time the latrine system was by no means a "quiet place", but a splendid, technically sophisticated public lavatory that had to withstand the large gatherings of people in the thermal high school. The user (consessores = Co-seaters) sat on marble seats (see photo in the gallery: example from Ephesus) in a semicircle under a roof supported by marble columns. A fountain splashed in front of them, there were no walls to separate the conviviality, and the view of the hustle and bustle on the sports field was undisturbed - as long as Christianity was not yet widespread in Salamis. In the middle of the action, water gushed out of the wall into a stone basin that served as a hand basin. At the same time, the water flow to the wide flushing water channel under the seats was regulated and water was also distributed to the narrow channel in front of it. This channel had a particularly delicate function: in it the sponges attached to short sticks were washed out, which were used to clean the buttocks.
- 5 Thermal bath: The Salamin thermal baths still show traces of their former splendor. Remains of wall mosaics and fresco fragments were found with "opus sectile“Lay out floors, marble benches and remnants of the heating system. The thermal baths, as the largest consumers of water, made water supply, storage and wastewater technology necessary. The function of the water reservoir and distributor was taken over by the elongated building covered with a barrel vault in front of the southern sudatorium. A water capacity of 600 m³ is assumed, with a base area of 30 x 5 m and an estimated water depth of 4 m.
- 6 Roman villa: To the south of the theater, visitors will find the remains of a Roman villa excavated in 1882, which originally had two floors. The floor shows mosaics depicting animals enclosed in medallions. They were probably grouped around the central image of Orpheus.
- 7 Kampanopetra Basilica: The 4th century Kampanopetra basilica is one of the most extensive basilica buildings in the Mediterranean. The four large sub-areas west courtyard, west atrium with vestibule (narthex), basilica and east atrium resulted in a length of 152 m and a width of almost 38 m. The basilica had a central nave and two smaller aisles with an apse each. To the west is an atrium surrounded by columns with an octagonal fountain.
- 8 St. Epiphanius Basilica: The Epiphanius Basilica, built around 400 AD, was named after Bishop Epiphanius, who was elected an island metropolitan by the Cypriot bishops in 368, which he remained until his death in 403. The basilica had the dimensions 58x42 m and thus corresponded to other Roman models. It was one of the largest houses of worship in the world at that time and its dimensions even exceeded famous basilicas built at the same time, such as the three-aisled basilica on Rome's Aventine Santa Sabina basilica (54.5 x 24.8 m) or the five-aisled Agios Dimitrios Basilica in Thessaloniki (44 x 33 m). The church had a wide central nave with two slender aisles each. A semicircular central apse closed off the nave to the east. The apse was equipped with semicircular and stacked stone benches and a central bishop's throne. South of the apse is another church building with the burial place of Epiphany. Centuries later, the bones' bones are from the emperor Leo (886-912) were transferred to Constantinople. Today, however, visitors to the excavation site can only find foundations overgrown with grass, in between corridors, truncated columns and Corinthian capitals lying on the ground. The basilica shared the fate of other salami buildings, which were ruthlessly exploited as a quarry after being destroyed and decayed in the middle of the 7th century. In the eastern extension of the south aisle one can find the ruins of a small church built in the 7th century. A little further to the east is a baptismal font and a baptistery to the south-east. In the 9th century it was covered with three domes and reinforced with pillars.
- Voutra, west of St. Epiphanius Basilica: aqueduct and water reservoir
- 9 Agora: After the destruction caused by the earthquake in 76 AD. this place was designed as one of the largest of the Roman Empire with the dimensions 288 x 55 m. Today the overturned pigs line the forum. Here, in the face of the main sanctuary of the city, the neighboring Temple of Zeus, traders and buyers, travelers and beggars, sailors and slaves met. The agora was the center of Salamis in every way. Adjacent to the north is a Byzantine cistern
- 10 Zeus temple. The Temple of Zeus stood on a podium south of the Agorá. In 1890 an inscription was found showing that the temple was dedicated to Livia, wife of Emperor Augustus, and the god Zeus. Today there are only a few significant Corinthian capitals left. The temple stood on the foundations of a previous Hellenistic building from the end of the 2nd century BC. BC, a front of high steps that reached across the entire width and is still visible today was in front of its north side. Fitted into the step front, a flight of stairs led into the porch (portico) supported by two rows of six columns each. In the background was the windowless Holy of Holies Cella, Residence of the deity, domicile of her statue. Colonnades flanked the cella, there were four columns on each of the long sides and six on the back.
activities
- On the 3.4 km long way from Salamis to Barnabas Monastery you pass a burial ground on the left side of the street, the royal tombs or the necropolis from Salamis.
- If you continue on the road to the southwest from Barnabas Monastery, you will come across the archaeological excavation of the ancient city after 1.2 km at the end of the road Tuzlawhich was founded 2 centuries before Salamis.
shop
Salamis is an excavation site that is only equipped with a small kiosk typical of the country.
kitchen
Since there are no restaurants in Salamis, it is advisable to go to nearby hotel restaurants or those in Famagusta to seek out.
