Kition

The Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Communications and Works, announces to the public that the entrance to
the Archaeological Site of Kition in Larnaka has been transfered from the north side of the site to the south, on
Archbishop Kyprianos Avenue.

The archaeological area of Kition consists of two sites: Kathari and Pampoula. It is located within the limits of the
modern city of Larnaka. Various finds came to light between the 18th and the 19th century, during excavation work
conducted by foreign travelers and tomb looters. One such find is the famous Assyrian stele of king Sargon II, now in
Berlin. A plaster cast of the stele is exhibited in the Larnaka Museum. The first systematic excavations began in 1929 by
the Swedish Cyprus Archaeological Expedition, under the direction of Einar Gjestard. In 1959, the Department of
Antiquities, under the direction of Vassos Karageorghis, began excavating the site of Kathari. Following the events of
1974, the French Expedition of the University of Lyon, which was digging until then at the site of Salamina, undertook the
responsibility of excavating the site of Pampoula.

Kition: Archaeological site

The earliest phases of human habitation and religious worship in Kition, are found at the site of Kathari. Five consecutive
temples and workshops for the smelting of copper, have already been excavated and are dated from the end of the 13th
to the end of the 11th century B.C. This corresponds to the Late Bronze Age and the Geometric period, during which the
city of Kition flourished and was inhabited by Mycenean Achaeans. Following their destruction, a magnificent temple
identified as that of Astarte, was erected in their place by the Phoenicians, sometime around 850 B.C. The temple was
used until the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., when it was also destroyed.
The excavations at the site of Pampoula, have shown that the area was continuously inhabited from the end of the
Geometric to the Hellenistic period. The first architectural remains dated to the 9th century B.C., consist of a temple and
various other buildings. During the Archaic and Classical period, the temple was extended to include many rooms, open
courts with stoas and shrines, offering hearths and industrial installations for the smelting of copper. The variety of finds
indicates that a number of deities was worshipped at Kition, the most significant being the Phoenician deities Astarte
(equivalent of Aphrodite), Melkart (equivalent of Heracles), and Esmoun (equivalent of Asclepius), as well as the
Egyptian deities Hathor, Bes and Horus.

During the Classical period, large-scale construction work was commissioned in the city of Kition, such as monumental
public buildings which formed part of an ambitious public works project. Part of this project was also the draining of the
marshland in the quarter of Pampoula, the creation of a sanitary system, and the construction of two harbours, one for
commercial purposes and one for military use. Only the military one has been excavated so far. The ramps used to tow
the ships into the harbor for repair or for safe keeping, still exist.

District Larnaka
Telephone 24304115
Opening Hours Winter hours (16/9 - 15/4 )
Monday - Friday: 8.30 - 16.00
for Public Holiday Saturday - Sunday: closed
opening hours see
home page Summer hours (16/4 - 15/9)
Monday - Friday: 9.30 - 17.00
Saturday - Sunday: closed
Admission €2,50
Accessibility
Entrance: Wheelchair -accessible (circulation within the site also possible).

Parking space (not marked).

No wheelchair accessible WC.
The Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Communications and Works,
announces to the public that the entrance to the Archaeological Site of Kition
in Larnaka has been transferred from the north side of the site to the south, on
Archbishop Kyprianos Avenue.

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