Editing Amathus (section)

==The site and archaeology==

=== The Swedish Cyprus Expedition ===
[[File:Bichrome_III_Plate_from_Amathus._Ca._(1050-850_BC).tif|left|thumb|Bichrome III Plate.From tomb 19, Amathus. ca. 1050–850 B.C. Can be seen at Medelhavsmuseet.]]
From April to May 1930 [[Swedish Cyprus Expedition|The Swedish Cyprus Expedition]] excavated a necropolis on both sides of Amathus'[[acropolis]].  Amathus was known and visited during the 18th century and 19th centuries by travelers and archaeologists. Earlier excavators, such as General Luigi Palma Di Cesnola, the first American consul in Cyprus, excavated the necropolis' large tombs situated north of the acropolis and the tombs in the necropolis west of the acropolis hill. Since he did not publish any plans or drawings [[John Lindros]] illustrated two of the tombs from the old excavations that were still possible to visit. The necropolis had partly been excavated by the English Expedition to Cyprus in 1893-94 and published in ''Excavations in Cyprus'', London 1900. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition excavated around 25 tombs.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Gjerstad |first=Einar |title=The Swedish Cyprus Expedition Publications Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus 1927-1931, Vol. II. Text. |publisher=Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag |year=1935 |location=Stockholm |pages=2–4, 138–141, 625, 179–180, 626–628, 643, 820–24}}</ref>
[[File:The_interior_of_tomb_2.tif|thumb|The inside of tomb 2, Amathus.]]
[[File:Feeding_bottle.tif|thumb|Feeding bottle from tomb 9, Amathus. Ca. 600-475 B.C. Can be seen at Medelhavsmuseet.]]
The tombs excavated are [[shaft tomb]]s with a [[Glossary of architecture|dromos]], which are rather rare in Cyprus. Variations of the shaft tombs occur, mostly because of the various circumstances of space and economics as well as difficulties in cutting the rock. The archaeologist identified six different styles. It is the shape of the dromos that differs the most between the different styles. Tombs 1 and 2 differ from the others in the sense of construction and quality and might have been created for wealthier people, maybe royals. Tomb 3 is more reminiscent of the other graves found in Cyprus since it is a [[chamber tomb]]. Tomb no. 26 had a large [[tumulus]] and might have been related to other [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] [[Tumulus|tumuli.]] It contained a stone [[pithos]] with an [[alabastron]] in which a burnt skeleton was found. Around the rim of the alabastron a wreath of gilded myrtle leaves was placed. The excavator thought it might have been a [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] official who died in Amathus and was buried according to a foreign burial custom.<ref name=":5" />

Otherwise, the same burial customs were observed in most of the tombs. Many were reused multiple times, in which case the burial gifts were pushed into the corner of the tomb. Later, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Amathus was once again used for burial. These burials did not damage or alternate the earlier tombs since they were usually somewhere in the upper layers. The tombs are dated from the Cypro-Geometric I to the Roman period.<ref name=":5" />

=== Later Excavations ===
The city had vanished, except for fragments of wall and of a great stone urn on the acropolis,<ref name="EB1911"/> dating from the 6th century BC of which a similar vessel was taken to the [[Musée du Louvre]] in 1867. It is {{convert|1.85|m|0|abbr=on}} tall and weighs 14 tons. It was made from a single piece of stone and has four curved handles carved with bulls. In the 1870s, [[Luigi Palma di Cesnola]] excavated the [[necropolis]] of Amathus, as elsewhere in Cyprus, enriching the early collections of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]; some objects went to the [[British Museum]]. More modern archaeological joint Cypriote-French excavations started in 1980 and still continue. The Acropolis, the Temple of Aphrodite, the agora, the city's walls, the [[basilica]] and the port have all been excavated.

Further archaeological objects found during the excavations are preserved at both the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia and the Limassol District Archaeological Museum.
 
In the agora there are marble columns decorated with spirals and a huge paved squares. On the coastal side of the city there is an Early Christian basilica with mosaic floors decorated with semi-precious stones. Further, near the terraced road leading to the Temple, situated on the top of the cliff, several houses built in a row dating to the Hellenistic period have been discovered. At the east and west extremes of the city the two acropoleis are situated where a number of tombs have been found, many of which are intact.

Two small sanctuaries, with terracotta votive offerings of Graeco-Phoenician age, lie not far off, but the location of the great shrines of Adonis and Aphrodite have not been identified (M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, ''Kypros,'' i. ch.1).<ref name="EB1911"/>