The earliest of the Phoenician settlements in Cyprus seem to have lain upon its southern coast.  Here were Citium, Amathus, Curium, and Paphus, the Palae-paphus of the geographers, which have all yielded abundant traces of a Phoenician occupation at a very distant period.  Citium, now Larnaka, was on the western side of a deep bay, which indents the more eastern portion of the southern coast, between the promontories of Citi and Pyla.  It is sheltered from all winds except the south-east, and continues to the present day the chief port of the island.  The Phoenician settlers improved on the natural position by the formation of an artificial basin, enclosed within piers, the lines of which may be traced, though the basin itself is sanded up.[512] A plain extends for some distance inland, on which the palm-tree flourishes, and which is capable of producing excellent crops of wheat.[513] Access to the interior is easy; for the mountain range sinks as it proceeds eastward, and between Citium and Dali (Idalium), on a tributary of the Pediaeus, is of small elevation.  There are indications that the Phoenicians did not confine themselves to the coast, but penetrated into the interior, and even settled there in large numbers.  Idalium, sixteen miles north-west of Citium, and Golgi (Athienau), ten miles nearly due north of the same, show traces of having supported for a considerable time a large Phoenician population,[514] and must be regarded as outposts advanced from Citium into the mountains for trading, and perhaps for mining purposes.  Idalium (Dali) has a most extensive Phoenician necropolis; the interments have a most archaic character; and their Phoenician origin is indicated both by their close resemblance to interments in Phoenicia proper and by the discovery, in connection with them, of Phoenician inscriptions.[515] At Golgi the remains scarcely claim so remote an antiquity.  They belong to the time when Phoenician art was dominated by a strong Egyptian influence, and when it also begins to have a partially Hellenic character.  Some critics assign them to the sixth, or even to the fifth century, B.C.[516]

West of Citium, also upon the south coast, and in a favourable situation for trade with the interior, was Amathus.  The name Amathus has been connected with “Hamath;"[517] but there is no reason to suppose that the Hamathites were Phoenicians.  Amathus, which Stephen of Byzantium calls “a most ancient Cyprian city,"[518] was probably among the earliest of the Phoenician settlements in the island.  It lay in the bay formed by the projection of Cape Gatto from the coast, and, like Citium, looked to the south-east.  Westward and south-westward stretched an extensive plain, fertile and well-watered, shaded by carob and olive-trees,[519] whilst towards the north were the rich copper mines from which the Amathusians derived much of their prosperity.  The site has yielded a considerable amount of Phoenician remains—­tombs, sarcophagi, vases, bowls, paterae and statuettes.[520] Many of the tombs resemble those at Idalium; others are stone chambers deeply buried in the earth.  The mimetic art shows Assyrian and Egyptian influence, but is essentially Phoenician, and of great interest.  Further reference will be made to it in the Chapter on the AEsthetic Art of the Phoenicians.