Marion was one of the Ten city-kingdoms

Ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus

The ten city-kingdoms of ancient Cyprus were the Greek, Graeco-Phoenician or Graeco-Eteocypriot, states listed in an inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 673-672 BC:*Paphos, Πάφος *Salamis, Σαλαμίς *Soloi, Σόλοι...

 of Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

. It was situated in the north-west of the island in the Akamas

Akamas

Akamas , is a promontory and cape at the northwest extremity of Cyprus with an area of 230 square kilometres. Ptolemy described it as a thickly wooded headland, divided into two by summits [a mountain range] rising towards the north...

 region, close to the present town of Polis

Polis, Cyprus

Polis is a small town at the north-west end of the island of Cyprus, at the centre of Chrysochous Bay, and on the edge of the Akamas peninsula nature reserve...

. Both Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 and Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 mention the city in their writings.

The city was founded in the 7th century BC

7th century BC

The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last two decades of the century, however, the empire began to...

 and grew wealthy from the nearby copper and gold mines. It also served as an important trading port for both metal and timber. The current port of Latchi, is built on the foundations of this ancient harbour, where its remnants are visible to this day.

In 450 BC

450 BC

Year 450 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Second year of the decemviri...

, the city was conquered by the Athenian general Kimon

Kimon

Cimon , was an Athenian statesman, strategos, and major political figure in mid-5th century BC Greece, the son of Miltiades, victor of Marathon. Cimon played a key role in creating the powerful Athenian maritime empire following the failure of the Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480-479 BC...

 during his Cyprus campaign. He was pursuing the Persians following the Battle of Salamis

Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BCE, in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens...

 in an attempt to re establish Athenian supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was eventually destroyed in 312 BC

312 BC

Year 312 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Corvus and Mus...

 by Ptolemy I and was later replaced by the nearby city of Arsinoe

Arsinoe (Northwest Cyprus)

Arsinoe was an ancient city in northwestern Cyprus, near the promontory of Akamas , near the older city, Marion ; some ancient writers conflate the two cities . A city was extant on the site before the Ptolemies took control of the region...

.

Excavations

Archaeological excavations of the area were first undertaken by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition

Swedish Cyprus Expedition

The Swedish Cyprus Expedition was a project to systematically investigate the archaeology of the entire early history of Cyprus. It took place between September 1927 and March 1931 and was led by three archaeologists: Einar Gjerstad, Erik Sjöqvist and Alfred Westholm together with architect John...

 between 1927 and 1931. This was followed by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, and since 1983 by the Princeton

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 Cyprus Expedition .

E. Linder and A. Raban carried out the only investigation of the remains of the harbour in 1971.

External links

• Princeton University
  Princeton University
  Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
  
  Cyprus Expedition http://web.princeton.edu/sites/Archaeology/rp/polisexhibit/intro.html