Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "MORPHOU Town CYPRUS" .
MORPHOU (Ancient city) CYPRUS
On the NW coast, 6-7 km from the sea. Remains of an extensive settlement
can be seen on both sides of the main Morphou-Myrtou road due N of the village
of Morphou. On the evidence of surface finds the settlement can be dated from
the archaic period down to Early Byzantine times. A necropolis with tombs ranging
in date from the Geometric to the Hellenistic period extends W from Ambelia. The
sites of both the settlement and the necropolis are now planted with orange trees.
Nothing is known of the founding of this important settlement or of
its ancient name. It succeeded the nearby Late Bronze Age settlement at Toumba
tou Skourou. Rescue excavations, carried out in recent years, have brought to
light the remains of a Hellenistic sanctuary probably dedicated to Aphrodite.
It may be noted that at Sparta Aphrodite bore the epithet Morpho and that the
Lakonians, the traditional founders of Lapethos (q.v.), may also have settled
in the area of Morphou.
From the necropolis at Ambelia come a funerary inscription of the
4th c. B.C. in the Cypriot syllabary and some pottery of the Geometric to the
Hellenistic periods. An alphabetic inscription of the 3d c. B.C. honoring a Ptolemaic
official and his family is also reported to have been found at Morphou. And on
a marble sarcophagus of the early 3d c. A.D., now in the Church of Haghios Mamas
at Morphou, is an epigram of Artemidoros in hexameter.
The finds are in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia.
K. Nicolaou, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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