What Can You Tell Me About The Ancient History Of Limassol In Cyprus?

Not a lot is known about the distant past of this city. There are some tombs dating around 1300BC but it only started emerging as an agricultural centre around the fifth century AD. It was at about this time that the city of Amathus to the east and Kourion to the west went into decline.

It has been known by several names including Nemesos and Theodosiana. For a while in its early history it had a Christian Bishop but it declined until Richard the Lionheart arrived in Amathus in 1191. He married Berengaria in Limassol. A port was built and the Knights Templar made a headquarters there.

In 1373 the Genoese fleet attacked and it was almost destroyed. The Marmeluke Arabs in turn wrought destruction on the city in 1413 and 1426, this time raising it to the ground. All the medieval buildings were lost. Although it came back again to a certain degree the Ottoman Turks invaded and again destroyed the city in 1570 -71 during their conquest of the island.  The inhabitants were massacred.