Tamassos
| Ταμασσός | |
Map showing the ancient city Kingdoms of Cyprus
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 Shown within Cyprus
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| Location | Cyprus |
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| Region | Nicosia District |
| Coordinates | 35°02′06″N 33°15′00″E / 35.035°N 33.250°ECoordinates: 35°02′06″N 33°15′00″E / 35.035°N 33.250°E |
Tamassos (Greek: Ταμασσός) or Tamasos (Greek: Τἀμασος) – names Latinized as Tamassus or Tamasus – was a city in Cyprus.
It was situated in the great central plain of the island, south-east of Soli, on the road from Soli to Tremithus. An Assyrian inscription from ca 673 BC (), where it is found as Tamesi and described as a city-state which paid tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. As there were copper mines in the neighbourhood, it is very probably the Temese mentioned by Homer (Odyssey, I, 184), which was in his time the principal copper market of the island. It is thought to be an archeological site bordering the village of Politiko, about 21 kilometres southwest of the capital city of Nicosia.
An article by Sophrone Pétridès in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912 says that coins of the city show the name with the double s (Tamassos, Tamassus) An article by Stylianos Chr. Tamasios in the periodical Agape, vol. 2, October–December 2007 argues that the correct spelling is with a single s (Tamasos, Tamasus), citing Pliny, Strabo, Ovid, Eustathius, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and Nonnus, and the signatures of the bishops of the see who participated respectively in the Second Ecumenical Council and the Fourth. The Government of Cyprus issued in 1964 a stamp that referred to the ancient city as Ταμασός in Greek and Tamasus in English. The Cypriot Department of Antiquities uses both forms, while archaeological institutes in Britain and the United States use the form with double s.
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