and descending at least as far as the best Greek period[522] (B.C.
500-400), embracing, moreover, works which are purely Assyrian, purely
Egyptian, and purely Greek, this collection has yet so predominant a
Phoenician character as to mark Curium, notwithstanding the contrary
assertions of the Greeks themselves,[523] for a thoroughly Phoenician
town. And the history of the place confirms this view, since Curium
sided with Amathus and the Persians in the war of Onesilus.[524] No
doubt, like most of the other Phoenician cities in Cyprus, it was
Hellenised gradually; but there must have been many centuries during
which it was an emporium of Phoenician trade and a centre of Phoenician
influence.

Where the southern coast of Cyprus begins to trend to the north-west,
and a river of some size, the Bocarus or Diorizus, reaches the sea,
stood the Phoenician settlement of Paphos, founded (as was said[525]) by
Cinyras, king of Byblus. Here was one of the most celebrated of all the
temples of Astarté or Ashtoreth,[526] the Phoenician Nature-Goddess; and
here ruled for many centuries the sacerdotal class of the Cinyridæ. The
remains of the temple have been identified, and will be described in a
future chapter. They have the massive character of all early Phoenician
architecture.

Among other Phoenician settlements in Cyprus were, it is probable,
Salamis, Ammochosta (now Famagosta), Tamasus, and Soli. Salamis must be
regarded as originally Phoenician on account of the name, which cannot
be viewed as anything but another form of the Hebrew "Salem," the
alternative name of Jerusalem.[527] Salamis lay on the eastern coast of
the island at the mouth of the main river, the Pediæus. It occupied
the centre of a large bay which looked towards Phoenicia, and would
naturally be the place where the Phoenicians would first land. There is