Salamis

SA´LAMIS(Σαλαμίς, Aesch. Pers. 880; Scyl. p. 41; Ptol. 5.14.3, 8.20.5; Stadiasm. § § 288, 289; Pomp. Mela, 2.7.5; Plin. Nat. 5.35; Horat. Carm. 1.729; Σαλαμίν, Eustath ad Il. 2.558; Σαλαμίας, Malala, Chron. 12. p. 313, ed. Bonn: Eth. Σαλαμίνιος, Böckh, Inscr. nos. 2625, 2638, 2639), a city on the E. coast of Cyprus, 18 M. P. from Tremithus, and 24 M. P. from Chytri. ( Peut. Tab. ) Legend assigned its foundation to the Aeacid Teucer, whose fortunes formed the subject of a tragedy by Sophocles, called Τεῦκρος, and of one with a similar title by Pacuvius. (Cic. de Orat. 1.58, 2.46.) The people of Salamis showed the tomb of the archer Teucer (Aristot. Anthologia, 1.8, 112), and the reigning princes at the time of the Ionic revolt were Greeks of the Teucrid Gens,although one of them bore the Phoenician name of Siromus (Hiram). (Hdt. 5.104.) In the 6th century B.C. Salamis was already an important town, and in alliance with the Battiad princes of Cyrene, though the king Evelthon refused to assist in reinstating Arcesilaus III. upon the throne. (Hdt. 4.162.) The descendant of this Evelthon—the despot Gorgus—was unwilling to join in the Ionic revolt, but his brother Onesilus shut him out of the gates, and taking the command of the united forces of Salamis and the other cities, flew to arms. The battle which crushed the independence of Cyprus was fought under the walls of Salamis, which was compelled to submit to its former lord, Gorgus. (Hdt. 5.103, 104, 108, 110.) Afterwards it was besieged by Anaxicrates, the successor of Cimon, but when the convention was made with the Persians the Athenians did not press the siege. (Diod. 12.13.) After the peace of Antalcidas the Persians had to struggle for ten years with all their forces against the indefatigable and gentle Evagoras. Isocrates composed a panegyric of this prince addressed to his son Nicocles, which, with every allowance for its partiality, gives an interesting picture of the struggle which the Hellenic Evagoras waged against the Phoenician and Oriental influence under which Salamis and Cyprus had languished. (Comp. Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. x. c. lxxvi.) Evagoras with his son Pnytagoras was assassinated by a eunuch, slave of Nicocreon (Aristot. Pol. 5.8.10; Diod. 15.47; Theopomp. Fr. iii. ed. Didot), and was succeeded by another son of the name of Nicocles. The Graeco-.Aegyptian fleet under Menelaus and his brother Ptolemy Soter was utterly defeated off the harbour of Salamis in a seafight, the greatest in all antiquity, by Demetrius Poliorcetes, B.C. 306. (Diod. 20.45—53.) The famous courtezan Lamia formed a part of the booty of Demetrius, over whom she soon obtained unbounded influence. Finally, Salamis came into the hands of Ptolemy. (Plut. Demetr. 35; Polyaen. Strateg. 5.) Under the Roman Empire the Jews were numerous in Salamis ( Acts, 13.6), where they had more than one synagogue. The farming of the copper mines of the island to Herod (Joseph, Antiq. 15.14.5) may have swelled the numbers who were attracted by the advantages of its harbour and trade, especially its manufactures of embroidered stuffs. (Athen. 2. p. 48.) In the memorable revolt of the Jews in the reign of Trajan this populous city became a desert. (Milman, Hist. of the Jews, vol. iii. pp. 111, 112.) Its demolition was completed by an earthquake; but it was rebuilt by a Christian emperor, from whom it was named CONSTANTIAI t was then the metropolitan see of the island. Epiphanius, the chronicler of the heretical sects, was bishop of Constantia in A.D. 367. In thle reign of Heraclius the new town was destroyed by the Saracens.
The ground lies low in the neighbourhood of Salamis, and the town was situated on a bight of the coast to the N. of the river Pediaeus. This low land is the largest plain—SALAMINIA—in Cyprus, stretching inward between the two mountain ranges to the very heart of the country where the modern Turkish capital— Nicosia—is situated. In the Life and Epistles of St. Paul, by Coneybeare and Howson (vol. 1. p. 169), will be found a plan of the harbour and ruins of Salamis, from the survey made by Captain Graves. For coins of Salamis, see Eckhel, vol. 3. p. 87. [E.B.J]