Archaeological Site of Idalion

Ancient city-kingdom in modern Dali, Cyprus, founded on the copper trade in the 3rd millennium BC near the Troodos foothills. Idalion was a centre for worship of the Great Goddess of Cyprus, later identified with Aphrodite, from the 11th century BC onward. The famous Idalion Tablet, a 5th-century BC bronze inscription in Cypriot syllabary, records medical services provided during sieges by the Persians and Kition around 478-470 BC. Listed first among ten Cypriot kingdoms on the prism of Assyrian king Esarhaddon, the city was conquered by Phoenician Kition around 450 BC.