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Kourion

Asia

Kourion was an ancient Greek city-state on the southwestern coast of Cyprus, established atop a limestone promontory overlooking Episkopi Bay by settlers from Argos after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization around the 12th century BC. It grew into one of the most influential Cypriot kingdoms during the Cypro-Archaic period before passing under Persian, Egyptian, Ptolemaic and eventually Roman rule after 58 BC, when it flourished as a Roman city. Five earthquakes struck the city between 365 and 370 CE, and though rebuilt and made a major Christian center in the 4th and 5th centuries, it was abandoned after Arab raids in 648 to 649 CE; the site now lies within the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

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