SALAMIS

Modern Greek Salams, island and town, noms (department) of Attik, Greece. The island lies in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, west of the city of Piraeus. The town (the present combined municipality of Salams-Nastathmos) is a port on the west coast of the island. On the east, between the island and the mainland, are the straits in which the Greeks won a decisive naval victory over the Persians in 480 BC. Pop. (1981) town, 20,437; island, 28,574. principal city of ancient Cyprus, located on the east coast of the island, north of modern Famagusta. According to the Homeric epics, Salamis was founded after the Trojan War by the archer Teucer, who came from the island of Salamis, off Attica. This literary tradition probably reflects the Sea Peoples' occupation of Cyprus (c. 1193 BC), Teucer perhaps representing Tjekker of the Egyptian records. Later, the city grew because of its excellent harbour; it became the chief Cypriot outlet for trade with Phoenicia, Egypt, and Cilicia. Salamis came under Persian control in 525 BC. In 306 BC Demetrius I Poliorcetes of Macedonia won a great naval victory there over Ptolemy I of Egypt. Salamis was sacked in the Jewish revolt of AD 115117 and suffered repeatedly from earthquakes; it was completely rebuilt by the Christian emperor Constantius II (reigned AD 337361) and given the name Constantia. Under Christian rule, Salamis was the metropolitan see of Cyprus. Destroyed again by the Arabs under Mu'awiyah (c. 648), the city was thereafter abandoned.