Lapathus

Lapathus, also recorded as Lapethus, Lepethis, and Lapithus, was an ancient Cypriot city-kingdom and town near present-day Lapithos and Karavas. Its origins were Phoenician and Greek.

Name

Due to lack of evidence, researchers had not been sure whether the Phoenician name for the city was LPṬ (with Teth) or LPT (with Taw). Recent findings, such as inscriptions and coins with legends, provide the clear reading LPŠ. The Greek and the Phoenician name record, each in its own way, a phoneme of a language prior to them both.

History

The foundation of Lapathus was credited to Phoenicians from Kition. Nonnus claimed the name derived from an eponymous Lapathus, a follower of Dionysus. Strabo mentions that it was founded as a Spartan colony headed by Praxander. He adds that it was situated opposite to the town of Nagidus in Cilicia and possessed a harbour and docks. It was situated in the north of the island, on a river of the same name and in a district called Lapethia (Λαπηθία, Lapēthía).

The coins of the city from the 5th and 4th centuries BC record rulers of the city, in Phoenician: dmwnks the first, ṣdqmlk, ʾndr... (shorted name), and dmwnks the second. The coins of the first two depicted the head of Athena, and the coins of the last two depicted Athena standing and Heracles.

In the war between Ptolemy and Antigonus, Lapathus and its king Praxippus sided with the latter.

The name of the place became synonymous with stupidity.