History
Enkomi was settled in the Middle Bronze Age, near an inlet of the sea, now silted to form a plain. From about the 16th century BC to the 12th, it was an important trading center for copper, which was smelted at the site, with strong cultural links to Ugarit on the facing coast of Syria. The complicated and badly disturbed stratigraphy of the site resolves in the official publications in four major phases, with many subdivisions. The four phases comprise Level A, a poorly represented preliminary stratum on bedrock; Level I, at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, when fortifications were twice destroyed; Level II, with many subdivisions, covering the elaborate expansion of the 14th and 13th centuries and ending in a mass destruction about 1220; Level III, with Mycenaean settlers, with a destructive attack often related to the Sea Peoples in IIIA, culturally continuous with IIIB, ending in a destruction about 1125, and IIIC, a final, Mycenaean phase with dwindling population.
During the 13th century BC, Enkomi was inhabited by Greeks, like most of the cities of Cyprus. From the 13th century, there are other towns along the south coast of Cyprus to compete with Enkomi. After an earthquake ca. 1050 BC, the site was abandoned, leaving an opening for the rise of Salamis.
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