Idalion, the city of two acropolises

On the plain south of Nicosia there were two near-neighbouring ancient kingdoms, Tamassos and Idalion. Idalion is the better documented and the easier to grasp, thanks to the museum next to it. Here’s its story and how to visit, drawing on the Union of Cyprus Municipalities and the Nicosia Tourism Board. For the wider area, see Nicosia district.

A kingdom from Troy, says tradition

Tradition holds that it was founded by Chalcanor, a Trojan War hero from Amyclae near Sparta, whom an oracle told to build his city where he saw the sun rise. The finds date the founding to around 1200 BC, on top of late Bronze Age settlements, and the Union of Municipalities says the city was lived in without a break until the end of Roman times, around 400 AD, with inscriptions and coins showing the Greek element prevailed.

The site was chosen with care. It covered two hills to the south, a natural defence, and the plain by the Gialias river, and it was close to copper-bearing ground that its people worked.

Two acropolises and a bronze tablet

The east acropolis held the temple of Aphrodite and Apollo, and the west, the main one, that of Athena, the city’s protector. The wall, whose oldest part dates from the 7th and 6th centuries BC, enclosed about 100 «stremmata», the local land measure, and 14 temples are recorded.

The most famous find is the Idalion Tablet, a bronze plaque inscribed in Cypriot syllabic script, found on the west acropolis. It’s linked to the siege by Kition, helped by the Persians, around 470 BC, and the Union describes it as the oldest written agreement ever found, covering land belonging to the king and the city, inheritance and tax. Idalion fell to Kition around the middle of the 5th century BC, and in 312 BC Ptolemy I swept away all the island’s kingdoms.

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The local museum

The Local Archaeological Museum of Idalion opened in 2007 to showcase the area’s finds and serve as the visitor centre for the site it stands in. It displays material from every phase of the city, from old and recent digs alike. The Nicosia Tourism Board lists it as open on weekdays, 8:30 to 16:00, with no entry charge.

Dali today

Dali had 12,350 residents at the 2021 census and has been a municipality, that of Idalion, since 1996. The Union of Municipalities puts it 17 km from Nicosia, 23 from Larnaca and 50 from Limassol, and adds a nice fact, that it’s the island’s biggest milk producer. By the east acropolis there’s a municipal amphitheatre with 1,060 seats. I’d pair it in one outing with Tamassos, having first seen the island’s great finds in the Cyprus Museum. To carry on with the island’s ruins, see archaeological sites in Cyprus.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Idalion and pick one that fits your day.

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