Ancient Enkomi Cyprus Bronze Age City
On the eastern coast of Cyprus near today’s Famagusta, Enkomi was one of the most important Bronze Age cities in the Mediterranean. For over 600 years, this walled city controlled much of the region’s copper trade and acted as a key link between the Near East, Egypt, and the Aegean world. Enkomi was a major Late Bronze Age settlement, occupied from around 1650 BCE to 1050 BCE. The city grew near a Mediterranean inlet, which has since filled with silt, leaving the ruins several kilometers from the sea. At its height, between 1340 and 1200 BCE, Enkomi was one of Cyprus’s main centers for copper production and export. Historical Background Enkomi was first settled in the Middle Bronze Age, around 2000 BCE, when Cyprus traded with Egypt’s Middle Kingdom. Activity at the site slowed during the 17th and 16th centuries BCE, possibly because Hyksos control in Egypt disrupted trade. The city became important again after 1550 BCE, when Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty reunited the country and started importing copper again. This period marked the start of Enkomi’s rise as a major urban center. During the Late Bronze Age, Cyprus was part of a wider trade network across the eastern Mediterranean. Cities like Ugarit, Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre became regular trading partners, and by 1400 BCE, Mycenaean Greeks also developed strong commercial…
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