Amathus, name of two titular sees, one in Syria, suffragan of Apameia, with an episcopal list known from 449 to 536; the other on the southern coast of Cyprus, whose episcopal list reaches from the fourth century to 787. The latter place was one of the most ancient Phoenician settlements on the island, and long maintained the customs and character of an Oriental town. It was famous for the worship of Aphrodite and Adonis, also of the Tyrian god Melkart. The great wheat-fields and rich mines of the Cypriot city were celebrated in antiquity (Ovid, Met., X, 220).
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr., I, 118; Mas LATRIE, Trésor de chronol, (Paris, 1895), 1894.