Lapathus (Cyprus)

Lapathus (Λάπαθος, Lápathos), also recorded as Lapethus (Λάπηθος, Lápēthos), Lepethis (Ληπηθίς, Lēpēthís), and Lapithus (Λάπιθος, Lápithos), was an ancient Cypriot, Phoenician and Greek town near present-day Lampousa and Karavas.

Name
Due to lack of evidence, researchers had not been sure weather the Phoenician name of the city was (with Teth) or  (with Taw); recent findings, such as inscriptions and coins with legends, provide the clear reading. 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 the Phoenician Kitians. Nonnus claimed the name derived from an eponymous Lapathus, a follower of Dionysus. Strabo said that it received 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 canturies BC record rulers of the city, in Phoenician: the first,,  (shorted name), and  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.