Ancient Kition - Larnaca

' Cition lay not far from the cape of the same name , and remnants of its destruction may be seen scattered here and there . It was once a notable and glorious city , built and colonised by the Phoenicians , where flourished Zenon , the leader of the Stoic sect and Apollonius , the famous physician . Before the walls of the city , while he was besieging the Persian garrison , fell Cimon , that wonderful Athenian general , who in no wise fell behind Miltiades in courage or Themistocles in skill . As he was dying he bade his soldiers to sail away forthwith from the island , concealing his death . So it befell that as neither the Persians nor the people of Cition discovered the strategem the Athenians sailed in safety , with Cimon (even after his death) for leader . But the inhabitants of Cition , who were bidden by the oracle not to forget Cimon , but to honour him as a superior being , and pay him reverence , raised to him outside their city a magnificent monument , and honoured him in times of famine and dearth .

A Pleasant and brief Cypriad (1766)