The origins of Sell are traced back to an Assyrian (700 BC) tribute list where it is referred to as Si-il-lu. It is also known that in 580 BC, King Philokypros moved his capital from Aepia to Si-il-lu on the advice of his mentor Solon, and renamed the town after the Athenian philosopher In 498 BC along with most of the other city kingdoms of Cyprus, Soli also rose against its Persian masters and at the end of the war it was captured. Soli became a prosperous city during the Roman period, However by the 4th century its harbour was already silted up and the copper mines were closed. It was destroyed by Arab raids in the 7th century.
On the acropolis, which occupied the top of the hill high above the theatre, there was a royal palace similar to the one of Vouni, thought to date from a slightly later period. In addition to silver and gold jewellery of the Hellenistic period, excavations have brought to light a marble statue of Aphrodite from the 1 st century BC and a frieze representing the war of the Amazons from the 2nd century BC (Cyprus Museum - Greek sector). The so-called Fugger sarcophagus in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna is also thought to have come from the necropolis of Soli. Excavations have also brought to light some Hellenistic ruins such as the remains of a colonnaded paved street which leads to an agora with a marble monumental fountain. Excavations have shown that a settlement was made here as early as the llth century BC owing probably to the existence of a good water supply, fertile soil and a protected narbour, the nearby copper deposits and timber to smelt the copper.
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