Tamassos (Greek: Ταμασσός) or Tamasos (Greek: Τἀμασος) – names Latinized as Tamassus or Tamasus – was a city-kingdom in ancient Cyprus, one of the ten kingdoms of Cyprus. It was situated in the great central plain of the island, south-east of Soli, on the road from Soli to Tremithus. It is an archaeological site bordering the village of Politiko, about 21 kilometres southwest of Nicosia. An Assyrian inscription from ca. 673 BC (Prism of Esarhaddon) refers to it as Tamesi, described as a city-state which paid tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. As there were copper mines in the neighbourhood, it is very probably the Temese mentioned by Homer (Odyssey, I, 184), which was in his time the principal copper market of the island. Today the villages of Psimolofou, Episkopeio, Pera Orinis, Ergates, Politiko, Kampia, Analyontas, and Kapedes occupy the site of the city. History The city-state prospered mainly because of its mines, from which metals (mostly copper, Cyprus's chief export in the ancient world) were extracted. However, it managed to survive despite exhaustion of its copper deposits. Foundations, inhabitants, and economy Unlike other city-states on the island, there is no precise information from either history or tradition concerning the establishment of the city as a human settlement and later as an important trade city. The area itself was in fact home to a number of small farmer settlements, which the city replaced after the discovery and exploitation of the copper that became the heart of the economy in the succeeding centuries. Studies of the archaeological artefacts suggest that the region was inhabited since prehistoric times, more specifically since the Chalcolithic Age. Villages such as Kampia, Margi, Kotsiatis, and Mathiatis in the wider region were densely populated from the Early Bronze Age. The population increased significantly following exploitation of the copper mines. Tombs and copper-processing installations discovered in the area date back to the Late Bronze Age. Writers such as Claudius Ptolemy and Stephanus of Byzantium mention the city. Stephanus describes the city as "mesogeia" (inland) with copper of excellent quality. Its inland location and lack of a port kept it from becoming a major trading post such as Salamis and Paphos. The city also lacked the cosmopolitan character of the island's coastal cities. It resembled an "industrial" city of mines and workshops, though it had without doubt also developed the agricultural and stock-breeding potentialities of the surrounding fertile land, enriched