‘A wonderful city of palms and dates’: Salamis-Constantia in transition from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages (ca. 600–ca. 800 CE)

Abstract

The article focuses on Salamis-Constantia, the political and ecclesiastical capital of the island of Cyprus, from the 360s to the tenth century, marking the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The aim here is to debunk the historiographical model proposed for interpreting the declining fortunes of Cypriot urban sites, while at the same time applying the category of transition in order to explain the changes experienced in the local economic life, material culture and socio-political structures.