AMATHUS, a very ancient town in the south of Cyprus, (Strabo, Ptolemy); so called, from Amathus the founder; or, according to others, from Amath, a Phœnician town sacred to Venus, with a very ancient temple of Adonis and Venus: and hence Venus is denominated Amathusia, (Tacitus). According to Ovid, it was a place rich in copper-ore, and where the inhabitants became Cerastra, or horned. Now called Limisso.