16.37mm 2.70g 362-312 BCE
Obverse: Lion walking left, ram head above
Reverse: Horse standing left, star above, symbol before
BMC 69
Of all the agent Cypriote kings, Pumiathon had in my opinion the best name. It makes me think of a Puma-like robot that vanquishes his enemies. Sadly, Pumiathon wasn’t able to utilize his puma powers, and was killed by Ptolemy I in 312 BCE, making him the last king of Kition.
While we don’t have much more information about Pumiathon, there is one interesting situation. At the time of Alexander the Great, there were ten kingdoms in tiny Cyprus. This is a lot for such a small place, and they could practically yell across the street at each other.
Kition was one of those kingdoms, as were Amathos (Androkles), Salamis (Pnytagoras), Marion (Stasiochos II), and Paphos (Timarchos). Another was Tamassos. Its king, Pasikypros, must have had a gambling problem, because in order to fulfil his debts he sold his entire kingdom to Pumiathon.
It would be extremely cool to own a kingdom. Back when Greece had tremendous financial problems, I suggested to my wife that we buy it, but we didn’t. Of course, Pumiathon already had a kingdom, but it was so small that you could barely go horse-riding before having to return home. This purchase must have doubled his range.
I do hope he had time to enjoy it. When he supported Antigonos, which was a fashionable thing to do back then, it royally upset Ptolemy so much that he annihilated Pumiathon and his kingdom. After then, Cyprus was treated as a single entity.
According to Plutarch, the sword Alexander the Great used in the Battle of Gaugamela was given to him by Pumiathon of Kition.