Famagusta is a city on the east coast of Cyprus and capital of the Famagusta District. It lies on the east coast in a bay between Capes Greco and Eloea, east of Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour in the island.
The town was known as Arsinoe, after Arsinoe II of Egypt in antiquity, and mentioned by that name by Strabo, also as Ammochostos (meaning "hidden in sand") which is how it is today referred to in Greek. The same name developed into Famagusta,used in Western European languages and the Turkish name of Magusa (Gazi is a Turkish prefix meaning veteran or simply ghazi, given officially after 1974, compare to Gaziantep.). |