Ancient history of Cyprus
This article treats the
history of Cyprus in
Classical Antiquity, from the
8th century BC to the
Middle Ages. The earliest written records relating to Cyprus date to the
Middle Bronze Age (ca. 15th c. BC), see
Alasiya.
The first written source shows Cyprus under
Assyrian rule. A
stela found in 1845 in
Kition commemorates the victory of king
Sargon II (721-
705 BC) in 709 over the seven kings in the land of Ia', in the district of Iadnana or Atnana. The former is supposedly the Assyrian name of the island, while some authors take the latter to mean
Greece (the Islands of the
Danaoi). There are other inscriptions referring to Ia' in Sargon's palace at
Khorsabad.The ten kingdoms listed by an inscription of
Esarhaddon in 673/2 BC have been identified as
Soli,
Salamis,
Kition,
Amathus,
Kourion,
Paphos and on the coast and
Tamassos,
Ledrai,
Idalion and
Chytroi in the interior. Later inscriptions add
Marion,
Lapithos and Kerynia (
Kyrenia).The city-kingdoms began to strike their own coins around
500 BC, using the
Persian weight system.
Cyprus gained independence around 669/663. Cemeteries of this period are mainly rock-cut tombs. They have been found, among others, at Tamassos, Soloi, Patriki and Trachonas. The rock-cut 'Royal' tombs at
Tamassos, built ca.
600 BC imitate wooden houses. The pillars show
Phoenician influence. Some graves contain remains of horses and
chariots.
The main deity on the Island was the Great Goddess, Phoenician
Astarte, later known under the Greek name of
Aphrodite, who was called 'the Cypriote' by
Homer. Paphian inscriptions call her the Queen. Pictures of Aphrodite appear on coins of Salamis as well, demonstrating that her cult was of more than local importance. The king of Paphos was high Priest of Aphrodite as well. Other Gods venerated were the Phoenician Anat,
Baal, Eshmun, Reshef, Mikal and
Melkart and the Egyptian
Hathor,
Thoeris,
Bes and
Ptah, as attested by amulets. Animal sacrifices are attested by terracotta-votives. The Sanctuary of
Aya Irini contained over 2000 figurines.
In
570, the Island was conquered by
Egypt under
Amasis.The period of Egyptian domination, though brief, left its mark mainly in arts especially in sculpture, where we observe the rigidity and the dress of Egyptians. Soon, however, the Cypriots discarded both for the sake of Greek prototypes.
Statues in stone show a mixture of Egyptian and Greek influence. Men often wear Egyptian whigs and Assyrian-style beards. Armour and dress show western Asiatic elements as well.
Under the
Persians, the kings of Cyprus retained their independence, although paying tribute to their overlord. They could mint their own coins without even his portrait on it. Thus King Evelthon of Salamis (
560 BC-
525 BC), probably the first one to cast silver or bronze coins in Cyprus, shows a ram on the obverse and an "
ankh" (Egyptian symbol of good luck) on the reverse.
Except for
Amathus, the Kingdoms of Cyprus, took part in the
Ionian rising in 499 BC, following the lead of Onesilos of
Salamis, brother of the king of Salamis, whom he dethroned for not wanting to fight for independence. The
Persians crushed the Cypriote armies and laid siege to the fortified towns in
498 BC. In Paphos, remains of a Persian
siege-ramp and
counter-tunnels have been excavated at the North-gate. Soloi surrendered after a five-month siege.Around 450, Kition annexed Idalion with Persian help. The importance of Kition increased again when it acquired the Tamassos copper-mines.
The
Teucrid dynasty of Salamis had been displaced by an Phoenician exile around
450 BC. Only in
411 did
Evagoras I regain the throne of Salamis. At the beginning of the
4th century BC, he took control of the whole island and tried to gain independence from Persia with
Athenian help. Ca.
380 a Persian force besieged Salamis . Evagoras was forced to surrender, but stayed king of Salamis until he was murdered in
374. Together with Egypt and Phoenicia, Cyprus rebelled again in
350 BC, but the upraising was crushed by
Artaxerxes in
344.
The
Greek alphabet was introduced by
Evagoras I. of Salamis, in other parts of the island, the Phoenician script (Kition) or the Cypriot syllabic alphabet was still used, either for inscriptions in the local Greek dialect (
Arcadocypriot) or in the so called
Eteo-Cypriot language (Amathus). Only during the
4th century , the Cypriot gods became known under Greek names.
Anat, who had a temple at Vouni was called Athena,
Astarte Aphrodite, the main male God as Zeus.
Reshef and
Hylates were equated with Apollo,
Eshmun with Asklepios.
Full Hellenisation only took place under
Ptolemaic rule. Phoenician and native Cypriot traits disappeared, together with the old
Cypriot syllabic script. A number of cities were founded during this time, e.g.
Arsinoe that was founded between old and new
Paphos by
Ptolemy II.
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Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent |
After the Persian defeat, the
Greeks mounted various expeditions against Cyprus in order to liberate it from the Persian yoke, but all their efforts bore only temporary results. In
526 BC, the Persians conquered the island. Some years later, the island was incorporated into the 5th
Satrapy (
Ionia), and East Greek influence can be seen in the Cypriot material culture. The Persians did not interfere in internal affais, the city-kingdoms continued to strike their own coins and to wage war among each other.
Royal palaces have excavated in Palaepaphos and in
Vouni in the territory of
Marion on the North coast. They closely follow Persian examples like
Persepolis. Vouni, on a hill overlooking the
Morphou Bay was built around
520 BC and destroyed in 380. It contained Royal audience chambers (
liwan), open courtyards, bathhouses and stores.The towns were fortified with
mudbrick walls on stone foundations and rectangular bastions. The houses were constructed of mud-bricks as well, public buildings were faced with
ashlar. The Phoenician town of
Carpasia near
Rizokarpasso (
Turkish:
Dipkarpaz) had houses built of rubble masonry with square stone blocks forming the corners. Temples and sanctuaries were mainly built according to Phoenician templates.
Soloi had a small temple with a Greek plan.
In the sphere of arts we have a definite influence from Greece that was responsible for the production of some very important sculptures. The archaic Greek art with its attractive smile on the face of the statue is found on many Cypriot pieces dating between 525-475 BC, that is the closing stage of the
Archaic period. During the Persian rule, Ionian influence on the sculptures intensified, copies of Greek
korai appear, as well as statues of men in Greek dress. Naked
kouroi, common in Greece, are extremely rare while women (Korai) are always presented dressed with rich foldings of their himations.
In the pottery, definite local styles develop, some Greek pottery was imported as well.
The most important obligation of the kings of Cyprus to the
Shah of the Shahs of
Persia was the payment of tribute and the supply of armies and ships for his foreign campaigns. Thus when
Xerxes in
480 BC invaded
Greece, Cyprus contributed 150 ships to the Persian army.
Evagoras (
435–
374 BC) was an important pro-Greek king of Cyprus.He dominated Cypriot politics for almost forty years until he died in 374 BC. He favoured everything Greek and he urged Greeks from the Aegean to come and settle in Cyprus. He assisted the Athenians in many ways and they honoured him by erecting his statue in the Stoa (portico) Basileios in
Athens.He tried to unite the cities of Cyprus. He met resistance on the parts of the kings of
Kition,
Amathus and
Soli who fled to the great king of
Persia in
390 BC. requesting him to prevent Evagoras from carrying out his plans. Evagoras also didn't receive much help from Athenians and at the end could remain ruler of Salamis only accepting to be a vassal of Persia.
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Map of Alexander's empire. |
During the siege of
Tyre, the Cypriot Kings went over to
Alexander of Macedon and supported him with ships. In
321 four Cypriot kings sided with
Ptolemy I Soter and defended the island against
Antigonos.In appreciation, Alexander set them free. This period, however was very brief since the Macedonian King died soon afterwards and Cyprus became a bone of contention among his successors. Ptolemy lost Cyprus to
Demetrios Poliorketes in
306 and
294 BC, but after that it remained under
Ptolemaic rule till
58 BC. It was ruled by a governor from Egypt and sometimes formed a minor Ptolemaic kingdom during the power-struggles of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Strong commercial relationships with
Athens and
Alexandria, two of the most important commercial centres of antiquity, developed.
Ptolemaic rule was rigid and exploited the island's resources to the utmost, particularly
timber and
copper. A great contemporary figure of Cypriot letters was the philosopher
Zeno who was born at Kition about 336 and founded the famous Stoic School of Philosophy at Athens where he died about
263 BC.
Cyprus became a
Roman province in
58 BC, according to
Strabo because
Publius Clodius Pulcher held a grudge against Ptolemy and sent Marcus Cato to conquer the island after he had become
tribune.
Mark Antony gave the island to
Cleopatra VII of Egypt and her sister
Arsinoe, but it became a Roman province again after his defeat at the
Battle of Actium (
31 BC) in
30 BC.From
22 BC, Cyprus was a
senatorial province, after the reforms of
Diocletian it was placed under the
Consularis Oriens.
Pax Romana (Roman peace) was only twice disturbed in Cyprus in three centuries of Roman occupation.The first serious interruption occurred in
115-
116, when a
revolt by the Jews inspired by Messianic hopes broke out. Their leader was Artemion, a Jew with a hellenised name as was the practice of the time. The island suffered great losses in this
Kitos War, when it is believed that 240,000 Greek and
Roman civilians were killed. Though probable that the number massacred is greatly inflated, there were few or no Roman troops stationed on the island to suppress the insurrection as the rebels reaped havoc. After forces were sent to Cyprus and the uprising was put down, law was passed that no Jew was permitted to land on Cyprian soil, not even in case of ship wreck.The second turomoil sprang up in
333-
334, when the
magister pecoris camelorum Calocaerus revolted against
Constantine I, claiming the purple. This rebellion ended with the arrival of the troops led by
Flavius Dalmatius and the death of Calocaerus.
Several earthquakes led to the destruction of Salamis at the beginning of the 4th century, at the same time drought and famine hit the island.
Roman Cyprus was visited by Apostles Paul, Barnabas and
St Mark who came to the island at the outset of their first missionary journey in
45 AD. After their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to
Christianity. In the Acts of the Apostles,
St Luke describes vividly how a magician named Bar-Jesus (Elymas) was obstructing the two Apostles in their preaching of the Gospel, so Paul by his word only set him blind for some time. As a result of this,
Sergius Paulus believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the
Lord. In this way Cyprus became the first country in the world to be governed by a Christian ruler.
The apostle
Paul is reported to have converted the people of Cyprus to Christianity. St. Barnabas was supposed to have founded the
Cypriote church, underpinning claims for ecclesiastical
independence from Antioch. According to the
apocryphal Acts of Barnabas, Barnabas carried a copy of the Gospel with him, which he had written and that was buried with him, and later unearthed after a dream by Archbishop Anthemius of Salamis. At least three Cypriote bishops (sees of Salamis, Tremithus and Paphos) took part at the
First Council of Nicaea in
325, twelve at the
council of Sardica in
344. In
400, the Metrolitan see was located at
Salamis (Constantia).
Early Cypriote Saints include St.
Heracleidius, St.
Spiridon, St.
Hilarion and St.
Epiphanius. A fragment of the
true cross was deposited by St.
Helena at
Tokhni, the cross of the penitent thief at
Stavrovouni, which helped to relieve a terrible drought.During the
5th century AD, the church of Cyprus achieved its independence from the
Patriarch of Antioch at the
Council of Ephesus in
431. Emperor
Zeno granted the archbishop of Cyprus the right to carry a sceptre instead of a pastoral staff.
*Veronica Tatton-Brown, Cyprus BC, 7000 years of history (London, British Museum 1979).
*C. D. Cobham, Excerpta Cypria, materials for a history of Cyprus (Cambridge 1908). Includes the Classical Sources.
*D. Hunt, Footprints in Cyprus (London,Trigraph 1990).
*
Ancient History of Cyprus, by Cypriot government.
