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Cyprus is an island of oceanic origin
which has never been connected to the mainland.
In the Pleistocen glacial episodes the%26nbsp;
minimum distance of Cyprus to the mainland would
have been 30 km.
The Stone
Age
Neolithic Period
I (8th millennium - 4500 BC)
Cyprus, though a
small island, has always played an important role
in the history of the Mediterranean, far
exceeding its size. The first signs of undisputed
human activity can be traced back to the 8th
millennium BC when the first settlements are
encountered.%26nbsp; Vestiges of such early
communities are found all over the island, such
as at Khirokitia, Kalavasos-Tenta, Apostolos
Andreas-Kastros, Phrenaros, Petra tou Limniti
etc.
Neolithic Cypriots
built circular houses with small undressed stones
for the lower structures and sun-dried mudbricks
and clay for the middle and
superstructure.
The daily life of
the people in those neolithic villages was spent
in farming, hunting, animal husbandry and the
lithic industry, while women were engaged in
spindling and weaving cloths, in addition to
their probable participation in other
activities.%26nbsp; The lithic industry was the
most individual feature of this aceramic culture
and innumerable stone vessels made of grey
andesite have been discovered during
excavations.
Plant remains
indicate the cultivation of cereals, lentils,
beans, peas and a kind of plum called
Bullace.%26nbsp; Remains of the following animal
species were recovered during excavations:
Persian fallow deer, goat, sheep, moufflon and
pig. More remains indicate Red deer, Roe deer, a
kind of horse and a kind of dog but no cattle as
yet.
Life expectancy was
very short; the average age at death was about 34
years, and there was a very high infant mortality
rate.
%26nbsp;
Neolithic Period
II (4500-3500 BC)
The aceramic
civilisation of Cyprus came to an end quite
abruptly around 6000 BC.%26nbsp; It was probably
followed by a vacuum of almost 1.500 years until
around 4500 BC when we have the emergence of
Neolithic II.%26nbsp;
At this time
newcomers arrived in Cyprus introducing a new
neolithic era.%26nbsp; The main settlement that
embodies most of the characteristics of the
period is Sotira near the south coast of
Cyprus.%26nbsp; It had nearly fifty houses,
usually having a single room that had its own
hearth, benches, platforms and partitions that
provided working places.%26nbsp; The houses were
on the main free-standing, with relatively thin
walls and tended to be square with rounded
corners.
%26nbsp;
Chalcolithic
Period (3500-2500/2300 BC)
The Neolithic II
culture was destroyed by an earthquake c.3800
BC.%26nbsp; In the society that emerged there are
no overt signs of newcomers but signs of
continuity, therefore despite the violent natural
catastrophe, there is an internal evolution that
isformalised around 3500 BC when we have the
beginning of the so-called Chalcolithic (copper
and stone) period that lasted until about
2500/2300 BC.
Metalwork appears
now for the first time and will stamp the future
of the island for centuries to come.%26nbsp; We
have very few chisels, hooks and jewellery of
pure copper but in one example there is a minimal
presence of tin, something which may support
contact with Asia Minor, where copper-working was
established earlier.
During the
Chalcolithic period changes of major importance
tookplace along with technological and artistic
achievements, especially towards its end.%26nbsp;
The presence of a stamp seal and the size of the
houses that was not uniform, both hint at
property rights and social hierarchy.%26nbsp; The
same story is supported by the burials because
some of them were deposited in pits without grave
goods and some in shaft graves with relatively
rich furniture, both being indications of wealth
accumulation by certain families and social
differentiation.
The Chalcolithic
period did not come to an end at the same time
all over Cyprus.%26nbsp; In the Paphos area it
lingered on although in northern Cyprus the
Bronze Age came into being.
%26nbsp;
The Bronze
Age
Early Bronze Age
(2500/2300 - 1900 BC)
The new era was
introduced by people from Anatolia who came to
Cyprus because of disturbances in Asia
Minor.%26nbsp; It is only natural that we observe
the first vivid vestiges of this civilisation
around 2300 BC in the northern part of the
island, from where it spread south and
west.
As the newcomers
knew how to work with
copper they soon moved to the so-called
copperbelt of the island, that is the foothills
of the Troodos mountains.%26nbsp; This movement
reflects the increased interest in the raw
material that was going to be so closely
connected with Cyprus for several centuries
afterwards.
%26nbsp;
The Middle Bronze
Age (1900 - 1600 BC)
The Middle Bronze
Age which followed (1900-1600 BC) is a relatively
short period and its earlier part is marked by
peaceful development in contrast to its final
years which were marked by wars.
Unlike the early
Bronze Age which furnishes no settlements as yet,
the Middle Bronze Age shows several settlements
in addition to cemeteries that give us an idea
about the architecture of the period.
From Alambra in
central Cyprus we know that the houses were
rectangular with many rooms, while streets were
constructed allowing people to move freely in the
community.
During the same
period fortresses were built in various places, a
clear indication of unrest, although we are not
sure about its cause.
%26nbsp;
The Late Bronze
Age (1600-1100 BC)
The beginning of the
Late Bronze Age does not differ from the closing
years of the previous period.%26nbsp; Unrest,
tension and anxiety mark all these years,
probably because of some sort of engagement with
the Hyksos who ruled Egypt at this time but were
expelled from there in the mid-16th
century.%26nbsp; Soon afterwards peaceful
conditions prevailed in the Eastern Mediterranean
that witnessed a flowering of trade relations and
the growing of urban centres.%26nbsp; Chief among
them was Enkomi the earliest predecessor of
modern Famagusta, though several other harbour
towns also sprung up along the southern coast of
Cyprus.
Rich finds from this
period testify to a vivid commerce with other
countries.%26nbsp; We have jewellery and other
precious objects from the Aegean along with
pottery that prove the close connections of the
two areas, though finds coming from Near Eastern
countries are also plentiful.
The years of peace
that brought about such a flowering of culture
and civilisation did not last.%26nbsp; During
these years Cyprus reached unprecedented heights
in prosperity and it played a rather neutral role
in the differences of her powerful
neighbours.
In the second half
of the 13th century Cyprus suffered because of
raids that were intensified and turned into
devastating invasions in the last quarter of the
same century.
When those
disastrous events came to an end, we observe the
massive arrival of the Mycenaean Greeks as
permanent settlers to Cyprus, a process that
started around 1200 BC and lasted for more than a
century.%26nbsp; This migration is remembered in
many sagas rehearsing how some of the Greek
heroes that participated in the Trojan war came
to settle in Cyprus.
The newcomers
brought with them their language, their advanced
technology and introduced a new outlook for
visual arts. Thus from c. 1220 BC Cyprus has
remained predominantly Greek in culture, language
and population despite various influences
resulting from successive conquests.
%26nbsp;
The Iron
Age
Early Iron Age
(1100 - 750 BC)
In the ensuing Early
Iron Age (1100-750 BC) Cyprus becomes
predominantly Greek.%26nbsp; Pottery shapes and
decoration show a marked Aegean inspiration
although Oriental ideas creep in from time to
time.%26nbsp; New burial customs with rock-cut
chamber tombs having a long "dromos" (a ramp
leading gradually towards the entrance) along
with new religious beliefs speak in favour of the
arrival of people from the Aegean.%26nbsp; The
same view is supported by the introduction of the
safety pin that denotes a new fashion in dressing
and also by a name scratched on a bronze skewer
from Paphos and dating between 1050-950
BC.%26nbsp;
This name
(o-pe-le-ta-u) is in the Greek language but it is
written in the Cypriot syllabary that remained in
use down to the 3rd century BC.%26nbsp; The
alphabetic writing that was adopted from the
Phoenicians in the 8th century BC in Greece
proper was introduced to Cyprus as late as the
early 4th century BC.
In the period under
discussion, and in particular in the 9th century
BC we witness the arrival of the Phoenicians in
Cyprus, who probably came here from their land
(modern Lebanon) because they were harassed by
the Assyrians.
The Phoenicians
brought with them their deities and made their
presence felt in minor arts, pottery-shapes and
ornamentation.
%26nbsp;
The Archaic
Period (750-475 BC)
The 8th century BC
saw a marked increase of wealth in Cyprus.
Communications with East and West were on the
ascend and this created a prosperous
society.%26nbsp; Testifying to this wealth are
the so-called royal tombs of Salamis, which,
although plundered, produced a truly royal
abundance of wealth.%26nbsp; Sacrifices of
horses, bronze tripods and huge cauldrons
decorated with sirens, griffins etc., chariots
with all their ornamentation and the horses'
gear, ivory beds and thrones exquisitely
decorated were all deposited into the tombs'
"dromoi" for the sake of their
masters.
The late 8th century
is the time of the spreading of the Homeric
poems, the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". IN fact the
spread of the Greek civilization had a great
effect on Cyprus.very much.%26nbsp; Funerary
customs at Salamis and elsewhere were greatly
influenced by these poems.%26nbsp; The deceased
were given skewers and firelogs in order to roast
their meat, a practice found in contemporary
Argos and Crete, recalling the similar gear of
Achilles when he entertained other Greek heroes
in his tent. Honey and oil, described by Homer as
offerings to the dead are also found at Salamis,
and the flames of fire that consumed the deceased
were quenched with wine as it happened to
Patroclus' body after it was given to the
flames.%26nbsp; The hero's ashes were gathered
carefully wrapped into a linen cloth and put into
a golden urn.
At Salamis the ashes
of the deceased are also wrapped into a cloth and
deposited into a bronze cauldron.%26nbsp;
Therefore, the Cypriots along with their
extravagant display of wealth that bears many
oriental features, do not forget their roots for
which they must have been very proud.%26nbsp; The
circulation of the Homeric poems must have
revived the interest in their ancestors whose
system of government they never lost sight
of.
As Mycenaean Greece
was divided in small independent kingdoms, so
Cyprus kept the tradition alive down to
historical times being divided into ten petty
kingdoms that were ruled by a king.%26nbsp;
Kinship was preserved even under foreign
occupations, when the cities of Cyprus remained
independent even after their submission to the
Assyrians in 709, the Egyptians in 569 and the
Persians in 545 BC.
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.%26nbsp; Soon, however, the Cypriots
discarded both for the sake of Greek
prototypes.
Under the Persians,
the kings of Cyprus retained their independence,
although paying tribute to their
overlord.%26nbsp; They could mint their own coins
without even his portrait on it.%26nbsp; Thus
King Evelthon of Salamis (560-525 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.
In the Persian
empire, Cyprus formed part of the fifth satrapy
and in addition to tribute it had to supply the
Persians with ships and crews .%26nbsp; In their
new fate the Greeks of Cyprus had as companions
the Greeks of Ionia (west coast of Asia Minor -
now Turkey) with whom they forged closer
ties.%26nbsp; When the Ionian Greeks revolted
against Persia (499 BC) the Cypriots except for
Amathus, joined in at the instigation of
Onesilos, brother of the king of Salamis, whom he
dethroned for not wanting to fight for
independence.
The Persians reacted
quickly sending a considerable force against
Onesilos.%26nbsp; They won despite Ionian
help.
%26nbsp;
The Classical Period
(475-325 BC)
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.
Following these
events Persian rule became more oppressive and it
favoured the Phoenician element at the expense of
the Greek.%26nbsp; A Phoenician "usurper"
ascended the throne of Salamis and it took
several decades before Evagoras, a true scion of
the Teucrid family, succeeded in seizing the
throne in 411 BC.
Evagoras
dominated%26nbsp; Cypriot politics for almost
forty years until he died in 374/3 BC.%26nbsp; He
favoured everything Greek and he urged Greeks
from the Aegean to come and settle in
Cyprus.%26nbsp; He assisted the Athenians in many
ways and they honoured him by erecting his statue
in the Stoa (portico) Basileios in
Athens.
His successors
continued his struggle against the Persians but
to no avail until Alexander the Great defeated
the Persians at the battle of Issos near modern
Alexandretta (Iskenderun) in 333 BC. From then on
the Cypriot kings were only too happy to transfer
their allegiance to him.
In the sphere of
arts we have a definite influence from Greece
that was responsible for the production of some
very important sculptures.%26nbsp; 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.%26nbsp; According to
Greek tradition men (Kouroi) are mostly presented
naked, while women (Korai) are always presented
dressed with rich foldings of their
himations.
The Classical period
coincides with the oppression of the Cypriot
cities by the Persians because of the revolt they
staged a little earlier in 499 BC.%26nbsp;
Because of this, few works of Greek workmanship
have reached Cyprus but their influence was
extensively felt.
%26nbsp;
The Hellenistic Period
(325-30 BC)
When Alexander the
Great was marching southwards and then towards
the heart of the Persian empire and finally
India, the Cypriot Kings assisted him in many
ways especially with their ships in the siege of
Tyre.%26nbsp; 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.%26nbsp; Finally Cyprus was won over
in 294 BC by Ptolemy who ruled Egypt where he
established a dynasty that lasted for three
centuries.
Ptolemaic rule was
rigid and exploited the island's resources to the
utmost, particularly timber and copper.%26nbsp; 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.
The ancient ship of
Kerynia.
The Roman Period (30 BC -
330 AD)
In 58 BC the tribune
Claudius Pulcher carried a law implemented by
Cato, which turned Cyprus into a Roman province
attached to that of Cilicia.
During the civil
wars, Cyprus was briefly given to Cleopatra of
Egypt by Julius Caesar and later by Mark
Anthony.%26nbsp; It was reverted to Roman rule in
30 BC and in 22 BC became a Senatorial
Province.
Pax Romana (Roman
peace) was only once disturbed in Cyprus in three
centuries of Roman occupation.%26nbsp; This
serious interruption occurred in 115/6 AD when a
revolt by the Jews inspired by Messianic hopes
broke out.%26nbsp; Their leader was Artemion, a
Jew with a hellenised name as was the practice of
the time. Historians put the number of those
massacred to 240,000.%26nbsp; No doubt the number
is exaggerated but one must not forget that in
Cyprus practically no Roman troops were stationed
and this facilitated the Jewish revolt.%26nbsp;
Soon, however, the then Roman Emperor Trajan,
dispatched to Cyprus one of his generals who
suppressed the insurrection and expelled all Jews
from the island, not allowing them to tread her
soil even when shipwrecked.
No doubt the most
important event that occurred in Roman Cyprus is
the visit by Apostles Paul and Barnabas having
with them St Mark who came to the island at the
outset of their first missionary journey in 45
AD.%26nbsp; After their arrival at Salamis they
proceeded to Paphos where they converted the
Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to
Christianity.%26nbsp; 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.%26nbsp; As a result of this,
Sergius Paulus believed, being astonished atthe
doctrine of the Lord.%26nbsp; In this way Cyprus
became the firstcountry in the world to be
governed by a Christian ruler. |
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