Christianity and the survival of the Roman Empire in the east are the decisive forces marking Cyprus's next epoch , the Byzantine one . Emperor Constantine I transferred the capital from Rome to Byzantium , thus shifting the main focus of the Empire to the East ; in addition , he tolerated Christianity . In 395 , Theodosius divided the Empire among his sons , Arcadius received the western half of the Empire , Honorius the eastern half , to which Cyprus also belonged . The 'temporary' division introduced for practical considerations and by no means for the first time , proved to be final and has influenced European history right down to the present . Both parts passed through different developments . In the West , through the fragmentation , an organisation of society from below , individualism and competition became possible . Through its superior economic strength , the East was better able to resist the attacks by the 'Barbarians" and preserved the political structures of late antiquity .

Cyprus was ruled from Constantinople from 330 on and was incorporated into the capital's administrative system . From there came the decisive cultural and economic impulses ; the master builders and painters who worked in Cyprus were trained there , the decisions on questions of faith in the Orthodox church were taken there . The governors of Cyprus resided in the new capital Constantia replacing Paphos which the Romans had preferred . Emperor Constantine had Constantia , that was named after him , erected on the ruins of Salamis which had been destroyed in earthquakes in 332 and 342 , dispensing the surviving inhabitants from tax for four years .

Little is known about the period between the fourth and sixth centuries , apart from the struggle by the church for its autonomy . One of the Byzantine governors , Kalokairos , is said to have brought cats to Cyprus so that they could check a plague of snakes ; it is possible that he attempted to make himself independent of Constantinople , but his coup was rapidly suppressed . Basically , not much changed by comparison with the Roman period , but here , even more than elsewhere , it is only possible to draw a line between both epochs with great difficulty . Inner stability and economic well-being mark the centuries from the turn of the era until the seventh century . By comparison with the other areas of the Mediterranean world , Cyprus thus had a privileged fate , because all the others were ravaged by wars and subjected to a fundamental transformation of political conditions .

Cyprus profited from the short-lasting period of peace in the Mediterranean which came about through Justinian I's conquests . Indeed , as a lucrative source of taxes it even enjoyed special attention during the construction of roads and defensive installations . Magnificently furbished churches and public buildings were commissioned . The centralist economy introduced by Justinian I provided for the export of wine , cereals and textiles by Cyprus ; copper and timber declined in significance . The agrarian structure of the island was enriched by the introduction of sericulture which Justinian had had spied out from the eastern neighbours .

However , Justinian I's policy exhausted the state coffers and East Rome was hardly equal to the onslaught of the Slavs in the Balkans in the seventh century . At the same time it had to defend itself against the Persians on a second front . A cautious policy of safeguarding assets marked these centuries , Cyprus still preserved its internal peace and profited from the regeneration process under Herakleios who admittedly had just defeated the Persians only to find himself confronted with a new danger shortly before his death : the adherents of the new religious faith , Islam , from the desert wastes of the Arabian peninsula developed a meteoric expansionist force .

And Cyprus was not spared from this danger . Unlike the Persians , the Arabs quickly learned the techniques of navigation . With the former Byzantine territories , they conquered the prerequisites with respect to technology and personnel for a navy . With this they were able to pit themselves against the Byzantines on land and at sea , and they invaded , plundered and pillaged Cyprus which was no longer protected by the sea . In 647 , they destroyed Constantia , killing and deporting many inhabitants and demanding tribute payments from the others . The Imperial troops drove them out , but scarcely six years later they repeated the bloody game and an Arab garrison secured the conquest for thirty years . At the time of this invasion , the foster-mother of the Prophet Mohammed accompanied her husband . She fell from a mule and was mortally injured . Above the scene of the accident - it is by the salt lake near Larnaca - The Moslems later constructed a mausoleum and a mosque . It is one of the most important Islamic shrines .

Emperor Justinian II was not in a position to defend his widely threatened Empire as a whole , he had to restrict himself to what was feasible . One of the means adopted were compulsory resettlements . In 691 he compensated in this manner for the dramatic losses in population caused by Arab attacks on Constantinople . Cyprus lay too far away anyway for its defence to have been a priority for the weakened Empire . So many Cypriots , together with their Archbishop , moved to the shores of the Sea of Marmara , albeit to a marshy and infertile area . Heavily decimated , they returned home a little later .

Cyprus became something of a no-mans land . Until well into the tenth century , it was dominated by both powers , at times by the Arabs , at times by the Byzantines , at times by both , never by neither . In some periods , the arch-enemies lived in peaceful co-existence , sometimes even a high regard for the opposing civilisation predominated ; but ultimately confrontation decided the relationship . The island remained their bone of contention for over 300 years and was able to secure a kind of neutrality for itself at times . The iconophiles fled here , those adherents of religious images who did not want to allow every figural representation to disappear from churches and that the Mother of God or Jesus Christ should no longer be venerated in their pictures .