 | Ancient history of Cyprus: Encyclopedia II - Ancient history of Cyprus - The City-Kingdoms
Ancient history of Cyprus - The City-Kingdoms
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.
Other related archives116, 22 BC, 263 BC, 294 BC, 30 BC, 306, 31 BC, 321, 325, 344, 350 BC, 374, 374 BC, 380, 390 BC, 400, 411, 431, 435, 45 AD, 450 BC, 480 BC, 498 BC, 4th century, 4th century BC, 5, 500 BC, 520 BC, 525 BC, 526 BC, 560 BC, 570, 58 BC, 5th century AD, 600 BC, 705 BC, 721 BC, Acts of Barnabas, Alexander of Macedon, Alexandria, Amasis, Amathus, Anat, Ancient Near East, Ancient Roman provinces, Ancient history, Antigonos, Aphrodite, Arcadocypriot, Archaic period, Arsinoe, Artaxerxes, Assyrian, Astarte, Athenian, Athens, Baal, Battle of Actium, Bes, Christianity, Cleopatra VII, Council of Ephesus, Cypriot syllabic script, Cypriote church, Cyprus, Demetrios Poliorketes, Diocletian, Egypt, Epiphanius, Esarhaddon, Eshmun, Evagoras, First Council of Nicaea, Greece, Greek alphabet, Greeks, Hathor, Helena, Hilarion, History of Cyprus, History of Greece, Homer, Hylates, Idalion, Ionia, Ionian rising, Jewish rising of AD 115/116, Jews, Khorsabad, Kition, Kourion, Kyrenia, Lapithos, Lord, Marion, Mark Antony, Melkart, Middle Ages, Morphou Bay, Paphos, Patriarch of Antioch, Paul, Pax Romana, Persepolis, Persia, Persian, Persians, Phoenician, Phoenician colonies, Ptah, Ptolemaic, Ptolemy I Soter, Ptolemy II, Publius Clodius Pulcher, Rizokarpasso, Roman, Roman province, Salamis, Sargon II, Satrapy, Sergius Paulus, Shah, Soli, Spiridon, St Luke, St Mark, Stavrovouni, Strabo, Teucrid, Turkish, Tyre, Xerxes, Zeno, apocryphal, ashlar, chariots, copper, council of Sardica, independence from Antioch, korai, kouroi, mudbrick, senatorial province, stela, timber, tribune, true cross
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The City-Kingdoms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
