A Brief History of Cyprus Draft V3 Being Aware of the history of this island is a target that we can improve on. Past experience has shown that the overall education received has created a partial picture of the History of Cyprus. The American School in Paphos promises on billboards Education away from Politics. History, accurately portrayed, is education. Partially portrayed, it is politics. Please read on. Indigenous Cypriots were inhabiting the island since 9,000BC, with human settlements in Larnaca and Kyrenia dating to those times. From 6500BC (dates approximate) Cyprus boasted Chirokitia, the third most ancient civilization in the world, after Katal Huyuk and Jericho. During these times and on, settlements were founded in Famagusta, Akanthou, Ayia Napa, Cape of St Andreas, and other locations. Over the next 3,500 years, cypriot civilization flourished. During the period from 3000 to 1,000 BC, a large indigenous population, with its culture and art distinct from the mainlands surrounding the island was thriving on the copper trade. At this stage copper was being extracted from Cyprus mines and actively traded with Asia Minor, with Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. This indigenous population spoke their own language, a syllabic form akin to Cretan. During this period the Phoenicians sailed in peacefully to trade, bringing with them the phonetic alphabet, which became the foundation of both the Greek and the Latin languages. The City of Kition was founded by Kittim at around 2,500 BC, It became a chief Phoenician colony along with the Phoenician cities of Amathus and Idalion. As the people of Cyprus developed their trade interests with the Phoenicians, the Mycenaeans, the Egyprians and others, all became actively interested in Cyprus and its wealth, attracting a different kind of interest. Inevitably the Egyptians invaded, and stayed for a few hundred years. Arsinoe was founded in the name of the Queen and sister of the Pharaoh The Mycenaeans, great warriors and castle builders, set foot on Cyprus at 2,000-1,000BC with an aim to colonize, and they focused on the coastlines facing towards Greece, their home. They were followed by the Achaeans and their systematic efforts to develop cities such as the powerful city of Salamina. The city of Soloi carries a great story. Solon the Athenian, said to be the worlds first peoples champion, was a great man of Athenian politics, elevated by his own peers to the role of Archon and remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in archaic Athens. He is often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy. Solon arrived in Cyprus for 10 years, respected, experienced, and with a dream to design a model city. Having convinced on merit one of the then 10 kings of Cyprus at the time (600BC or so) this small model city came to be, and flourished. During these years of external influences, Greece, with its budding democracy, philosophy, education, mathematics and so much more, benefitted Cyprus to the extent that deep cultural links were forged. This was unlike Egypt and the Assyrians, who were lured by the dense forests and rich mineral wealth of Cyprus. and also unlike the Phoenicians, who founded a few cities but came here basically to trade. The sword of the Egyptians and of Sargon, the mighty leader of the Assyrians, the trade of the Phoenicians and the Greek enlightenment were all important opportunities or challenges for the Cypriot of the time. After these races dropped in on a native Cypriot civilization that was already 5,000 years old, others also followed all leaving influences in arts, crafts on our island. Cyprus found itself torn between Persia, which it initially supported to maintain -for its handful of local kings-certain sectarian privileges promised to them by the arriving Persians, then joining Greece against its fight with Persia at around 500BC-and becoming destroyed by the Persians (the Onisilos Revolt). Cyprus did better subsequently under Evagoras at around 400BC, who on the one hand fortified Salamina-a great city at the time-and on the other hand cultivated the friendship of the Greeks whilst maintaining friendly relations with Persia as well. This man succeeded in joining the whole island politically, made it independent, secured further the position and growth of the benevolent democratic Greek civilization on the island and is hailed by many to be one of the greatest men of Cyprus. After the death of Alexander the Great, whom the Cypriots embraced thus gaining their independence from Persia, Cyprus suffered the strife between the three Macedon generals Antigonus, Selefkos and Ptolemy-the last succeeding at last to control Cyprus after throwing us in peril, further enforcing the domination of greek-hellenistic civilization up until the time of Christ, nearly. The last Ptolemy, known as The Cypriot, lost his Kingdom to the Romans by being condescending towards a certain prisoner of pirates under the name of Claudius, who asked for help to become free again on the grounds that the said pirates originated from Cyprus, and was refused. Claudius rose to become Mayor of Rome, then Caesar, and then immediately annexed Cyprus for the next 300 years, his empire ruling us-from their headquarters located at the lush province of Paphos, its harbor facing Rome. Across the sea, at the land of Judea, the Pax Romana was disturbed by the works of a certain Jesus, hailing from Nazarene, a non aligned and intransigent jewish settlement. The Roman Governor, Pilatus, allowed the murder of Jesus, hoping to placate the Jews. Christianity took off though, and the Romans were forced to accept in principle the right of each person to believe in whichever religion they wanted to. This did not go down well with the Jews of the time, who saw urgency to the matter after seeing various from their ranks breaking away. A confrontation ensued at 66AD which escalated to a rebellion that left Jerusalem free of Romans. The Romans returned, and after a surprising defeat of a whole legion, Jerusalem fell after a siege and it was decided that the Jewish temple of Solomon would be destroyed, and that the jewish people would be spread all over the Roman Empire. The nearby Cyprus coastline north of the Pedieos and Gialias estuary, the land of the once mighty Salamina, a city in part vacant due to upheavals, became a convenient destination for a substantial numbers of Jews exported busily from just across the sea. Christianity was also brought to the island from amidst these ranks. As it happened, a converted to Christianity Jew from Salamina under the name of Barnabas (Apostle Barnabas) and his fellow traveler Paul at 45AD converted the roman Governor Sergius Pavlos into Christianity, with Cyprus thus becoming the first country in the world to be ruled by a Christian. The Salamina jews gradually outnumbered the christian leaning locals in the area and tried to exterminate them. Records point to an incredible 250,000 dead. Whatever the precise figures, this event led to a systematic extermination attempt of the Jews by the Romans which left only a few remaining. They ultimately settled chiefly in Paralimni and elsewhere after being expelled from Famagusta by the Turks in 1571. Paralimni people today have names like Isaak, Solomon, Avramis. Semitic people also created amongst others villages such as Kyperounda at a very commercial but very high in altitude location. This three-way junction called Triodos gave its name to our tallest mountain, Troodos. So Christianity by being peaceful flourished on the island unfettered and has formed the christian element of the island of Cyprus. The decline on the Roman Empire, buckling under its own weight and attached on various fronts, split the venerable powerhouse into two. Christianity rose further on this island along with the conversion to christianity of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great. The two strong and separate poles of power, inevitably split christianity in two. The Schism left Cyprus on the Orthodox side, and Cyprus settled into the role of a byzantine trading outpost, as part of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, for hundreds of years. Cyprus appears to be of no great significance to the byzantines, who were very keen to spread orthodox christianity and to use the islands resources and trade, but who also did less for the organization and defence of the island. This lack of control brought a long period of Arab invasions, with notable persons such as the hero of 1001 nights, Haroun al Rashid, and others, raiding Cyprus. These raids were finally brought to an end by a series of decisive victories by Nikiforos Fokas and his trusted General Halkousis (whose descendants live in Cyprus today), and the island entered into a relatively peaceful period. At the waning years of byzantine dominion over this eastern mediterranean asset, a gent serving a prison sentence somewhere in Asia Minor and probably for good reasons, was bound to be the last Byzantine ruler. Isaac Comnenus, with forged documents portraying him as the new ruler of Cyprus, assumes control before the forgery was revealed, and proceeds to run the country as a tyrant for a number of years. Richard the Lionheart, on his way to the Third Crusade, captures Cyprus by defeating an Isaac cornered at Cape Apostolos Andreas and sending him fettered with golden chains (Isaak asked not to be bound in irons) to die a prisoner at Syria. Cyprus was sold twice by Richard for 100,000 byzantine dinars, first to the Knight Templars, a cruel small lot who eked a mere two years on the island, and then to the Lusignan Family. The latter were French (frank) crusaders from Poitu whose clan leader, Guy De Lusignan had married into the royal family governing Jerusalem, who on arrival to Cyprus founded the long standing dynasty of the Lusignan Kingdom, which brought with it the Roman Catholic/Latin presence to the island, admittedly hostile towards the already shaped Orthodox nation. Over a period of 200 years Cyprus became rich. The Cathedral of St Nicholas in Famagusta is in a par with Reims Cathedral in France. In these feudal times, villages like Lazania were built by the same named Lusignans, Fikardou was set up as a feudal outpost by a frank of the same name, Gouri was the domain of a gent name Johakim Khourri, a royalist originating from Syria. Cypriots of the past would ask-which village are you from? The gene pools were so different, as fighters for the crusades and influential people were given land in lieu. The Maronites, Cyprus, now a well organized feudal kingdom, accepted the refugees arriving from the destruction of the Kingdom of Little Armenia (across Kormakiti) at about 1136, and then also accepted a large mixed wave of fleeing Europeans and Arabs-none others that the last defenders of Acre, in 1291, hard core fighters and merchants to the end, which added their numbers to those already in Famagusta (Fame of Augustus, named after the Battle of Aktion), thus generating a period of prosperity for the island for 200 years. Famagusta became wealthy as the definitive trading hub between east and west, generating untold wealth, and then slipping badly when the Genovese and Venetian factions that has prospered on the island during Frankish rule became too powerful and destabilized the island. Famagusta ended up in Genovese hands, for 100 years, and cut off from the Lusignan kingdom its role as the East to West link was lost. In brief, waves of settlers upon settlers were piled upon Cyprus, each claiming Cyprus as its own. The story continues, it is a lovely one for those that care, and I am available to learn and talk about what I know. Some of my personal conclusions, which I wish to share: 1. Cyprus is an extremely interesting country, with a beautiful and rich history we should all be proud of, with many historical lessons as to what works and what does not work, and as to why we are the way we are. 2. The Greeks were not the first to come and not the last. They claimed the island as theirs, but evidently people were living here for thousands of years ago, who. So what rules? Might is right? No. Like this, anybody can take the place over, and claim it. Civilization? Yes. But civilizations are inclusive though, not exclusive, as they attract others and convince on merit. Civilizations are worthy ideals put in practice, and facilitate interests and beliefs in a workable system. Empires create second class citizens, are the prerogative of the mighty, and are usually untangled because of power being centralized in one location versus in the mind of each person and thus being more vulnerable. 3. Break up or come together? Our history is so complex, that attempting to keep a pure population in one teritorry will leave Cyprus cantonized into 1000 pieces. Should the Paralimni people secede, being Jewish in descent? Amongst them there are Franks and Italians-Giovanni, Falconis. Should Paralimni be split in two? How many town halls and how many chiefs do we need here, and for what reason really? Fieros, a name hailing from Kyrenia is latin. Fiero means wild animal, feral. Did these people hail from Venice or Genova? Is that their real homeland? Kassinis-that is Genovese. Kinanis-or Kanaanis, are Phoenicians, Jews. The italians names such as Pezza (Petsas), the Phoenicians brought the Canaani name (Kinanis), the italians brought Mazzi (Matsis), Tomasi (Toumazis) Pazzio (Patsios) and many others. 4. Working things out respectfully and cleverly works better. See the results of Onisilos versus those of Evagoras. Cyprus will always be in this geographical position, we will always have dilemmas. Greece and Turkey trade actively. Tourism, business, banking, and both benefit and create ties that make future conflagrations less likely as many have something to lose. Was Evagoras a traitor? No. He was hailed as one of the greatest leaders of Cyprus of all time. 5. Cypriot history is our history. It is a manual of what can work out best, what not, and so much more. It can help us understand why we are how we are today, and take the stress out from relationships that face these ancient facts-that are nothing more than facts to be considered. We should all be proud of what we are, and of how we came to be. Teaching Cyprus history is the best way to bring an understanding between the various communities of the island, which at the end are normal people and family men, with their human concerns, fears and dreams. 6. We are a trading hub, and as such we do much better. 7. Portraying the History of Cyprus as it is will allow each to reach healthy conclusions. Steering the minds of young children with partial analysis is frightening, and reminds one of dark days where only one view was correct, only one channel to watch, one paper to read, one leader to follow, one union to represent all, totalitarian attitudes.. ..the history of man is awash with such failed attempts, but with a lot of suffering in the meantime. I am happy like many to see our leadership move towards doing today what others in positions of influence and leadership have always left for tomorrow, never doing it and leaving behind at the end a morally and financially bankrupt and divided country. This text makes no pretense in being scientific or complete, but it serves to illustrate some key points that may not have been considered before in this manner. We have to decide primarily if we wish to live a period of growth and cooperation. The beautiful and unique mix of todays Cypriot should make us proud to share in our genes the beginning of the human races adventure on our planet. Not Forgetting and Claiming, Targets two and Three, of the recent Ministry of Education Directive follow naturally after Awareness. Note: this document has arisen out of personal interest and does not constitute a professional research paper. If the reader is better aware of certain facts I am happy to learn about it. Sources: Historic Cyprus 1936-Rupert Gunnis Wikipedia Excerpta Cypria Las Matrie Albany Robert Savil Samuel White Baker Magda Onefalch Richter Chronicle-Leontios Macheras Florios Voustronios Neolithic Cyprus-Chrysostomos Sofianos Byzantine and Medieval Cyprus 1997-Demetra Papanicola-Bakirtzi.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Dec 2013 07:02:51 +0000
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