History of Cyprus
The PPNB settlers built round houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime (e.g. Kastros, Shillourokambos) and cultivated einkorn and emmer.
In the 6th millennium BC, the aceramic Khirokitia culture was characterised by roundhouses, stone vessels and an economy based on sheep, goats and pigs.
Water wells discovered by archaeologists in western Cyprus are believed to be among the oldest in the world, dated at 9,000 to 10,500 years old, putting them in the Stone Age.
[9][10] The yet undeciphered Cypro-Minoan syllabic script was first used in early phases of the late Bronze Age (LCIB) and continued in use for ca.
A sanctuary with a horned altar constructed from ashlar masonry has been found at Myrtou-Pigadhes, other temples have been located at Enkomi, Kition and Kouklia (Palaepaphos).
Both the regular layout of the cities and the new masonry techniques find their closest parallels in Syria, especially in Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra).
Ugaritic texts from Ras Shamra and Enkomi mention Ya, the Assyrian name of Cyprus, that thus seems to have been in use already in the late Bronze Age.
Copper ingots shaped like oxhides have been recovered from shipwrecks such as at Uluburun, Iria and Cape Gelidonya, which attest to the widespread metal trade.
Weights in the shape of animals found in Enkomi and Kalavassos follow the Syro-Palestinian, Mesopotamian, Hittite and Aegean standards and thus attest to the wide-ranging trade as well.
[14] Another wave of Greek settlement is believed to have taken place in the following century (LCIIIB, 1100–1050), indicated, among other things, by a new type of graves (long dromoi) and Mycenaean influences in pottery decoration.
The second destruction took place around 1220 BC - archaeological sources indicate this - apparently by members of the Mycenaean Greek culture, who rebuilt the city in a chessboard fashion.
New architectural features include cyclopean walls, found on the Greek mainland, as well and a certain type of rectangular stepped capitals, endemic on Cyprus.
In the 11th century tomb 49 from Palaepaphos-Skales three bronze obeloi with inscriptions in Cypriot syllabic script have been found, one of which bears the name of Opheltas.
[18] The oldest cemetery of Salamis has produced children's burials in Canaanite jars, indication of Phoenician presence already in the LCIIIB 11th century.
The ten kingdoms listed by an inscription of Esarhaddon in 673/2 BC have been identified as Salamis, Kition, Amathus, Kourion, Paphos and Soli on the coast and Tamassos, Ledra, Idalium and Chytri in the interior.Cyprus gained independence for some time around 669 but was conquered by Egypt under Amasis (570–526/525).
The Arab Muslims invaded Cyprus in force in the 650s, but in 688, the Byzantine emperor Justinian II and the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān reached an unprecedented agreement.
[21] Richard the Lionheart landed in Limassol on 1 June 1191 in search of his sister and his bride Berengaria, whose ship had become separated from the fleet in a storm.
Amalric I of Cyprus (Aimery de Lusignan) received the royal crown and title from Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
A small minority Roman Catholic population of the island was mainly confined to some coastal cities, such as Famagusta, as well as inland Nicosia, the traditional capital.
In 1229 one of the Ibelin regents was forced out of power by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who brought the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines to the island.
The Mameluks then made the kingdom a tributary state in 1426; the remaining monarchs gradually lost almost all independence, until 1489 when the last Queen, Catherine Cornaro, was forced to sell the island to Venice.
This is the historical setting to Shakespeare's Othello, the play's title character being the commander of the Venetian garrison defending Cyprus against the Ottomans.
Cyprus was rich in salt, sugar, cotton, grains, and other import and export goods at that time, in addition it was also a transfer country for the Syria-Venice trade.
Under British rule, the island began to enjoy a period of increased freedom of speech, something which allowed further development of the Greek Cypriots' ideas of enosis (unification with Greece).
[28] Greek Cypriot representatives were repeatedly sent to England over the years to formally set the request to the colonial metropolis, but to no avail whatsoever.
Besides, the Greek Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, had negotiated the handing over of Cyprus to Greece, in the years leading to the First World War.
However, in 1925, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and with the removal of this obstacle, England proceeded not to cede Cyprus to Greece but to annex it by declaring the island a Crown Colony.
[29] The National Organization of Cyprus (EOK; not to be confused with EOKA), that was founded in 1930 by church circles and whose members were chosen by the Archbishop, played a role in strengthening the demand of enosis.
Cyprus thus entered a period of autocratic rule known as Palmerokratia ("Palmerocracy"), named after governor Richmond Palmer, which started shortly before the revolt and would last until the beginning of World War II.
However, their shout fell on deaf ears since the international community showed no desire to support their request[citation needed] Between 1955 and 1959 Greek Cypriots formed the EOKA organisation, led by George Grivas, and began the liberation struggle with ultimate goal being enosis.
