History

ACTION CYPRUS

AN HEC PROJECT

Cyprus Chronology

 

From the Stone Age to Christianity

Neolithic Cyprus

c.8000 BC The first settlements are built in Cyprus.

 

c.7500 BC The first known domesticated cat in the world is buried at the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos in Cyprus 4000 years before similar burials are known in Egypt.

 

c.2000 BC The world’s oldest perfumery is situated at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site 55 miles southwest of Cyprus's capital Nicosia.

 

Cypro-Cretan period

c.1700 BC Aphrodite Ourania comes to Cyprus attended by Eros.

 

c.1675 BC Aphrodite Zeia Kypris is born to Zeus and Dione.

 

c.1650 BC Aerias founds a shrine to Aphrodite at Paphos.

 

c.1600 BC Amathus the son of Aerias founds a shrine to Aphrodite at Amathus.

 

c.1560 BC Kethimus (Kinyras or Kypros) rules over Cyprus according to the Bible.

 

c.1500 Pygmalion Belis comes to the city of Amathus in Cyprus, marries Galatea and begets Paphos.

 

c.1460 BC Paphos Pygmaliotis is known in Cyprus.

 

c.1420 BC Adonis Phoenikides is known.

 

c.1405 BC Kinyras Paphitis founds the city of Paphos but is seduced by his own daughter Smyrna, and begets a son Adonis.

 

Arcado-Cypriot period

c.1385 BC Laodice, daughter of Kinyras marries Elatus Arcades of Arcadia and gives birth to five sons, Aepytus, Pereus, Cyllen, Ischys, and Stymphalus.

 

c.1355 BC Pygmalion (father unknown) rules at Paphos.

 

Sandocus Astynoudes, marries Pharnace, daughter of Megassares, king of Hyria in Celixia and begets Kinyras.

 

An unnamed Cypriot king writes to the Pharaoh of Egypt who he calls his brother.

 

c. 1310 BC Kinyras Sandocou having married Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, becomes king of Cyprus and begets Oxyporus and Adonis, and besides them daughters, Orsedice, Laogore, and Braesia.

 

c.1220 BC Kinyras (father unknown) rules at Paphos.

 

1201 BC Kinyras sends Agamemnon Atrides 50 ships, 49 of them made of clay.

 

1183 BC Agapenor Ancaeou the king of Arcadia rebuilds Paphos and builds a sanctuary to Aphrodite at Palaepaphos.

 

c.1180 Teucer Telemonides marries a daughter of Kinyras, begets a daughter Asteria and founds Salamis.

 

c.1160-unknown time BC Laodice, a descendant of Agapenor sends a robe as a gift for Athena Alea in Tegea.

 

1150 BC Demophon Thesides the king of Athens dies in Cyprus.

 

Greek Archaic period

c.1000-600 BC Euclus foretells of the birth of Homer to Themisto a native of Salamis.

 

 

724 BC The Tyrian king Eleuleus’ attempt to invade Cyprus results in the Assyrians laying siege to Tyre after being called to assist the Cypriots.

 

c.680 BC Ten Cypriot kings including Pylagoras king of Chytroi, Eteander king of Paphos and Damasus king of Kurion assist Esarhaddon the king of Assyria in his campaign against Egypt.

 

 

c.570 BC Amasis compels Cyprus to pay tribute to Egypt after becoming the first man to take it by force.

 

c.568-522 BC Evelthon is king of Salamis.

 

c.522-511 BC Siromas rules at Salamis.

 

c.511-500 BC Chersis Evelthonides rules at Salamis.

 

c.500-493 BC Gorgus Chersides rules at Salamis.

 

493-492 BC Onsilus the younger brother of Gorgus rules at Salamis and together with other Cypriot kingdoms revolts against the Persians.

 

492 BC Gorgus restored at Salamis.

 

Greek Classical Period

480-465 BC Philaon rules at Salamis.

 

465-450 Nicodemus rules at Salamis.

 

c.450 Lacharidas rules at Salamis.

 

c.450 Evergetis rules at Salamis.

 

c.445 A Phoenician tyrant usurps the throne of Salamis.

 

c.420-411 BC Abdemon the king of Tyre occupies Salamis.

 

411-374 Evagoras Teukrides takes back Salamis and then conquers Tyre and other parts of Phoenicia and then all of Cyprus.

 

374-368 BC Nicocles

 

368-351 Evagoras II

 

351-332 Pnythagoras fights at sea as an ally of Alexander in the siege of Tyre.

 

Hellenistic Period

331-310 Nicocreon

 

310-306 Menelaos is made satrap of Cyprus.

 

306-301 Antigonus

 

301-30 BC Ptolemaic Lagid Dynasty

 

116 BC Ptolemy Philometor sent to Cyprus by his mother Cleopatra

 

109 BC Alexander the brother of Ptolemy sent to Cyprus by his mother Cleopatra

 

107 BC Alexander returns from Cyprus and is made king of Egypt. Ptolemy campaigns in Palestine.

 

58 BC Cyprus becomes a Roman province.

 

51 BC Cyprus placed under the rule of Cleopatra by Julius Caesar.

 

Roman Period

30 BC Cyprus reverts to Roman rule.

 

45 AD St Paul, St Barnabas and St Mark introduce Christianity to Cyprus and convert the Roman governor Sergius Paulus

 

115-116 AD A messianic Jewish revolt results in the massacre of 250,000 Cypriots. Trajan intervenes to restore the peace and expels the Jews from Cyprus.

 

c.300 AD St Helen the mother of Constantine arrives in Cyprus with the cross of Christ which disappears and miraculously re-appears at the top of Mt Olympus in the Troodos range. Afterwards she brings cats to Cyprus to bring the snakes under control and Greek settlers from Epirus to boost the population.

 

c.350 AD Salamis is rebuilt by Constantius II the son of Constantine after being destroyed by earthquakes and is renamed Constantia.

 

Greek Byzantine Empire

395 AD Cyprus becomes part of the Greek dominated Byzantine Empire.

 

649 The Arabs invade and pillage Cyprus sacking the city of Salamis.

 

654 The Arabs invade Cyprus again and occupy it with a garrison of 20,000 men.

 

683 The Arab garrison is withdrawn after the Arabs are defeated by Constantine IV.

 

688 Cyprus is declared neutral.

 

965 Cyprus is restored to Byzantine rule by Nicepheros Phokas.

 

Franco-Venitian Papacy

1191 Richard the Lionheart sacks Famagousta and sells Cyprus to the Knights Templar.

 

1192 The Cypriot people rebel against the Nights Templar who sell Cyprus to Guy de Lusignan the exiled king of Jerusalem.

 

1194 Amaury the brother of Guy introduces a feudal system to Cyprus.

 

c.1300-1489 The Orthodox Greeks of Cyprus are given religious freedom and rise up the social ladder.

 

1489 The Vanetians take control of Cyprus and the Greek Orthodox Church is given full religious freedom.

 

1570 The Ottomans invade Cyprus and massacre 20,000 inhabitents of Nicosia. The rest of Cyprus soon falls except for Famagousta which is held uder siege.

 

Ottoman oppression

1571 The Ottomans massacre the population of Famagousta and flay the Venitian captain Marcantonio Bragadin alive after breaking their word of honour. The Cypriot Christian population is subjected to slavery. Since Christians are forbidden from even stepping onto the socio-political ladder Cypriot society becomes a virtua l theocracy.

 

1572-1668 Twenty eight bloody uprisings occur across the island.

 

1821 The Ottoman governor Kuchuk Mehmed executes 486 Christians who he accuses of supporting the Greek War of independence. 20,000 Greek Christians flee the island in order to save their lives.

 

British colonial rule

1878 The Ottomans sell control and possession of Cyprus to Great Britain in return for military assistance against Russia.

 

1914 Cyprus is annexed to the British Empire when the Turks side with Germany at the start of the Great War.

 

1915 Britain promises give Cyprus to Greece in return for joining the war but reneges on its word.

 

1923 Turkey renounces all claims to Cyprus in the Treaty of Lausanne and the Turks are advised to leave the island.

 

1925 Britain declares Cyprus a Crown Colony and imposes an undemocratic constitution, which treats the majority Greeks as second-class citizens while favouring the Muslims.

 

1931-1940 The Greeks rebel and demand union with Greece. British repression increases in magnitude.

 

1940 Britain offers Cyprus to Greece in return for joining the Allies in WW2 and once again reneges on its word.

 

1955 The Cypriot resistance movement EOKA opposes British colonial rule.

 

The Republic of Cyprus

1960 Cyprus is given its independence under another undemocratic constitution based on a form of apartheid where the Greek Cypriots are once again treated as second-class citizens in the country in which they form the overwhelming majority.

 

1963-64 Turkish state-sponsored TMT terrorists attack police stations across Nicosia taking 200 people hostage. Turkey attempts to invade Cyprus bombing and napalming civilians and the terrorists together with Turkish commandos seize the Nicosia to Kyrenia main highway. A UN peacekeeping force is set up.

 

1967 The Turkish state-sponsored terrorists attack the UN peacekeeping force and seize the Larnaka to Limasol main highway to prepare for a Turkish invasion.

 

1974 Turkey invades and ethnically cleanses the northern third of Cyprus in the confusion caused by a failed CIA sponsored coup to assassinate the president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios.

 

1975 Turkey declares the occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus to be a Turkish federated state amid universal condemnation.

 

1976 A report by the European Commission of Human Rights documents the war crimes and human rights abuses perpetrated by Turkey during and after the invasion of Cyprus, which were unreciprocated by the other side.

 

1983 The UN declares the creation of a Turkish Cypriot state in the occupied areas to be legally invalid.

 

1996 Two Greek Cypriot refugees are murdered in cold blood in the UN buffer zone in Cyprus by Turkish state sponsored MHP Grey Wolves terrorists who are brought into Cyprus by the Turkish foreign Minster Tansu Ciller. Soon after another refugee is murdered by the occupation regime while collecting snails.

 

2004 The Cypriot people resoundingly reject a plan by the fraudulent and corrupt UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to partition Cyprus and create an apartheid state as demanded by Turkey.

A grieving mother holding photos of her missing son.
1600+ men, women and children still missing

Greek Cypriots taken prisoner and transported to Turkey.
up to 70,000 held hostage in concentration camps

A Greek Cypriot napalmed by the Turkish air-force.
5000+ massacred

Greek Cypriots subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment.
thousands raped and tortured
200,000 ethnically cleansed

Christian gave stones smashed by the Turks.
500+ churches desecrated or destroyed

The murder of Tasos Isaac.
murders of refugees continue to this day

The murder of Solomos Solomou.

© 2001/2005 HEC and Argyros Argyrou. Updated on 15 March 2005.