CYPRUS

Doubtless the copper was first exported by Phoenicians, who early founded Kition and other towns in Cyprus, and introduced the worship of the Syrian Aphrodite who became known to the Greeks as the 'Cyprian goddess.* But the Greeks themselves were not long behind the Phoenicians in the island, — the settlers were doubtless Peloponnesians dis-turbed by the Dorian invasions, and they used what the Greeks called the Arcadian dialect. They brought with them the ^gsean civilization, as relics found in the island prove conclusively. Paphos, Soli, Salamis^ were Greek settlements, the last being named from the island oS the coast of Attica. But the Greeks soon combined with the Phoenicians. They adopted what was probably in origin a Hittite alphabet, in which every syllable is represented by a separate si^. and this lasted till the 4th century.

Cyprus did not develop as an independent power. Before B.C. 1450 it was made tributary to Egypt. About B.C. 1000 it was subject to Tyre, and with Phoenicia it passed into the hands of Sargon, the Assyrian, about B.C. 700. Sargon left an inscription at Kition, and later Assyrian kings record tribute received from Cyprus. About B.C. 560 Amasis of Egypt reduced the island, and it passed with Egypt_ to Camoyses of Persia in B.C. 626. It took part in the Ionian revolt of B.C. 501, but was quickly reduced, and supplied Xerxes withafleet inn. c.480.Athensmaderepeatedattempts to secure the island, but the mixed population prevented any strong Hellenic movement, and it only passea definitely into Greek hands by submission to Alexander the Great after the battle of Issus in b.c. 333. On the division of his empire it fell to the Ptolemys of Egypt, until it was annexed by Rome in B.C. 57. It was made a separate province after the battle of Actium in B.C. 31, becoming at first an ' imperial' province, but being afterwards transferred to ' senatorial ' government, BO that in Ac 13^ St. Luke rightly describes the governor as a proconsul.

Jews first settled in Cyprus under the Ptolemys, and their numbers there were considerable before the time of the Apostles. Barnabas is described as a Cypriot Jew, and when he and St. Paul started from Antioch on the First Missionary Journey, they first of all passed through Cyprus (Ac 13'*-i2). They landed at Salamis, then a Greek port flourishing with Syrian trade, now deserted — with its harbour silted up — three miles from Famagusta. Here they preached in the synagogue, where their message was probably not entirely new (Ac 11^3), and then journeyed through 'the whole island' (RV) to New Paphos in the W. — a three or four days' journey, even if they preached nowhere on the way. New Paphos, like Old Paphos, was the seat of the worship of Aphrodite (see Paphos), and was at this time the Roman capital. (For the incidents connected with the proconsul and the magus, see artt. Sergius Paulus and Bar- JESUS.)

Besides Barnabas we have mention of Mnason, an 'original convert,' as coming from Cyprus (Ac 21^^), but we have no knowledge of how the Church grew in the island until it included 15 bishoprics. The Jews of Cyprus took part in the great rising of their race which took place in a.d. 117 (when Trajan was busy with Parthia), and they are said to have massacred 240,000 of the Gentile population. The revolt was suppressed without mercy, and all Jews were expelled from the island.

Under the Byzantine emperors Cyprus sufferedmuch from their misrule, and from the Saracens. Seized in 1191 by Richard C^oeur de Lion, it was sold to the Knights Templars. From 1479 to 1570 it was held by the Venetians. After three centuries of Turkish rule it passed under British rule in 1878, by a convention which stiU requires it to pay tribute to the Sultan. But it has scarcely recovered prosperity. Various causes have lessened the rainfall, it is troubled with malaria, its mineral resources were long ago worked out and its forests destroyed. There are no good roads, and com-

CYRUS

munication is kept up by bullock-carts and mules, lis best ports (Lamaka and Limasol) are open roadsteads.

A. E. HiLLABD.

CYRENE.— Capital of Libya (Tripoli) in N. Africa (Ac 21"), the home of numerous Jews who with the 'Libertines' (freedmen from Rome?) and Alexandrians had a synagogue of their own at Jerusalem (Ac 6'). Many of these became Christians, as Simon and his sons (doubtless), Mk IS"; Lucius, Ac 13'; and those in Ac IP" who preached to the 'Greeks' (.v.l. 'Hellenists').

A. J. Maclean.

CYRENIUS.— See Quihinics.

CYRUS. — Referred to as 'king of the Persians,' 2 Ch 36», Ezr l', Dn 10', and often; 'the Persian,' Dn 6^8; 'king of Babylon,' Ezr 5". He is regarded in Is 40-48 as specially destined by Jahweh to redeem Israel and execute Divine judgment upon Babylon, to set free the captives and restore Jerusalem and its Temple. He had not known Jahweh before his call, but carried out his mission in Jahweh's name, and is styled 'the friend of Jahweh' and 'Jahweh's anointed.' The Cyrus of whom these high expectations were formed was the founder of the Persian Empire. His grand-father was also called Cyrus (Kurush, Bab. Kurash, Heb. Koresh). He was an Aryan and descended from Achseraenes (Hakhamanish). At first he was king of Persia and Anshan or Anzan, an Elamite province, capital at Susa (Shushan), and vassal of Media. The contemporary cuneiform inscriptions are — ( 1 ) a cylinder inscription of Nabonidus, last king of Babylonia, from Sippara ; (2) an annalistic tablet of Cyrus written shortly after his conquest of Babylonia; (3) a proclamation of Cyrus of the same date. Nabonidus' account was written soon after Cyrus, 'a petty vassal' of Astyagea (Istuvegu), king of the^Manda, with his small army had conquered Astyages (B.C. 549). This led to the with-drawal of the Manda from Harran, and left Nabonidus free to restore the temple of Sin there. Cyrus soon made himself master of the whole Median empire, but was faced by an alliance of Croesus, king of Lydia, Nabonidus of Babylon, and Amasis of Egypt. On the fall of Croesus, Cyrus turned to Babylonia, where Nabonidus had long estranged the inhabitants of the capital by his neglect of the sacred feasts and worship of Marduk. Belshazzar, his son, defended the land, but was defeated at Opis, and on 14th Tammuz, Sippara fell 'without lighting.' On the 16th, Gobryas (Gubaru, Ugbaru) entered Babylon without resistance, and Cyrus followed on the 3rd of Marcheshvan, b.c. 539-8, and was received, according to his own account, by all classes, especially by priests and nobles, as a liberator. He claims to have restored to their homes the exiles from Babylonia and their gods, and prays that these gods may daily intercede for him with Marduk and Nabu, whose worshipper he professes to be. Cyrus reigned about nine years from this time, and in the last year handed over the sovereignty of Babylon to his son Cambyses.

The career of Cyrus so impressed the popular imagi-nation, that the classical writers adorn his story with a variety of legendary incidents for which no con-firmation can be produced. The policy which Cyrus pursued towards the Jews is variously estimated, but all accounts agree in stating that the restoration of the Temple was started by him, and in claiming him as a worshipper of Jahweh. C. H. W. Johns.

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