Ancient history of Cyprus

The ancient history of Cyprus shows a precocious sophistication in the Neolithic era visible in settlements such as Khirokitia dating from the 9th millennium BC, and at Kalavassos from about 7500 BC. The documented history of Cyprus begins in the 8th century BC. The town of Kition, now Larnaca, recorded part of the ancient history of Cyprus on a stele that commemorated a victory by Sargon II (722–705 BC) of Assyria there in 709 BC. Assyrian domination of Cyprus (known as Iatnanna by the Assyrians) appears to have begun earlier than this, during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (744–727 BC), and ended with the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC, whereupon the city-kingdoms of Cyprus gained independence once more. Following a brief period of Egyptian domination in the sixth century BC, Cyprus fell under Persian rule, until the late-fourth century BC saw the overthrow of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great.

Alexander's conquests accelerated the ongoing Hellenisation of Cyprus. His premature death in 323 BC led to a period of turmoil as Ptolemy I Soter and Demetrius I of Macedon fought together for supremacy in the region, but by 294 BC, the Ptolemaic Kingdom had regained control and Cyprus remained under Ptolemaic rule until 58 BC, when it came under Roman rule. During the Hellenistic period, earlier Phoenician and Eteocypriot traits weakened together with the old Cypriot syllabic script, and Cyprus became thoroughly Hellenised. In the early history of Christianity, Cyprus was the first province of the Roman Empire to be ruled by a Christian governor in the first century AD, providing a backdrop for events in the New Testament.