The Home of the Cyprian Bee. 



In answer to many questions about the 

 Island of Cyprus, we subjoin a condensed 

 description of it, together with the outline 

 of its history. As tlie Cyprians are now 

 supposed by many to be " tlie Coming Bee," 

 the following will be interesting to them: 



Cyprus is the third largest island in the 

 Mediterranean sea, and considerably ex- 

 ceeds in area both Corsica and Crete. It 

 lies in the north-eastern basin of the Medi- 

 terranean, and is about equally distant from 

 the Syrian and Asia Minor coasts. Its 

 greatest length is 145 miles and greatest 

 width 60. The width suddenly narrows in 

 longitude 3-1:°, from whence extends north- 

 easterly a long narrow tongue of land for 

 over 45 miles. A large part of the island is 

 occupied by two mountain ranges, extend- 

 ing in a general direction from east to west. 

 Between the two ranges is a broad plain, 

 known as the Messaria, watered by two 

 streams, but open and uncultivated. Corn 

 is grown in some portions of the plain, and 

 it is believed that the whole of it might be 

 cultivated. 



The renown of Cyprus extends through 

 all ancient and modern history, the earliest 

 things known of it dating from the Phojni- 

 cians, who inhabited the neighboring main- 

 land and colonized the island. In historical 

 times Greek colonies were found existing 

 side by side with the Phoenicians, but 

 whether they were there before or after 

 them is unknown. Popular legend ascribe 

 the Greek colonies to the heroic period of 

 history, the town of Salamis having been, it 

 was said, founded by Teucer, the brother of 

 Ajax. The Phoenicians introduced the wor- 

 ship of the goddess Ashtaroth, known to 

 the Greeks as Astarte, and identified by 

 them with their own Aphrodite, or the Ro- 

 man Venus. It is ])robaole that the Greeks 

 gradually obtained political supremacy, 

 though their companions exercised an im- 

 portant influence on the manners, arts, and 

 religious rites of the inhabitants. The first 

 recorded fact in the history of this island is 

 in Herodotus, who relates that it was con- 

 quered in the sixth century B. C. by King 

 Amasis, of Egypt. During the invasion of 

 Egypt by Cambyses (525 B. C.) it revolted 

 and declared in favor of the Persians, be- 

 coming thereafter a tributary province of 

 that empire. In the wars of Xerxes with 

 Greece it furnished no less than 150 ships to 

 the Persian fleet and was frequently the 

 scene of hostilities. Its cities enjoyed a 

 local self-government, being ruled over by 

 petty kings, of whom there were nine on 

 the island. 



After the death of Alexander the Great 

 the possession of Cyprus was sought for by 

 several of his successors, and it finally 

 passed into the hands of Ptolemy, king of 

 Egypt. In 306 B. C. Demetrius, son of Anti- 

 gonus, made an effort to recover it. He had 

 reduced the whole of it, when Ptolemy ar- 

 rived with a fleet and laid siege to the capi- 

 tal city of Salamis. This led to one of the 

 most memorable naval fights in ancient his- 



tory, Ptolemy being utterly defeated. This 

 battle the reader will not, of course, con- 

 found with that great fight of Themistocles' 

 at the island of Salamis, on the coast of 

 Greece, near Athens, which took place 

 nearly two hundred years earlier. Until it 

 fell into the possession of the Romans, in 58 

 B. C, Cyprus had varied fortunes; but for 

 the most part of that time it remained in 

 the possession of the Greek rulers of Egypt. 

 Christianity was introduced by St. Paul, 

 and flourished until thirteen bishoprics had 

 been established on the island. In 117 A. D. 

 the Jews had settled there in large numbers 

 and rose in revolt against the Roman rule, 

 destroying, it is said, 240,000 of the inhabi- 

 tants. With the division of the Roman em- 

 pire, Cyprus passed into the possessron of 

 the eastern emperors, whose subject it was 

 for more than seven centuries. During that 

 period it was twice conquered by the Arabs, 

 once under the reign of Ilaroun al Raschid, 

 but it was recovered again each time by the 

 Byzantine emperors. 



In 1184 a nephew of the reigning sovereign 

 at Constantinople obtained it as an inde- 

 pendent territory, but eleven years after- 

 ward it was taken from him by Richard the 

 Lionhearted, who gave it to Guy de Lusig- 

 nan, the titular king of Jerusalem, to com- 

 pensate him in a measure for the less of the 

 holy city. This dynasty governed Cyprus 

 for nearly three centuries, and introduced 

 the feudal system and other institutions of 

 the west. Near the close of this period the 

 Genoese became masters along the seaport 

 towns, retaining it for a considerable period, 

 but they were finally driven out, and the 

 whole territory was luiited again under King 

 James II. The king contracted a marriage 

 with the famous Venetian lady, Catherine 

 Cornaro, in order to secure the support of 

 the republic of Venice, then in the plenti- 

 tude of its power. But in a few years the 

 king died, leaving Catherine as regent. 

 Harrassed with jealousies, and feeling un- 

 able alone to contend with the growing 

 power of the Turks, she abdicated in favor 

 of Venice, and the island passed at once into 

 the full possession of the rei)ublic. This 

 was in 1487. 



The Venetians thereafter maintained 

 supremacy eighty years, in spite of the 

 neighboring and warlike Turks. The story 

 of " Othello, the Moor," dates from this 

 period. In 1570 an army of 68,000 Turks 

 landed on the island, but it was not until 

 after a year's seige that the last town was 

 captured. Of the inhabitants of the capital, 

 20,000 were massacred, and the governor, 

 Bragadino, was tortured to death. Since 

 that date the Island has continued in the 

 possession of the Turks, paying heavy 

 tribute to the sultan, and making a history 

 of which little can be said. Two insurrec- 

 tions have broken out, but both were sup- 

 pressed, one of them being followed by a 

 general massacre of the participants. During 

 the Turkish rule the prosperity of Cyprus 

 steadily declined. Of late years an increas- 

 ing commerce between western Europe and 

 the Levant has revived her trade in a meas- 

 ure, but it is a long distance yet from being 

 what it is believed Cyprus might become— 

 one of the richest islands in the Mediter- 

 ranean, 



