Dr Edmond Melhem – The Phoenicians in Cyprus Part 10
In his Ten Lectures, Sa’adeh emphasized the long-standing presence of the Phoenicians on the island of Cyprus. He wrote: “I should also emphasize that, in ancient times, the island came under Syrian control after the Canaanites (Phoenicians) settled in it and incorporated it into their homeland. Remnants of that settlement can still be found on the island today.”[1] In the same lecture, Sa’adeh reiterated his assertion that the Phoenicians controlled Cyprus, using it as a base to establish other colonies along the African coast. He stated: “As for the island of Cyprus, the Phoenicians occupied it long ago, and it became one of their most important centers. The Syrian Phoenician philosopher Zeno, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, was born in Cyprus.”[2]
Zeno, it should be noted, was born in Kition (or Citium) (c. 334 – c. 262 BCE) to a Phoenician family originally from Tyre. At 22, he went to Athens, where he spent his most prolific years studying and teaching. He founded the influential philosophical school of thought “the Stoic”, which advocates living in harmony with nature and achieving a blissful life through knowledge.
Returning to the Phoenicians, the mid-9th century BC marked their arrival at Kition, where they established their first colony. The Phoenicians came from Tyre, the leading city of the Phoenician homeland and the metropolis of a flourishing commercial empire that expanded as far as western Sicily, Sardinia, Carthage and Spain. Historical sources and archaeological documentation suggest that Phoenician colonization started before the tenth century. The spread of the Phoenicians in the West preceded the Greeks in the Mediterranean who are unanimously attested from the eighth century. It followed the invasion of the ‘peoples of the sea’ which resulted in the decline of the power of the Mycenaeans who controlled the Mediterranean routes until c. 1200.[3] Phoenician settlements in Cyprus, according to Professor Sabatino Moscati, “were probably in existence from the second millennium and certainly existed from the beginning of the first”.[4] The city of Kition was the first stage in the Phoenician’s steady westward expansion. They chose it as their first location for its proximity to their seashore. As Dr. V. Karageorghis wrote:
Those who sail from the Lebanese seaboard westwards encounter first the southeastern coast of the island, a fact which in recent years has been tellingly demonstrated following the tragic events in Lebanon [Referring to the Lebanese civil war). This was also the case in antiquity when the first Phoenicians set sail on their westward journey: they landed at Kition (modern Larnaka), as did the first Lebanese refugees of our own days.[5]
The Phoenicians were responsible for the re-birth of Kition after it had been abandoned for a century and a half. However, the initial stages of the Phoenician presence at Kition date back to the 10th century B.C. As mentioned in the annals of Tyre[6], King Hiram I had to suppress a rebellion of the inhabitants of Kition, at the start of his reign, because they had refused to pay tribute. If this data is correct, it can be assumed that Kition was already under Tyrian control at the beginning of the 10th century B.C., during the reign of Hiram’s father Abibaal.[7] The Phoenicians, an inscription on an eighth-century bronze bowl indicates, called Kition Qart Hadasht (“New Town”- the same name given later to Carthage). This inscription together with a collection of Phoenician artifacts and bronze bowls provide evidence of the presence of a small Cypriot state subject to King Hiram II of Tyre, who ruled during the third quarter of the 8th century B.C and paid tribute to the Assyrian King Tiglatpileser III. The bronze bowls were found in Mouti Sinoas near Limassol and were dedicated by the governor of Khartihadasht to Baal of Lebanon. The governor calls himself “servant of Hiram, King of the Sidonians.”[8]
At Kition-Bamboula, Dr. Karageorghis uncovered the remains of a large rectangular temple (35 x 22 meters) built by Phoenician masons upon the massive ashlar ruins of the Late Bronze Sanctuary 1, which had been abandoned 150 years earlier. This temple was dedicated to Astarte, the goddess of fertility, love, and death, “whose cult was instituted as the official cult of the Phoenicians by King Ethbaal [of Tyre], who reigned between 887 and 856 BC.”[9] and extended his rule to Idalion. By c. 800 B.C., the temple of Astarte was destroyed by fire, but it was restored immediately. It is believed that this temple was finally abandoned at the end of the fourth century, coinciding with the execution, at the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt, of Pumayyaton, the last king of Kition in 312 BC.[10] Ptolemy I annexed the territory, thereby ending the autonomous Phoenician dynasty.
Another famous temple of Astarte Paphia, indicating the Phoenician influence on the island, was uncovered at Palaepaphos. This temple “was used without interruption through to the end of the classical period”.[11] Moreover, the Phoenicians built an important sanctuary near the harbour of Kition for the god [hero] Heracles-Melqart. Limestone sculptures of this worshipped god were found at this sanctuary. A sanctuary of Aphrodite was found west of Salamis. Without referring to other Phoenician temples and sanctuaries uncovered on the island[12], it is sufficient to mention that “the construction of temples in Phoenician colonies was common: they served to stimulate the economy of the colony and also to provide refuge.”[13]
The Phoenicians established in Paphos sacred gardens where, on certain occasions, they carried out ritual sexual practices dedicated to their goddess. One such garden is found in a village near Palaepaphos, now called Yeroskipoui.[14] Terracotta figurines, fine pottery, and other products dating from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC, which may have had Phoenician prototypes, were found in a tomb at Amathus. It has been argued that this site was a Phoenician ‘resettlement’ from the 8th century BC.”[15]
The Phoenicians were responsible for a flourishing trade between Cyprus and the Levant. They imported carved ivory objects (ivory furniture), luxury goods of bronze, silver, ivory, faience, etc… As shown above, the Phoenicians contributed to religious activity in Cyprus during Archaic times. Many sanctuaries have been found, and thousands of votive offerings, including terracotta figurines and stylized bull figurines, have been recovered.
[1] Antun Sa´adeh, Al-Muhadarat al-‘Ashr (The Ten Lectures), Beirut: SSNP, 1976, p. 86.
[2] Ibid., p. 98.
[3] Moscati, Sabatino. The World of the Phoenicians (translated from the Italian by Alastair Hamilton), Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London, 1968, pp. 94 – 97.
[4] Ibid., p. 98.
[5] Vassos Karageorghis “Cyprus” in Moscati, Sabatino (ed.) The Phoenicians, I. B. Tauris Publishers, London, 1997, p. 185.
[6] These annals were quoted by Josephus in certain passages from Menander of Ephesus. These passages refer to two periods, the 10th to 8th centuries and the 6th century, and provide numerous facts about the histories of the cities- names of kings, and some detailed information about local events. See Moscati, Sabatino. The World of the Phoenicians, op. cit., p. 8.
[7] Vassos Karageorghis “Cyprus” in Moscati, Sabatino (ed.) The Phoenicians, op. cit., p. 186.
[8] Moscati, Sabatino. The World of the Phoenicians, op. cit., p. 104.
[9] Karageorghis, Vassos. Cyprus: from the Stone Age to the Romans, op. cit., p. 124.
[10] Pumayyaton succeeded Milkyaton in 361. He extended the rule of his dynasty to include Idalion and Tamassos, which was sold to him by the king of Amathus. See Moscati, Sabatino. The World of the Phoenicians op. cit., p. 105. See also Brown, A.C. & Catling, H. W. Ancient Cyprus, op. cit., p. 46.
[11] Vassos Karageorghis “Cyprus” in Moscati, Sabatino (ed.) The Phoenicians, op. cit., p. 189.
[12] Such as the sanctuary of Meniko, west of Nicosia in central Cyprus; not far from a copper-mining area near Tamassos. This sanctuary dates to the late 6th century B.C. and belonged to a community of farmers and shepherds. The divinity worshipped in this sanctuary is a well-known Phoenician god: Baal Hammon. See ibid., p. 193. See also Karageorghis, Vassos. Ancient Cyprus: 7000 Years of Art & Archaeology, op. cit., p. 130.
[13] Vassos Karageorghis “Cyprus” in Moscati, Sabatino (ed.) The Phoenicians, op. cit., p. 187.
[14] Ibid., pp. 191-192.
[15] Ibid., p. 190.
Cyprus belongs to Syria The Archaeology of Cyprus Part 9
Cyprus belongs to Syria The Archaeology of Cyprus Part 8
Cyprus belongs to Syria The Archaeology of Cyprus Part 7
Cyprus belongs to Syria The Archaeology of Cyprus Part 6
The Fascinating History of Cyprus Part 5
Cyprus belongs to Syria – Cyprus and the City of Atlantis Part IV
Cyprus belongs to Syria Part III – Its Geology
Cyprus belongs to Syria – Its Geography Part II
Cyprus belongs to Syria Part I
