INTERNATIONAL LAW AND DIPLOMACY ON THE CYPRUS QUESTION

5 CHAPTER I DIPLOMATIC CONTEXT TO THE CYPRUS QUESTION 1. The period up to 1960 1.1. Brief Historical background The History of Cyprus begins with the Neolithic times going back to the 6 th millennium. 1 With the discovery of copper in Cyprus early in the thirdmillenniumB.C. the history of Cyprus enters into a new period, the Bronze period 2500-1500 B.C. 2 The most important event during that period was the arrival of Achaean-Mycenaeans around the middle of the second millennium and the Mycenaean culture, previously flourishing in the island of Crete was now introduced into Cyprus. The extent of the Mycenaean influence has been shown by the archaeological findings- tombs, vases and other remains, as well as excavations of Mycenaean cities in the Eastern coast of Cyprus, in the province of Famagusta. 3 Before the end of the secondmillenniummore Greek colonists arrived to live in Cyprus while others on the east and west of Asia Minor. According to history, cities of Cyprus were founded by heroes of the Trojan war such as Salamis by Teucer, brother of Ajax, Paphos by Agapenor fromArcadia, Idalium by Chalcanor, Lapithos by Praxandros of Laconia and others. 4 The Greek colonization was very extensive and this is supported by Herodotus, who says that the inhabitants of Cyprus had come from Athens, Argos, Arcadia, Salamis. 5 The Greek colonists brought with them the Greek culture and way of living, including their political ideas and manner of administration. 1. See Karageorghis: Cyprus , Geneva 1968, pp. 34-35; Spyridakis, A brief History of Cyprus (Nicosia, 1974). In fact it goes back to the Hellenic pre-cataclysm (Deucalion’s cataclysm) era, i.e. earlier than 10.000 B.C. This propo- sition would require, however, a separate archaeological treatise, far beyond the scope of the current chapter. 2. Contra Denktash. In his Prologue to The Cyprus Triangle , he places the year 1571 A.D., date at which Cyprus came under the Ottoman rule, as the starting point of the island’s early history. For the legal implications of this assertion, see Chapter 5 below. 3. Stanley Casson, Ancient Cyprus , London , 1937; Spyridakis , A Brief History of Cyprus, supra , pp. 6-8; Karageorghis, Cyprus, supra , pp. 62-63. On the question whether Alasia refers to the whole of Cyprus or a particular city and regarding the dispute about Alasia , ibid. p. 64. See also Hill, A History of Cyprus vol. I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940, pp. 39-49. 4. Homer speaks of Cinyras, the King of Paphos, who gave Agamemnon, the Commander-in-Chief of the Greek forces against Troy, a decorated suit of armour and king Cinyras is praised by the Greek poet Tyrtaeus (7 th century B.C.) and Pindar (5 th century B.C.). 5. Besides the Greeks, Phoenicians from Syria also came to Cyprus not earlier than 1000 B.C. and settled in the coast, particularly in Kition. But, as Professor Gjerstad, of the Swedish archaeological Expedition, points out, there exists a fundamental difference between the Greek and the Phoenician settlements in that the former were the result of mass migration and aimed at political occupation and cultural penetration whilst the latter were of a strictly commercial character.