A History of the Jewish Community in Cyprus

Jewish presence in Cyprus begins in the ancient times. There is evidence of Jewish settlers at Amathus. In the 2nd BCE there were a considerable number of Jewish people recorded on the island. They had a close relationship with the locals and the Roman rulers at that time, liked them.

When St Paul and Barnabas arrived on the island, to convert people to Christianity, they caused problems, by attempting to convert the Jewish to Christianity.

According to the history books of the time, the Jews supported the war against the Romans and sacked Salamis and annihilated the Greek population. Apparently, they massacred 240,000 Greek Cypriots. This led to the Jews being punished. Also in the history books of the time it is stated, that in the 4th century Cypriot Jews attacked Christian monasteries (610-641).

There were two Arab raids on the island and many Cypriots were enslaved and captured. 

During the Byzantine Period, Greek-speaking Jews settled in Cyprus.

During the Latin Era, in around 1110 CE, Jews were used for tax collecting. 

During Lusignan rule, King Peter I welcomed Egyptian Jewish traders to the island. The Genoese, during their terrible raids of the island, stole Jewish property in Famagusta and Nicosia. 

In the 16th Century, 2000 Jews were living in Famagusta. However, the Venetian authorities decided to expel all non-native Jews from the island. 

During the Ottoman Era, the Jewish community thrived. There was an influx of Sephardi Jews from Ottoman lands after expulsion from Spain in 1492. Famagusta was the main centre of the Ottoman Jewish community until 1878 when the British took over the island.

During British rule, there were attempts to settle Russian and Romanian Jewish refugees. In 1933, Jews escaping Nazi Germany came to the island. They were put into detention camps because they were apparently illegally trying to enter Palestine. 

In 1948, the British, confined 50,000 Jewish refugees in Cyprus.

Sources: Wikipedia

Christianity and the Byzantine Period in Cyprus

Christianity came to Cyprus with the arrival from Palestine of the apostle Paul in AD 45. He was joined by Barnabas, who was to become the first Cypriot saint.

In the same year, they converted the Roman governor of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus. The new religion spread slowly, until it was adopted as the state religion by Emperor Constantine. His edict of 313 granted Christianity equal status with other religions of his empire. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, stopped in Cyprus on her way back from Jerusalem, where she had found fragments of the True Cross. She founded Stavrovouni monastery, which is said to house fragments of the cross.

The official division of the Roman realm into an Eastern and Western Empire, in 395 AD naturally left Cyprus on the eastern side of the divide, under the Byzantine sphere of influence. 

As is explained in 'Open Letters from Cyprus' by Raymond Hiscock, the Roman State as one whole empire became ungovernable from Rome alone and in 284 AD when Diocletian came to power it virtually split into West and East Empires. Twenty-nine years later, Constantinus I became Caesar of the whole empire, but being a very shrewd military commander, he soon realised that the western half of the empire based in Rome was becoming increasingly difficult to defend against hoards of barbarians who were constantly making fresh inroads. So he moved his centre of power to Byzantium in the east and renamed it Constantinople.

As Raymond Hiscock goes on to explain, Constantine's early conversion to Christianity along with all of his family, was a major turning point in history and his edict enforcing Christianity as the only permitted religion was in fact the birth of the Christian Orthodox Church with its centre of power in Constantinople. The western empire completely collapsed in AD 493 when an Ostrogothic Kingdom was established in Italy. The eastern empire (Byzantine Commonwealth) kept up Roman institutions and continued to use Latin in its court but Greek superseded Latin as the general language.

The 5th and 6th centuries were flourishing times. The centres of pagan culture linked to the cults of Aphrodite and Apollo (Paphos and Kourion) lost importance, while the role of Salamis increased. Renamed Constantia, it became the island's capital. New towns also arose, such as Famagusta and Nicosia and vast basilicas were built. 

Beginning around 647, the first of a series of pillaging raids by Arabs took place. In the course of the raids, which continued over three centuries, Constantia was sacked and many maginificent buildings were destroyed. 

Raymond Hiscock paints a vivid picture of this time in history, by mentioning that the Orthodox found the Latin mind tortured and legalistic, viewing the soul too much in the colours of darkness and damnation. "Among the small Orthodox Churches to be found tucked way in the Troodos mountains, there is Lagoudera with its icons and frescoes in a dazzling Byzantine style where the prophets do not stare in that familiar wide eyed anguish. Instead they are fleshly and susceptible, their foreheads scarcely ruffled and they move and gesture with courtly breeding" as Colin Thubron writes.

Hiscock explains that the Cypriots are naturally attracted to the dazzling, hybrid Byzantine art and in earlier Medieval times, Cypriot nobles sent their sons to Constantinople to be educated as they felt that the Greek mainland was harsh and unsympathetically masculine.

Limassol...Three Sights

Today, I made my way firstly to the District Archaeological Museum. It was quite a walk, as there is no sufficient parking nearby. The museum was quiet and cool. I browsed the exhibits and was charmed in an instant.

The museum was built in 1975. Inside, you can view artefacts taken from Amathus. Of particular interest, is the famous head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, which comes from Amathus and was made around 480 BC. The fact that Egyptian gods were also worshipped at Amathus, is confirmed by Hathor and by the small limestone statues of the god Bes.

My next stop, was the Municipal Art Gallery. The gallery, designed by Benjamin Gunzburg, who also designed the Town Hall, was built in the 1930s. Inside there were notable works by the eminent Cypriot artists Victor Ioannides (1903-1984) and Nikos Nikolaides (1884-1956). Also on display, were works by artists who wanted to express their viewpoint on the Cyprus Emergency (1955-1959). Of particular interest in this section of the gallery were quite a few exhibits such as, Andreas Charalambous' Infusion of Ideals, Andreas Makariou The Bible of the Struggle, Andreas Ladomatos  A Tribute to the Pure Ideals of the Struggle for Freedom and Nikos Kouroussis Heroes and the Lost Vision.

I was however particularly drawn to the paintings of Andreas Efesopoulos who donated his 27 oil paintings to the gallery in 2022 as well as the paintings of Spyros Demetriades.

My last and final stop was the Limassol Castle. The earliest reference to the castle is 1228. It acquired its current form after the final conquest of the island by the Ottomans. 

On display are 13th to 16th Century tombstones as well as a headless skeleton which was exhumed in 2001 in Nicosia from the moat in front of the Podocataro Bastion. It belongs to a man in his twenties, obviously a soldier who was beheaded after the city was captured by the Ottomans in 1570.

The stronghold, which is the castle, was built by the Lusignan princes on a foundation erected by the Byzantines. Later, Venetian, Ottoman and British occupiers strengthened its defences. In 1191 the castle chapel, which doesn't exist today, was the venue for the wedding of Richard the Lionheart to Princess Berengaria of Navarre. 

The writer Leto Severis, in her book 'Ladies of Medieval Cyprus and Caterina Cornaro,' describes the wedding in detail. It is taken from George Jeffery's book 'Cyprus Under An English King in the 12th Century.' He describes the wedding in a lot of detail, extracts of which are written below:

The bright May morning of the twelfth of the month-most auspicious of all seasons for matrimony-with its golden dawn and "old ocean's myriad smile" sparkling on the wavelets of a sapphire sea, was heralded by the blare of trumpets on the shores of Amathus Bay.

The ladies taking part in the wedding were all dressed in their most magnificent clothes and jewels: cloth of gold lined with miniver and ermine, stiff embroideries enclosing precious stones, and the still more precious tissues of fine silk, were displayed to the utmost extent considering that the resources available in the baggage of an army on the march were to some extent limited. 

The squalid appearance of a mud-built Levantine town of the twelfth century was covered over to some extent by silken hangings, eastern carpets and the gay heraldic banners brought with them by the Crusaders.

When In Paphos...

This week we visited Paphos. Our first stop, the picturesque village of Kouklia, overlooking the sea. We drove into the village, passing first the Crusader fortress of Cavocle, which protected the large sugarcane plantations on the coastal plain and where Kouklia gets its name. We then passed the old church of Panagia Odigitria just before entering the picturesque village. We were greeted by friendly and welcoming locals, sitting idly drinking their coffees.

Firstly, at the Palaipafos Museum, we were guided to the TV room where an informative documentary explained the importance of Palaipafos in ancient times. The place has often inspired writers and artists and was a place renowned in the ancient world. In the Sanctuary of Aphrodite you can see intricate mosaics on the floor as well as a giant sacred stone, which symbolises the cult of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty and fertility who has always been connected to the island of Cyprus. Interestingly, her worship was without icons and only incense was burned to worship her. There were also no blood sacrifices in her honour. The place is a UNESCO site. 

Also of interest is an example of Gothic architecture, a beautiful and inspiring medieval manor house used for cultural events on the island. 

Our next stop was the Tomb of the Kings. The architectural style of many of the tombs here, particularly those in the northern section, reveal the Egyptian influence and were inspired by the Ptolemy tombs in Alexandria.

The tombs have been known and casually explored for centuries. The oldest modern account was written by Richard Pockocke in 1783. Almost a century later in 1870, the first archaeological excavations were conducted by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the Italian-born American consul to Cyprus.

There is something eerie and mystical about the place. Some of the tombs have been dug very deep into the ground, so it seems as though they didn't want them to be discovered. 

Sources: Eyewitness Travel: Cyprus

Larnaca...Archaeological Museum and Larnaca Castle

On a scorching July morning we made our way to Larnaca. Our first stop was the newly renovated Archaeological Museum. This museum was established in 1969 to house antiquities found in the city and district of Larnaca. Larnaca stands on the site of ancient Kition. The town was founded in the 13th Century BC. 

First of all, we browsed the exhibits taken from Choirokitia, which is one of the oldest settlements found on the island from the Neolithic Period. Of particular interest were stone figurines, stone vessels and bodily adornment. During this time, the burial practices were that the person was buried below the floors of the houses. An exhibit shows the skull covered by a grinding stone as they believed the dead could come back to life.

The Late Bronze Age exhibits were also particularly interesting and vessels on display become more ornamental. Objects of bodily adornment are a frequent find in tombs at this time, including necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Clay bathtubs have been found at various Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus and are known in the Aegean and the Southern Levant. As well as bathtubs, they could have been used during purification rituals. 

 At this time, there was a great demand for Cypriot copper by the powerful states of the Eastern Mediterranean. By the 13 Century BC, Cyprus played a central role in the international trade networks of the period. In the Maroni River Valley where the river met the sea, an important settlement flourished during this time. 

Also in the Late Bronze Age, textile production became more specialized with large textile workshops developing and excavated at Kition and on display at the museum is an ancient loom. Further down on display were female figurines which were possibly inspired from Syro-Palestinian examples linked with the worship of the goddess Astarte. The bull was also significant at this time, symbolizing power and fertility.

The next phase in the museum were exhibits from Ancient Kition. Kition, like Palaipafos and Idalion were not abandoned at the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Kition underwent a gradual urban development that included the creation and improvement of public spaces such as sanctuaries and streets. Kition managed to annex the neighbouring city-state of Idalion following a military operation as well as the copper-producing city of Tamassos on the northern slopes of Troodos. As it was in the Late Bronze Age, Kition remained a harbour city in the Iron Age. 

The city kingdoms, including Kition were abolished as a result of the annexation of the island by the successors of Alexander the Great. Cyprus was included in the states of the Ptolemies of Egypt as a unified region with Paphos as its capital. Kition however as well as Salamis, maintained their status as important urban centres. Around 1050 BC an earthquake devastated Cyprus and Kition was reduced to rubble. Its inhabitants relocated to Salamis.

Our next stop was the castle. Originally built toward the end of the 14th Century, during the reign of the Lusignan king of Cyprus James I (1382-1398), it gained importance after the capture of Ammochostos by the Genoese in 1374. During the Venetian period it was strengthened, only to be demolished to avoid it being captured by the Ottomans. Following the Ottoman conquest, it was rebuilt in 1625 and used as a prison. By the middle of the 18th Century the castle fell into decline. During British rule, it was used as a police station and a prison until 1948 when it was converted into a District Museum, where you can see helmets and swords of the 15th and 16th Centuries, pictures of Medieval fortifications on the island and the coat of arms of prominent families of that time, such as Cornaro and Visconti. Also on display are Medieval and Ottoman tombstones.

Sources: Cyprus Department of Antiquities

When In Nicosia...

On a peaceful July morning, we made our way to Nicosia and arrived at Archbishop Kyprianou Square. There was a beautiful calm silence about the place. The palace was protected by high fences and the security guard sat in his box. We were disappointed that we couldn't enter the palace as we had planned, but we were excited when we saw President Makarios' cars. 

We made our way to the Folk Art Museum next door, which is housed in the old Archbishopric Palace. Among the highlights in the museum, was a beautiful late 20th century wedding dress with a veil. There were also traditional clothes on display as well as jewellery, church ornaments, chest boxes from the 19th century, traditional beds, a gramophone and an old sewing machine. We got an idea of how traditional life was in 19th century Cyprus. 

Our next stop was the National Struggle Museum. Inside we observed the photo gallery which presented the events in Cyprus between 1955-1958 when the Cypriot population took up an armed struggle against the British. There were particular graphic pictures of those who had died. The place was emotionally charged and we couldn't help but be moved by what had happened during that time. There were photos of those who had been captured by the British before they faced execution. It is interesting to note that 18 year old Evagoras Pallikarides' picture was missing, because it was not found in the British archives. There were also photos of the British interrogators and torturers of that time. We also had a look at Grigoris Afxentiou's belongings and there were photos displaying his charred body after he was burnt alive while hiding in a cave. Among other notable exhibits were Archbishop Makarios' sandals when he was exiled to the Seychelles, a suitcase in which weapons from Greece were transported to Cyprus, objects used as hiding places for transportation of correspondence, binoculars and guns and a duplicator used to print leaflets. 

After this we made our way to the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation where a new exhibition has started about the history of the island. We watched a very informative and moving film, recounting all the important events of the island's history. The exhibition runs until the 30th June 2025. 

We had some lunch and coffee at a quaint cafeteria in Onasagorou Street and walked a little in Ledras Street. 

Nicosia's centre I felt, has a tremendous amount of potential. There are old buildings which desperately need saving and restoration and it is a shame that the Nicosia authorities are not doing everything in their power to save this part of the city. It is the capital after all and surely it should look like one. I loved Nicosia's vibe but it is up to the Nicosians to revive it once again.