Cyprus in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
si'-prus (Kupros):
1. Name:
An island situated near the Northeast corner of the Levant,
in an angle formed by the coasts of Cilicia and Syria. In
the Old Testament it is called Kittim, after the name of its
Phoenician capital Kition. The identification is expressly
made by Josephus (Ant., I, vi, 1) and by the Cyprian bishop
Epiphanius (Haer., xxx.25). In the tablets from Tell el-
Amarna it is referred to as Alashia (E. Meyer, Gesch. des
Alterthums, 12, section 499), in Egyptian records as Asi,
while in the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions it is named
Yavnan.
2. Geography:
The island is the largest in the Mediterranean with the
exception of Sardinia and Sicily, its area being about 3,584
square miles. It lies in 34 degrees 30'-35 degrees 41' North
latitude and 32 degrees 15'-34 degrees 36' East longitude,
only 46 miles distant from the nearest point of the Cilician
coast and 60 miles from the Syrian. Thus from the northern
shore of the island the mainland of Asia Minor is clearly
visible and Mt. Lebanon can be seen from Eastern Cyprus.
This close proximity to the Cilician and Syrian coasts, as
well as its position on the route between Asia Minor and
Egypt, proved of great importance for the history and
civilization of the island. Its greatest length, including
the Northeast promontory, is about 140 miles, its greatest
breadth 60 miles. The Southwest portion of Cyprus is formed
by a mountain complex, culminating in the peaks of Troodos
(6,406 ft.), Madhari (5,305 ft.), Papofitsa (5,124 ft.) and
Machaira (4,674 ft.). To the Northeast of this lies the
great plain of the Mesorea, nearly 60 miles in length and 10
to 20 in breadth, in which lies the modern capital Nicosia
(Lefkosia). It is watered chiefly by the Pediaeus (modern
Pedias), and is bounded on the North by a mountain range,
which is continued to the East-Northeast in the long, narrow
promontory of the Karpass, terminating in Cape Andrea, the
ancient Dinaretum. Its highest peaks are Buffavento (3,135
ft.) and Hagios Elias (3,106 ft.). The shore-plain to the
North of these hills is narrow, but remarkably fertile.
3. Products:
Cyprus is richly endowed by nature. Its fruits and flowers
were famous in antiquity. Strabo, writing under Augustus,
speaks of it as producing wine and oil in abundance and corn
sufficient for the needs of its inhabitants (XIV, 684). The
elder Pliny refers to Cyprian salt, alum, gypsum, mica,
unguents, laudanum, storax, resin and precious stones,
including agate, jasper, amethyst, lapis lazuli and several
species of rock-crystal. His list includes the diamond
(xxxvii.58) and the emerald (xxxvii.6, 66), but there is
reason to believe that under these names a variety of rock-
crystal and the beryl are intended. The chief source of the
island's wealth, however, lay in its mines and forests.
Silver is mentioned by Strabo (loc. cit.) among its
products; copper, which was called by the Greeks after the
name of the island, was extensively mined there from the
earliest period down to the Middle Ages; iron too was found
in considerable quantities from the 9th century until Roman
times. Scarcely less important were the forests, which at an
early date are said to have covered almost the whole island.
The cypress seems to have been the principal tree, but Pliny
tells of a giant cedar, 130 Roman feet in height, felled in
Cyprus (xvi.203), and the island supplied timber for
shipbuilding to many successive powers.
4. Early History:
The original inhabitants of Cyprus appear to have been a
race akin to the peoples of Asia Minor. Its vast resources
in copper and timber gained for it a considerable importance
and wide commercial relations at a very remote period. Its
wealth attracted...
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