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by **Zenon33** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:03 pm

A bit of story of our great country.

Between Persia and Greece

The Persians had seized control of Cyprus in the sixth century, but had allowed the local kings to rule in their own cities. This was to change during the reign of king Darius the Great (r.521-486), the great organizer of the Achaemenid Empire. If we are to believe the Greek researcher Herodotus, the immediate cause was a conflict among Cypriote rulers, in which Onesilus, the ruler of the northern city-state Soloi, took over Salamis.note Except for Amathous, he received support from all over the island.

At the same time, in the year 499 BCE, the Greek cities in Asia Minor revolted. Of course, the Persians sent an army, which would pass along Cyprus, where it was to restore order as well. Onesilus now requested help from the Greek rebels, which he received almost immediately: just like king Amasis of Egypt, the rebels realized that Cyprus was a perfect base to attack the Phoenician ports. As long as they would control Cyprus, they had no Persian naval expedition to fear.

Upon hearing of the arrival of the Greek reinforcements, the Persians sent reinforcements too, which arrived from Cilicia. The naval battle was a success for the Greeks and Cypriotes, but the land battle was won by the Persians. Onesilus and his allies were defeated, Persian supremacy was restored, and the Cypriote cities had to pay heavily to the Persian war chest. The Persian siege mole at Paphos has been found by archaeologists.

http://www.livius.org/articles/place/cyprus/cyprus-3/