Prehistoric Cyprus
We begin before kings, temple inscriptions and familiar cities: with the first permanent settlements, round houses, stone tools and images whose meanings can only be reconstructed.
Cyprus Through Time
World history through one island
Historical places, family routes, project photographs and carefully sourced stories about Cyprus.
92objects
50Visited
42Planned
133project photographs
Idea
One island as a route through world history
We use real places in Cyprus to connect archaeology, architecture, religion, trade, empires, family travel and historical memory. Every object has its own indexable page, practical details and links to related periods and routes.
Worksheets
Printable worksheets are currently available in Russian. English PDF worksheets will be added gradually in a future updated version of the project.
Epochs
All periods
We use real places in Cyprus to connect archaeology, architecture, religion, trade, empires, family travel and historical memory. Every object has its own indexable page, practical details and links to related periods and routes.
The Bronze Age and the Mycenaean world
During the Bronze Age, Cyprus became one of the major hubs of the copper trade. We see connections with the Aegean, the Levant, Egypt and Ugarit, while new forms of settlement and writing reached the island together with traded goods.
The city-kingdoms: Greeks, Phoenicians and Persia
Cyprus was not a single state: the island contained city-kingdoms with their own dynasties, sanctuaries and political alliances. We travel between Palaepaphos, Idalion, Tamassos, Kition, Amathus, Kourion and Marion.
Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus
After Alexander the Great, the island entered the Hellenistic world of the Ptolemies and later became a Roman province. We explore this period through Nea Paphos, tombs, theatres, villas and mosaics.
Early Christianity and Byzantium
Cyprus connects its Christian history with the apostles Paul and Barnabas. We see the transition from ancient cities to basilicas, mosaic apses, icons, cave cells and mountain monasteries.
The Lusignans and the world of the Crusades
After Richard the Lionheart, Cyprus became part of the world of the Crusaders and Frankish dynasties. Orthodox tradition, Gothic architecture, Latin monastic orders and royal symbols existed side by side.
Venetian Cyprus
Venice turned the island into an important frontier of its maritime system. We look for the Lion of Saint Mark, bastions, watchtowers and rebuilt city gates.
Ottoman Cyprus
The Ottoman period changed administration, the religious landscape and urban life. We approach it through houses, mosques, hammams, aqueducts, monasteries and everyday objects.
British Cyprus and the road to independence
In the twentieth century we place Cyprus within the global history of empires and decolonisation. British rule introduced new administration, infrastructure, a railway and new architecture, while the movement for self-determination also grew.
The Republic of Cyprus: memory, division and Europe
Modern Cyprus cannot be understood without independence in 1960, intercommunal conflict, the events of 1974, the continuing division of the island and the Republic of Cyprus’s accession to the European Union.
Routes
All routes
Historical places, family routes, project photographs and carefully sourced stories about Cyprus.
One day in Nicosia: from ancient writing to city streets
This route shows how a museum object, a writing system and urban architecture can form one continuous timeline.
Question for the route: How do ways of preserving memory change—from a sign on clay to a museum display and an old doorway?
Paphos: from the Late Bronze Age to Rome and the first Christians
A full day around Paphos connects a fortified settlement, a sanctuary, tombs, mosaics and early Christian sites.
Question for the route: What evidence shows that one city could change its role, religion and appearance many times?
The southern coast: settlement, ancient city, sanctuary and castle
This route along the southern coast compares different reasons for choosing a place: proximity to a river, harbour, sanctuary or road.
Question for the route: Why did people in different periods repeatedly choose the same stretches of coastline?
Troodos: frescoes, monasteries and the mountain road
This mountain route is built around small churches, monastic complexes and the way art was preserved far from large cities.
Question for the route: Why can a mountain church preserve more historical layers than a wealthy urban cathedral?
The twentieth century: infrastructure, struggle, division and memory
This route connects the railway, museums, places of anti-colonial struggle, the Green Line and sites of contemporary memory.
Question for the route: How can we distinguish a document, a museum interpretation, a monument and a personal memory?
Places
Selected places
Historical places, family routes, project photographs and carefully sourced stories about Cyprus.
The Pomos Idol: a Chalcolithic cruciform figurine
This cruciform picrolite figurine is kept in the Cyprus Museum and appears on Cyprus’s €1 and €2 coins.
The round houses of Choirokoitia and Kissonerga
The island’s earliest architecture is represented by round houses; reconstructions of ancient dwellings can be seen beside the excavations.
The Cyprus Museum: the island’s chronology under one roof
We recommend beginning or ending the historical journey in the island’s principal archaeological museum, where separate sites form one continuous timeline.
Choirokoitia: a UNESCO site in its own right
We treat Choirokoitia as a separate stop because it is one of the best places on the island for imagining the daily life of the first farming communities.
Mycenaean settlement and Maa–Palaeokastro
The partly underground museum at Cape Maa tells the story of a Mycenaean settlement and displays unusual examples of early writing.
Cypro-Minoan writing
Cypro-Minoan writing is known from signs on clay, metal and other Late Bronze Age objects, but it has not been deciphered with certainty.
About us
About the project and its authors
The project has grown through repeated journeys, family archive photographs, source checking and new visits to familiar places. We keep a personal voice while separating observation, documented history, reconstruction and tradition.
Report an error
Found an inaccuracy?
Please send the page address and a short description of the issue. We check historical and practical information and record corrections transparently.