Prehistory
Due to inate fact that Cyprus was not settled in the old stone age numerous dwarf forms survived well into the Holocene period. With the first initial settlement hapenning in the ninth Millennium from the Levant. The first original settlers were agriculturalists, who had not yet discovered how to produce pottery. They did however introduced many animals that were not previously known to the island. These being goats, sheep, dogs and cattle as well as foxes and Persian fallow deer. The settlers built round styled houses with floors made of terrazzo from lime and cultivated einkorn and emmer. In the Bronze age, cities like Enkomi, were built.

Ancient history
Cypriot culture is one of the oldest in the Eastern Mediterranean. Being at the crossroads between East and West the island fell under Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman control.

The name Cyprus originates from the ancient Greek word for copper, which is in abundance and which was mined and exported from the bronze age.

Cyprus was colonised by Greek and Phoenician settlers in the 11th century BC; the ancient city of Amathus still has remains dating from that time. The island was conquered by the Persians around 500 BC. The remains of a Persian palace has been excavated on the North coast of the island. With the help of the Egyptians and the Ionian Greeks the inhabitants rebelled numerous times but failed until Alexander the Great himself conquered the Persian Empire. When he died, Cyprus became part of the Ptolemaic territory, and established strong commercial relationships with Athens and Alexandria, two of the most important commercial centers of antiquity.

Views of the Aphrodite Rocks area