In 632 the Arabs launched their first attack destroying Kition. Then in 647 they attacked again this time destroying Constantia. The following year Paphos fell. The Cypriots began scrambling inland, away from the coastal cities and rampaging Arab warriors.

The island returned once more to its role as a frontier outpost, fought over and ravished by the forces of two great irreconcilable powers. By 650 it was split between the Byzantines and Arabs and was gradually depopulated as its inhabitants fled to safer shores. In 688 those who remained were forced to pay tribute to both the Byzantine emperor and the Muslim caliph.

In 965 the Emperor Nicephoros Phocas took Cyprus back driving the Arabs off the island. For the next two centuries Christian arts and architecture florished and Cyprus lived peacefully.Nicosia was built and high up in the Troodos Mountains monasteries were built.

In 1184 Isaac Komnenos a member of the Byzantine imperial family took Cyprus and ruled for seven years. Princess Berengaria fiancee of King Richard the Lion Heart was forced to take shelter in Cyprus after a bad storm at sea. Komnenos treated her very badly and when the King discovered this he ousted Komnenos.On taking over Cyprus Richard not only took the Cypriots wealth from them but also forced the Roman Catholic Church on them. The Cypriots revolted and as Richard had enough on his plate he sold the island to an elite order of crusader monks called the Knights Templar.No strangers to repressing subjects the Templars went to work on the rebels but found resistance to strong, so they gave the island back to Richard.Richard then handed the island to his ally Guy de Lusignan who was an able ruler and he began the process of restoring Cyprus.The islands Byzantine character was pushed into second place, however, and the Orthodox Church was again to take second place to the Catholic Church who were granted all the privileges that it enjoyed in France. Guy then issued an invertation tothe French nobility of the Holy Land to join him.With an offer of land, servants and peace many packed their bags and sailed for Cyprus.

From 1192 until 1489 the Lusigans continued to rule. The port of Famagusta flourished and became a source of awe to visitors from backward Europe as its merchants grew rich on profits from the crosaders and after the Holy Land was finally lost , the trade with the Saracens.Monuments of the Lasigan rule can still be found throughout the island.

After the decline of rule by the Lusignans, Peter 1 ruled, He was assassinated by his own barons. In 1372 the coronation of Peters successor was disrupted by clashes between the Genoese and Venetian representatives.To avenge their slighted honour, the Genoese invaded Cyprus and captured Famagusta.In 1426 the Mamelukes invaded and devastated the island. In the mean time the Venetians bided their time and then joined forces with King James 11 to kick the Genoese out.He died in suspicious circumstances in 1473 as did his son James 111 the last of the Lussignans. His wife Caterina Cornaro who was Venetian was then persuaded to turn Cyprus over to Venice in 1489.

In August 1571 Cyprus was taken over by the Ottoman Turks but not with out many. casualties. The Turks were welcomed by most Cypriots.They eliminated the Catholic Church and restored Orthodoxy, not as a sign of good will but because the Orthodox Church was less threatening to their interests than the western oriented Catholicism. Feudalism was abolished and free serfs given the right to own land, although Turkish immigrants took the best of it and taxation remained heavy.