(English) Cyprus – the island of Empires

The other day I got struck by the quite obvious fact that Cyprus always belonged to empires, and not any empires, the greatest empires of them all.

After the dissolution of the independent Greek city states the island became a part of the Greek Ptolemeic Empire 323 BC. The capital Alexandria was the New York of that time, renown for its magnificent buildings and great science.

The scholars of this highly advanced empire measured the circumference of the earth with great accuracy and built steam engines to open temple gates. The famous Anticythera mechanism was also created in this period, a extraordinary devise to measure astronomical events.

58 BC the island was acquired by the Roman Empire, and from 400 AD and onwards a part of the East Roman/Byzantine Empire. In the middle ages the island came under the influence of the Frankish Empire and the Venetians.

1570 the Ottoman Empire conquered Cyprus. And in 1870 it became part of the humongous British empire, on which the sun never set.

1960 the island once again became a city state, a small entity thrown out among super powers and mighty nations, in a highly strategic region, bordering three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Its quite obvious that he geopolitical aim of the island is to belong somewhere. Cyprus is to small to produce armies to protect itself, and its strategic position always brings it in trouble.

So were does Cyprus belong today? Friends with everyone? USA, The Russians, the French and the Israelis?

Maybe a part of the great European Union? An empire under construction – or deconstruction? Only time will tell.