Towns and Important Places.
The following were the towns of Cyprus (A.D. 25). On the north coast of Cape Acamas, were Arsinoe, and Sali, with a harbour founded by Phalerus and Acamas of Athens, then east of Cape Crommyon, Lapethus, built by the Lacedemonians; next Agidus, Aphrodisium, and Carpasia; east of the last, was a mountain and a cape called Olympus, with a temple to Venus upon it, which women were forbidden to enter. Facing the cape are two small islands, called Keides, or “the keys of Cyprus.” Turning thence towards the south, was Salamis, at the mouth of the Pedæus, one of the principal cities of the island, said to have been built by Teucer, an emigrant from the island of Salamis.
Proceeding south was another Arsinoe, with a port; next came Leucolia, near Cape Pedalium, a lofty table-land, called the Table of Venus; west of Pedalium was Citium (the ancient Chittim), with a harbour that could be closed. Citium was a large town, and the birthplace of Zeno the Stoic (301 B.C.) From Citium to Berytas (Bairout) in Syria, the distance was about 130 miles. West of Citium was Amathus, and inland was Palœa Limisso. Sailing round by Cape Curias to the west, was the town of Curium, with a port built by the Argivi. Here the coast turns to the north-west, looking towards Rhodes, and on it were the towns of Ireta, Boosura, and Old Paphos; then Cape Zephyrium; and next to it another Arsinoe, with a port and temple, sacred grove, and New Paphos, built by Agapenor, five miles by land from Old Paphos.
Most of the above towns, and others which Strabo has omitted, have long since disappeared.
The present capital is Nikosia, the residence of the late Turkish governor. It lies near the centre of the island, close to the site of the ancient Letra, or Leucotra, on a plain surrounded with mountains. The streets are narrow and dirty, and many of the grand old mansions falling into decay. It is a truly Oriental city, and is very prettily situated; the air is balmy, dry, and redolent of the odour of laurel and myrtle. Every court-yard has its apple and pear-tree, and in between these masses of rosemary, peeping from beneath the flourishing fig. Its population does not exceed 16,000.
Lefkosia was the residence of the kings of the Lusignan dynasty, and was then much larger than it is at present, the Venetians having destroyed part of it in order to strengthen the remainder.
The church of St. Sophia, a fine Gothic building, is converted into a mosque; the monuments it contains of the Lusignans are sadly mutilated. There is also a fine bazaar, a khan, or enclosed court, surrounded by apartments for travellers, and the palace of the governor, on the portal of which is still seen the Venetian lion in stone; there are also several other churches and mosques. The bastioned walls, erected by the Venetians, are still standing.
The Greek Archbishop of Nikosia is metropolitan of the whole island. Cesnola, informs us, that, after sundown, no person is allowed to leave or enter the town without special permission from the governor-general. When such a case occurs, the soldiers are put under arms, and the drawbridge is lowered, with as much ceremony as if we were still in mediæval times. The seraglio, where the late Turkish governor resided, is described by the same authority, as a large quadrangular building, two stories high, and in sad want of repair; it has a large court-yard, enclosed by walls twenty-five feet high.
The principal manufactures of the town are carpets, cotton prints, and morocco leather. The workmen of Nikosia pretend that they have a particular manner of dressing the leather, which they keep a profound secret; anyhow, the leather is said to be better dressed, more brilliant in colour, and more durable than that which is made in Turkey. There is also a little trade in raw cotton and wine.
Larnaka, or Larnika, on the site of old Citium, near the south coast, is the most thriving, bustling place, in the island, being the residence of the European consuls and factors, and the chief seat of trade. The port of Larnaka is at Salines, about a mile and half distant; a Greek bishop resides there, and there are also some Latin churches in the town. The houses are chiefly built of clay and only one story high, on account of the earthquakes, to which the island is subject. The interiors of the houses are comfortable; the apartments are paved with white marble, and almost every house has a garden.
This is the chief sea-port in the island, and has a fair anchorage for vessels in the roadstead. Near Larnaka is the well-known inland lake, whence in ancient days, the Phœnicians obtained the best salt. During the rainy season, this is swollen with water; in May and June it gradually evaporates, and under the fiery sun, and burning heat of July and August, the water almost boils off, and leaves behind a thick cake of nearly pure salt. This once yielded a yearly income of three hundred thousand ducats. This town is connected by telegraph with Latakia, on the Syrian coast, the wires passing through Nikosia.
Famagusta, on the south-east coast, a few miles south of old Salamis, and not far from the ancient Tamassus, occupies the site of Ammochostos, one of the ten royal cities, which paid tribute to Esarhaddon, and possesses the only harbour between Salamis and Leuculla, and was probably the city called Arsinœ under the Ptolemies.
“The city of Famagusta,” says Cesnola, “built by the Christians eight hundred years ago, from the ruins of Salamis, and destroyed by the Turks in 1571, after the terrible siege in which the Venetian soldiers so heroically defended their position, once counted its beautiful churches by hundreds and its palatial residences by thousands. Once it had been one of the principal commercial cities of the Levant, with a harbour, in which rode large fleets, but which now, through neglect, has become filled with sand, and is able only to float ships of light draught. It was just outside the mouth of this closed harbour, that the vessels containing the Venetian families and their most precious personal and household effects were sunk by the faithless Mustapha Pacha, after he had killed the Venetian generals.”
“As you approach the massive walls of the city, which are nearly seventeen feet thick, and of solid stone, all taken from the ruins of Salamis, you see how impossible it was to take such a city except by famine or treachery. The walls stand now as impregnable and intact as when raised by the Lusignans.”
“The old bronze guns of the Republic of Venice are still on the bastions, in their original place, looking formidably towards the sea, and the plain of Salamis, but spiked and out of service since 1571. There are a half dozen rusty iron guns of Turkish manufacture, pretty much in the same condition.”
“The ruins of Famagusta are not grand and imposing, yet they are most beautiful and touching. It is impossible to see the still existing walls of many of its fine mediæval churches, with frescoes plainly visible in the interiors—here a rectory, there evidences of elegant homes—without a feeling of intense sadness. Only two out of the three hundred churches, which are said to have existed in Famagusta, were left standing. The principal one, formerly the cathedral and now used as a mosque, is paved with mortuary marble slabs engraved with the names and arms of Italian noblemen, once buried beneath them, whose bones were exhumed, and thrown into the sea, by order of the fanatical and ferocious Mustapha Pacha, the day after he captured the city. The other church, used as a granary and a stable by the Turks, contains also a few tombstones, now all worn out by the horses’ hoofs. There I discovered an inscription, recording the day on which, by the abdication of Katharine Cornaro, the Venetians became the rulers of Cyprus.”
“Within the city walls resides the caimakan[15] of the province of Carpass, with the Cadi of Famagusta, and the usual mejilis. There is also a military governor of the fortress, and a company of artillery. This governor resides with his troops in a small fort overlooking the sea, and flanked by a large round tower called by the natives ‘Torre del Moro’ (Tower of the Moor). Tradition asserts that in this tower were the head-quarters of the Venetian Lord-Lieutenant of Cyprus, Cristoforo Moro, during the years 1506 to 1508. In the latter year, on the 22nd of October, Cristoforo Moro was recalled from Cyprus, and returned to Venice; and from documents which I have been allowed to peruse, it would appear that this man was married four times, and that his private life was not very exemplary. This Cristoforo Moro was the ‘Othello’ of Shakespeare.”
“The fortress of Famagusta contained some of the worst criminals of the Turkish Empire. Many of them are condemned for life, others are sentenced to from fifteen to twenty-five years’ imprisonment, and all are heavily shackled.”
The harbour of Famagusta would be excellent, if it were cleared of the filth with which it is blocked up; but at present it can only accommodate a few small vessels.
Limasol, on the south coast, is the most European town in the island, and has a good harbour; but the old parts of the town are a heap of ruins. It is still of considerable importance, and is the chief place of export for the wines of the country, which are much in demand in the Levant. The surrounding country is rich in fruit trees, of which the carob-tree is the most conspicuous.
Near the town formerly stood the Commandery of the Knights Templars (Commandery of Kolossi), extending from Mount Olympus to Baffo and Limasol.
Baffo, or New Paphos, was under the Romans the principal town in the western part of the island, and is famous in ancient poetry as the favourite residence of Aphrodite or Venus, and here was her most celebrated temple.
During the reign of the Emperor Augustus, this town was destroyed by an earthquake, and was afterwards rebuilt.
Here St. Paul converted Sergius Paulus, the Roman deputy-governor, besides many others, preaching in the Jewish synagogues, of which there were several.
Here Elymas, the sorcerer, was struck blind for endeavouring to frustrate St. Paul’s attempts to Christianise the people.
The Church of St. Paul is the only Venetian building now standing. Baffo has a small but unsafe port, and is the see of a Greek bishop. Kerinia, Cerini, or Ghirneh, on the north coast, has a harbour, from which a limited trade is carried on with the opposite coast of Karamania. Its ruins would seem to indicate that it was formerly a fine town. It is fortified, and the second stronghold of the island, and like Lapethus (the original capital of the district of Kerinia), is traced to the Dorian colonists, under Praxander and Cepheus. This formed one of the royal cities of the island. “I passed near this town,” says Cesnola, “several times during my northern excursions, but never had the curiosity to enter it. The village itself, with the exception of the citadel, is a small dirty place, almost exclusively inhabited by Mussulmans, who, with the garrison, enjoy a very bad reputation—second only to that of their co-religionists at New Paphos. The ancient site of Kerinia is a little to the west of the present town, and more inland. For a considerable distance along the western shore, there are to be seen here and there large caverns excavated in the rock; some, though not all, seem to have been tombs. South-east of the town, about an hour’s ride from it, and midway up the mountains, stands an imposing mediæval ruin called ‘Lapais.’ It was an abbey, built by King Hugo the Third, and belonged to the Latin Church, but was destroyed by the Turks when they captured the fortress of Kerinia. It is a fact worth noticing, that all the churches belonging to the Latins were destroyed by the Turks when they took possession of the island. In this I have no doubt they were gladly assisted, or at least encouraged, by the Greeks, who detested the Franks even more than the Turks. This abbey occupied one of the most picturesque and lovely spots of the whole island; a large hall is still standing, one hundred feet long, thirty-two feet wide, and about forty feet high, which was probably the refectory of the French abbots; beneath it is another apartment of like dimensions, divided into two chambers, the vault of which is supported by massive columns.”
“In the court-yard, piled the one upon the other, are two large marble sarcophagi of late Roman work, one of which has garlands of flowers, nude figures, and large bulls’ heads in bold relief. Both bear evidence of having been used for a long time as troughs. Upon the lintel, over the door of the great hall, are engraved three shields; one represents the Jerusalem cross, another the royal arms of the Lusignans, and the third a lion rampant. The Gothic chapel of the abbey has been partly repaired with sun-dried bricks and plaster, and is now used by the Greeks, living in the neighbourhood, as their place of worship; portions of the court-yard serve as their cemetery. On two high peaks in this range of mountains stood two feudal or royal castles, one called St. Hilarion, and the other Buffavento, which served as state prisons and places of refuge to some of the Latin kings of Cyprus. They were both dismantled by order of the Venetian Admiral Prioli.”