Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/123

 SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF CYPRUS. 101 In 502 Grecian Cyprus joined Ionia in her revolt against the Persians, but the Phoenician cities refused to take part in the movement, and thus prepared a check which brought the internal jealousies to a head. 1 Even the victories of Cimon in Cilicia and on the coasts of Cyprus failed to give liberty to the islanders, probably because they set little store by their independence, and failed to give vigorous help to Athens. 2 Their interests held them too closely to the neighbouring continent ; they could not face the possibility of finding its ports closed against them. Evagoras himself, in spite of his rare ability and the weakness of the Achaemenids, did not succeed ; he held the forces of the great king in check for several years, but in the end he had to give up all hope of detach- ing Cyprus from the Persian empire. Salamis gave the signal for revolt, but she was not supported by the other Greek cities. In his love for that Athens which he had helped once before and from whom he had received the signal honour of citizenship, Evagoras was more Greek than his people. By their writing, their arts, their religion, their manners, the latter were too closely allied with Asia to be readily detached by anything so abstract as the Hellenic idea. And yet the Greek element was the dominant one. This we know from many significant facts. The kings who commanded the 120 Cypriot vessels in the fleet of Xerxes were Greeks, at least if we may judge by their names, Gorgos and Timanos. In the Cypriot texts, which belong, for the most part, to this period of Persian supremacy, we hardly find any but Greek names, such as Timocharis and Ephetimos, priest-kings of Paphos, Stasicrates and Stasias, kings of Soloi. " The famous bronze plaque from Dali affords evidence still more significant. Under the arbitration of the Persians and the Kitionites the town of Dali (Idalion) guarantees certain advantages to a physician who had dressed the wounds of its warriors after some fight whose date is now unknown ; this official document, which was destined to be placed in the temple of Athene in Dali. is not written in Phoenician, but in Cypriot Greek. The king of Dali, Stasikypros, the eponymous magistrate, Philokypros, the physician, Omasilos, are all Greek. Thus, while the Persian power was at its height, one of the sacred towns of the island, the 1 HERODOTUS, V. 104 et seq. 2 THUCYDIDES, i. 94 and 112. DIODORUS, XL. xliv. 2; Ix. 5-8; Ixi. 7. PLUT- ARCH, Cimon, 18 and 19.