How the Swedes viewed us down the centuries [ Cyprus ]

Cyprus Mail ^ | February 3, 2009 | Zoe Christodoulides

[SunkenCiv]

The adventures of Swedish travellers dating all the way back to the Vikings have now been brought to life in a new book written by local art historian, Rita Severis. Examining the texts of some 30 travellers to the country over a thousand years, The Swedes in Cyprus sheds light on Nordic attitudes to the island right from when Viking ships first docked on our shores. These intriguing tales are only now available, simply because Swedish texts on Cyprus had hardly ever been translated... With a large number of travelogues now translated into English for the very first time, the whole endeavour was only possible with the help of Swedish friends. Other information came from local archives and various international sources. As early as the 10th century, the first Swedish travellers often stopped off on the island on their way to the Holy Land, undertaking journeys on foot, horse or ship. The Vikings made their way over to the east because of trade stations they had on the Caspian and Black Seas... Perhaps the most high profile Swedish pilgrims who visited was St Birgitta who had harsh words to say on the excesses she saw in Famagusta, believing the town to be too rich and the people too greedy... Swedish travellers in the 18th century were particularly vitriolic about the Ottoman administration, painting a picture of a local population in decline... The Swedes in Cyprus is available from all major bookshops.

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] Famagusta... of love... say what... Famagusta... ooo ooo ooo ooo

[SunkenCiv]

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[mamelukesabre]

fascinating. I wonder how much of the book predates AD1400?

[Daffynition]

[WesternCulture]

Very interesting indeed.

I’ll return to this post and read it all over again tomorrow, but for the next hours I’ll enjoy The Godfather Part II and feast on a Cuba Libre (I can already hear the Andrew Sisters sing..).

Regards

[blam]

Andrew Sisters

[blam]

Famagusta - A Town In Hostage

[Verginius Rufus]

Cyprus was acquired by Venice in 1489 and did not come under Turkish rule until the war of 1570-1573. (Before Venice it was under other Christian rulers.)

[mamelukesabre]

Ok. That’s good to know. THank you. but...that doesn’t mean that turks didn’t exist there before 1570. Nor does it mean that turks were not a major ethnic group before 1570.

Right?

[Verginius Rufus]

The Turks were dominant in much of what is now eastern and central Turkey after their victory in 1071 at Manzikert against the Byzantines (for a while the Byzantines held on the the westernmost part of Anatolia). By the early 1400s there wasn't much left of the Byzantine Empire except for the area around Constantinople and parts of Greece--a number of the Greek islands were under Western Christian rule (mostly Venetians). Cyprus and Crete were under Venice for a long time and free of Turks (other than attackers--there was a raid on Crete in 1571 not long before the famous battle of Lepanto). Venice held on to Crete until 1669.

I don't think there were any Turks at all on Cyprus before 1570, other than those making attacks, not living there.

[mamelukesabre]

Hmmm...

Sounds like the only turks were dead turks.

So the peeps the swedes encountered before l4oo where what? Left over crusaders? franks? teutons? Vestigial carthaginians?

Or just plain old run of the mill greeks?

[Verginius Rufus]

In ancient times the population was mixed--there were some Greek-speakers there by the second millennium BC (a syllabary apparently derived from Linear A was still in use there in classical times after the Greeks had the alphabet). In the classical era there were some Greek cities and some non-Greek cities on the island--I'm not sure if all the "barbarians" were Phoenician-speakers but some were.

I'm not sure but I think later it was all Greek-speaking, although some of the Greek-speakers would have been descended from people who originally spoke another language.

I think it was held for a while by the Arabs and then regained by the Byzantines. The island was captured by Richard the Lion-heart during the Third Crusade (I don't know who held it just before that) but he soon sold the island to Guy de Lusignan. That family may have then held it until the Venetians acquired it. My guess is that the native population considered themselves "Romans" and were Greek Orthodox Christians speaking medieval Greek.

[mamelukesabre]

According to my 1903 “cyclopaedia”, the island was part of the persian empire for a time. So there were probably some persian minorities there.

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, it was part of the Persian Empire. Some of the Greek cities joined in the Ionian Revolt of the 490s (along with the Greek cities along the west coast of Asia Minor and in the Bosporus-Dardanelles region) but were subdued again. Later the Athenians were active there in the 450s (Cimon, the leading general of the generation after the Persian Wars, died campaigning there about 450 B.C.). In the late 400s and early part of the 4th century there is a notable Greek king on Cyprus, Evagoras of Salamis (died 374 B.C.), who is mentioned in a number of the literary works of that era--he fought a long war with Persia but was eventually defeated.

I doubt there was any significant settlement by ethnic Persians. The city of Amathus is called "Eteocypriot"--the inhabitants were evidently descended from an indigenous population that was neither Phoenician nor Greek.