‘Cyprus.’ [‎8r] (15/184)

HISTORY OF CYPRUS.
9
an army could be raised for foreign service shows that the popula
tion was then very large. When Lathyrus was recalled by the
Alexandrians to Egypt, his younger brother Ptolemy Alexander, in
the hope of becoming master of the island, invaded it, but was
defeated by Chaereas, and killed in the battle.
While Ptolemy Auletes occupied the throne of Egypt, his
brother, another Ptolemy, was King of Cyprus; during his reign
Publius Clodius Pulcher, a Roman of high family, was taken
prisoner by Cilician pirates in the waters of Cyprus, and it is
said that an insufficient ransom was offered by Ptolemy, whose
character for avarice was well known. Clodius was afterwards Unjust decree
chosen Tribune, and being anxious to revenge himself upon the of the Eoma n
King of Cyprus, obtained a decree from the Roman Senate to yenate '
dispossess Ptolemy, and to constitute his kingdom a province of
Rome, the claim being pretended to be founded upon a will of
Alexander, late King of Egypt, who made the Roman people his
heirs.
Marcus Cato was commanded to put this decree in force, and
despite his objection to such an unwarrantable act of aggression and
spoliation, he was compelled to obey. He sent his secretary,
Candidius, to Cyprus to deliver the decree, to which Ptolemy
submitted, and soon afterwards committed suicide (b.c. 58). Cato
took possession of the island, also the immense treasures in the
palace at Salamis, which amounted to 7,000 talents, and sent the
money to Rome. Thus ended the Ptolemaic dynasty in Cyprus.
From this time the island became a Roman province, and was Cyprus be-
annexed to Cilicia under one pro-consul, but it had a quaestor of £^ n a p ro
its own, and separate courts for the administration of justice. In vi °™ a11 r ’
B.c. 47, Caesar gave the island to Arsinoe and Ptolemy, the sister
and brother of Cleopatra, and Strabo tells us that Antony after
wards gave it to Cleopatra, but after the battle of Actium and the
death of the Triumvir, Augustus Caesar revoked the gift, and at
the division of the provinces between the empire and the senate in
B.c. 27, it was constituted an imperial province ; five years later,
however, it was given up by Augustus to the senate, and was
from that time governed by propraetors, with the title of Pro-
consul.
In a.d. 45, the island was visited by Paul and Barnabas, and Christianity
the pro-consul Sergius Paulus was converted. Cyprus was there- introduced,
fore the first country governed by a Christian ruler.
The next remarkable event in the history of the island was an Insurrection
insurrection in A.D. 115, on the part of the Jews, who formed a of the Jews,
very considerable portion of the population; led by Arteminius,
they massacred a vast number of Greeks, and it is said that before
the suppression of the revolt by Lucius two years later, no less
than a quarter of a million of the inhabitants w T ere slain. By a
decree of the Senate, the Jews were then expelled from the island,
and for several centuries subsequently it is stated that any Jew
found in Cyprus was instantly executed.
Christianity now rapidly increased in the island, 13 bishoprics Progress of
were established, and under Constantine this province became one Cliristiamty-
of the richest in the Roman Empire.