Classical

From 545 BC Cyprus belongs to the Persian empire. The kingdoms keep their rulers and their coinage but pay tribute and send ships to the Persian fleet. Throughout the Classical period the island lives between two poles, Persian and Greek, and the fault line runs not between Cyprus and Persia but straight through the island itself.

Revolts

In 499 BC the Cypriot cities join the Ionian Revolt under Onesilos, who had deposed his own brother, the king of Salamis. Almost every kingdom backs him except Amathous. A year later the Persians defeat them on the plain outside Salamis, and the island returns to Persian control.

Around 450 BC the Athenian general Kimon dies besieging Kition. His fleet won its battle, but Athens withdrew and Cyprus stayed Persian.

The most serious attempt to unite the island was made by Evagoras I, who ruled Salamis from 411 to 374 BC. He brought most of the kingdoms under his control and fought Persia for nearly a decade before being forced to submit and acknowledge its supremacy.

What survives

Vouni Palace on the north coast is the most telling monument of the age. Built around 500–490 BC, it looks down on Soli; its plan was later remodelled to Greek taste, and around 380 BC it burned down and was never rebuilt.

In the mid-5th century BC Idalion is taken by Kition — an event recorded on a famous bronze tablet in the Cypriot syllabary. It is one of the oldest surviving treaties in Mediterranean history.

In 333 BC the Cypriot kings side with Alexander the Great and help him take Tyre. The Hellenistic period follows — and very soon there will be no kingdoms left at all.