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SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2025
"A brilliant exploration of Cyprus's long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." -- Guardian
One of National Geographic's Summer Reads 2024
Think of a place where you can stand at the intersection of Christian and Arab cultures, at the crossroads of the British, Ottoman, Byzantine, Roman and Egyptian empires; a place marked by the struggle between fascism and communism and where the capital city is divided in half as a result of bloody conflict; where the ancient olive trees of Homer's time exist alongside the undersea cables which link up the world's internet.
In Cypria, named after a lost Cypriot epic which was the prequel to The Odyssey, British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal, lyrical history of the island of Cyprus, from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day.
This sprawling, evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture. Christofi travels to salt lakes, crusader castles, mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war. He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner, as Odysseus was.
Written in sensitive, witty and beautifully rendered prose, with a novelist's flair and eye for detail, Cypria combines the political, cultural and geographical history of Cyprus with reflections on time, place and belonging.
Contents
Timeline
Introduction: The City and the City
1. Spume: The birth of the Great Goddess
2. Olive Culture: How trade began
3. The Lost Kingdom of Alashiya: Diving into the Bronze Age
4. Cypria: Survivors of Mycenaean Greece
5. The Purple Ones: Phoenicians and their philosophy
6. Apostle: The Cypriots who spread Christianity
7. Monks and Cats: St Helena's pilgrimage
8. Oasis: The Arab conquest, the Empire of Cyprus and the Third Crusade at sea
9. The Fairytale Castle: The House of Lusignan
10. Lala Mustafa Pasha: The siege of Famagusta and the formation of the Holy LeagueBattle of Lepanto
11. Linen Blend: The Turkish influence
12. Cyprus, New York: How history was weaponised as 'civilisation'
13. Olympians: Religious and secular authority in Britain's Christian colonyBritain's Christian colony
14. The Philhellene: The burning down of Government House
15. Kafeneon: The left and right wing schism
16. Bitter Lemons: The struggle for enosis
17. The Battle of the Knife: The militarisation of Cyprus
18. The Ledra Palace Hotel: The war on neighbours
19. Ghosts: The tragedies of 1974
20. Ayia Napa, Ayia Napa, Ayia Napa: The holiday from the self
21. Drilling for Gods: Moscow on the Med
Epilogue: The fort, and the dangers of digging up the past
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
