Les royaumes de Chypre a l''epreuve de l''histoire

Within the context of a revival in studies on Iron Age Cyprus, this volume considers the theme of continuity, ruptures and changes that go hand in hand with the history of the Cypriot kingdoms of the first millennium BC. We examine political developments, emphasizing the transition from one mode of government to another; cultural evolutions, with the creation of pan-Cypriot koine from the geometric period, the birth of regional styles or the impact of Hellenism; the changes or continuity of the economic structures, with the dynamics of exploitation of the territory and their consequences on the evolution of the territorial frontiers of the Cypriot kingdoms. Without denying or diminishing the radicalness and importance of certain phenomena or events - from the Hellenization of the island to its conquest by the Lagids, to the rooting of the Phoenician presence in the archaic period and the growing Athenian influence during the classical era - the impact of these events is re-evaluated in the light of other essential factors, sometimes less visible and more difficult to grasp because of the bias of the available documentation. The "chyprocentric" perspective thus appears to be the best one through which to reconstruct, using new methodological and theoretical foundations, the analysis of the history and constitutive characteristics of the Cypriot kingdoms. Archaeologists, epigraphists, numismatists, historians, ceramologists, specialists from all scientific horizons thus shed light on this subject, either through the study of targeted cases, including several recent discoveries, or through highlighting characteristics common to all the kingdoms.