Cyprus, Colonised by Most Empires

The Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus is probably one of the most ancient of civilised countries in the world, with a history of more than twelve thousand years of civilisation and human development. Yet, hardly ever was Cyprus completely liberated from the most ancient and historical empires of the Middle East and the European dynasties. From the ancient classical times, the Greeks settled in Cyprus and remained until the present times. Since Alexander the Great's occupation, the Ptolemaic period, Cleopatra's kingdom, and thereafter centuries long of Byzantine Hellenism, the Cypriots remained as Grecian as any other part of the prolonged Hellenic history. Otherwise, Empires such as the Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Italian Kingdoms, French, Franks, Ottoman, British, and Turks, are just a few of the people who made Cyprus their own.