[Cyprus], an island in the Mediterranean Sea, almost rectangular in shape with a long narrow peninsula to the northeast; the island covers an area of 9601 km2; it is traversed by two mountain ranges, the northern and southern, and the river Pidias flows eastward through the valley between them. There were several commercial ports on it. Its oldest known inhabitants were the *Kittim, relatives of the early inhabitants of Greece [Gn 10:4 ]. The main city at that time was Kition. It is interesting that ceramic goods from Cyprus are found in Jerusalem as early as the Early Bronze Age and that Cypriot weapons were praised by Homer. Goliath's armor [1Sam 17:5 ff] was very similar to the armor of Greek heavy infantry, imported from Cyprus.

1 In the furnishings of Solomon's temple, we can see Cypriot influence. Before the time of Christ, the island was successively held by the Hittites, Phoenicians, Greeks, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians, who both mined copper and exported timber. In 58 BC, the island became a Roman province. The proconsul resided in Paphos. The copper mines were leased for some time by Herod the Great. In its heyday, Cyprus had up to 1,000,000 inhabitants, among them later many Jews. The forests were gradually cut down, so now more than half of the island is an arid wasteland. The beginnings of Christianity are found here even before the apostle Paul [Ac 11:20 ]. The friends of Stephen, who were driven out, fled here. Paul's companion *Barnabas came from G. [Ac 4:36 ]. Mnason, mentioned in [Ac 21:16 ], also came from here. Cyprus was the first stop on the apostle Paul's first missionary journey, which he undertook together with Barnabas [Ac 4:36 ; Ac 13:4 ; Ac 15:39 ].

Descendants of Javan [Greek Ionians, Ionian], who lived in Cyprus and other Mediterranean islands [Gn 10:4 ; 1Chr 1:7 ; Isa 23:1 ,12; Jer 2:10 ]. According to [Ezek 27:6 ], Citim [Kition, Larnaca] was the first trading city in the Mediterranean [in Cyprus] used by the Phoenicians. [Dan 11:30 ] is related by some experts - but not guaranteed - to the Romans; in [Num 24:24 ], many interpreters believe it refers to the Macedonians.

Biblical Dictionary by Adolf Novotný