At the Crossroads of the Ancient World: Cyprus in the Hellenistic Age

Organizer: Cyprus Presidency - Council of the European Union, Deputy Ministry of Culture
Admission Status: Free Entry 

Archaeology

Lecture/Conference

The exact political and social organisation of Cyprus from the Classical to the Hellenistic period remain largely unknown. However, the existing philological, epigraphic and archaeological material allow us to reach some safe conclusions. This transition is a turning-point for the subsequent course of the island’s history because, probably, for the first time since the second millennium BC, Cyprus moved from a segmented to a unitary but colonial administration. This development would have many consequences not only for the political history of the island, but also for its social and cultural life. However, as in the case of Ptolemaic Egypt as well as other areas of the Hellenistic monarchies, Ptolemaic ideology seems to have taken into serious account local idiosyncrasies and earlier social structures. This was achieved to a large extent through religion. In this lecture, various interconnected aspects of social and cultural life of Hellenistic Cyprus are explored through population mobility, as well as mobility of goods and ideas. While the actions of Alexander the Great his successors brought significant transformations in these areas, many peculiarities of Cypriot cultural identity did not disappear. 

Dr Giorgos Papantoniou, Assistant Professor in Ancient Visual and Material Culture, Trinity College Dublin

The event is carried out within the framework of the Programme “Events at Embassies of the Republic of Cyprus abroad”, in the context of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026.