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Cyprus
history
Legend and reality blend
together on the island of Cyprus where Aphrodite, the Goddess
of Love emerged from the foaming wades of the shores of paphos
and impressed upon Cyprus the seal of eternal beauty. Maybe
this is why Cyprus has also been called the sweet Land.
Thought the ages people of
various lands have used many different names of Cyprus. The
origin of the name is obscure. It has been referred to as '
makaria' which means blisful and 'aspelia' which means well
adorned. In medseval times st was called 'The island of
saints', because of the island's many saints and the peity of
people. Could the name have been derived from yellow Cyprus
sun rose flower growing on the island or from the copper,
which was once found in abundance, or from the cypress tree?
Home of the gods
The Olympian gods: Zeus, Apollo,
Poseidon, Dionysus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, and
Demeter, other lesser gods and heroes, such as Asclepiads,
Persephone, Heracles Leto and the Nymphs established
themselves in Cyprus. The gods felt comfortably at home here,
having found another mountain of Olympian heights, and settled
on the highest peak of the Trodos Mountains.
Geologists say that the rocks of
Cyprus were created during the Cretaceous period, which means
they are 150 million years old. However legend tells us
that when god created the world, He tossed from His hands
lumps of Clay which fell into the sea from one of these Cyprus
was created. The centuries of vicissitudes have there
explanation too : ''God torments those He Loves or Allah
peksemeti' dissiz verir' Which means'' God gives the hardest
crust to those without teeth.
Five Finger Mountain
There are many legends about the
local landmark and many concern the formation of the Five
finger (Besparmak) mountain. One tells the story of a conceited
villager who fell in Love with the local queen and asked for
her hand in marriage. The queen
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wished to be rid of the
impertinent young man and requested that he bring her some
water from the spring of St Andreas monastery in the Karpas.
This was a perilous journey in those days. The man set off and
after several weeks returned with a sinful of the precious
water. The queen was most dismayed to see that he had
succeed, but still refused to marry him. In a fit to range he
poured the water onto the earth, seized a handful of the
resulting mud and threw it at the queen's head. She ducked and
the lump of mud sailed for across the plain to land on top the
Kyrenia Range, where it is to this day still showing the
impression of the thwarted villager's five fingers. |
Digenis
Another legend tells of the
giant Byzantine hero, Dighenis, fleeing from his Arab
pursuers. As he leapt across the sea grasped the top of the
mountain and left his hand print. Thus The Besparmak mountain
or five Fingers.
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