TO THE DEATH OF CIMON

The Egyptian hold over Cyprus broke before the advance of the Persian Empire. The menace may have been felt as early as the fall of Croesus in Sardes in 546. Before the expedition of Cyrus against Babylon in 538 the Cypriotes voluntarily placed their forces at his disposal. In acknowledgment of this support the Cypriotes, like the Cilidans and Paphlagonians, who had acted likewise, were not put under satraps sent out from the capital, but were allowed to retain their own rulers. Cyprus became the western seaward limit of the Persian Empire.

It is to the period of Persian rule that we may most probably refer the settlement in Cyprus of Aethiopians. Cambyses made an expedition against the land of Cush, which was afterwards subject to Persia; for the Cushites are mentioned as subjects of Darius, and the Aethiopians are recorded by Herodotus as doing military service in the campaign of Xerxes. Thus it is by no means impossible that Aethiopians should have been settled in Cyprus in the sixth or early fifth century.

Though the island formed part of the Persian Empire, it enjoyed a kind of undefined independence. The royal status of the rulers of its cities was respected; later, when Euagoras I was negotiating for peace, it was as a king (subordinate it is true to the Great King) that he insisted on being recognized.