Cyprus has been mentioned repeatedly in our study thus far. Experts in ancient Near Eastern history do not dispute the theory that the Sea People invaders of the late thirteenth and early twelfth centuries mentioned in contemporary Egyptian texts were from western Anatolia and the Aegean. In order for them to have gotten to Egypt, they probably would have passed by or through the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean; therefore, that is a logical place to search for evidence of Sea People/Philistine activity.

In the Bible, Cyprus is first mentioned in Genesis 10:4-5 as Kittim (ISBE 3:45; Elwell 1988, 1:563). Here it is viewed as a staging area for the coastland peoples. The next scriptural reference to Kittim or Cyprus is found in Numbers 24:23-24. This passage is part of Balaam's final oracle, and in one translation of these verses (following Albright, in part), Balak finally receives satisfaction through Balaam's prediction that the Philistines (Kittim/Kition, explained below) would overpower the Hebrews (Eber) before they themselves would be subdued.

Eber is Abraham's ancestor, according to Genesis 10:21-25 and 11:14-26 (Achtemeier 1985, 233-34; Elwell 1988, 1:648). However, not all scholars are agreed that Eber equals Hebrew (Hebrew is consonantal, and both words have the same consonants). In Numbers 24 the word could mean simply "region beyond" (ISBE 2:8; Achtemeier 1985, 233-34). Nor are all scholars agreed that Numbers 24:24 refers to the Sea Peoples. If it does and if the dating of the Sea People/Philistine attacks in the Egyptian records of Pharaohs Merneptah and Ramesses III is applied here, an approximate date for the Numbers 24 passage could be established, since all translations of verse 24 read in the future tense: "But ships shall come from Kittim." In any case, Cyprus is described again here as a staging area, and it is believed widely that the Sea Peoples did depart from there for Canaan and Egypt beginning late in the thirteenth century B.C.

The island of Cyprus is only 43 miles from the shores of Anatolia to the north, 76 miles from the Syrian coast to the east, 264 miles from Egypt in the south, and 500 miles from Athens in the west. The Late Bronze Age, especially the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries, was a prosperous period for Cyprus. Crete had previously been using the island as a convenient trading stop when going to and from the Palestinian coast. Then, in the fourteenth century B.C., the Mycenaeans replaced the Cretans, probably due to the downfall of Knossos on Crete. Imported Mycenaean pottery has been found at numerous Late Bronze Age sites on Cyprus. But the island had another advantage besides its convenient geographic location -- its abundant supply of copper. Copper plus tin are the major ingredients for bronze, and this was, after all, the Bronze Age. Cyprus became a focal point for trade going east and west between Greece and Mesopotamia and north and south between Anatolia and Egypt.

Shortly after the mid-thirteenth century B.C., Cyprus went through a drastic change because of the destruction of numerous centers in Mycenaean Greece and Anatolia, including Troy. Some of the survivors of those defeats moved on and evidently settled on Cyprus; others became plunderers throughout the region, according to records from Ugarit (Karageorghis 1984, 21), a major trading port on the Palestinian coast opposite Cyprus. In response, new settlements were constructed on Cyprus strictly for defensive purposes; among them were two sites named Pyla-Kokkinokremos (Pyla for short) and Maa-Palaeokastro (Maa for short) on the southeastern and western coasts. The artifacts that were uncovered at both sites, as well as the finely cut ashlar block masonry used for some of the construction, show that the builders and inhabitants were from Crete, Greece, and Anatolia. (Ashlar construction was known at Troy VI but not on mainland Greece. See also Raban and Stieglitz 1991, 37-38.) Both Pyla and Maa were destroyed in 1210 B.C. or shortly thereafter. Pyla had no good source of water, no agriculture. It existed strictly for military purposes, and after its 1210 destruction, the inhabitants did not return. They may have moved instead to Kition, seven miles away. Maa was resettled, and its pottery, Mycenaean IIIC:1b, gives us a clue about the new inhabitants. Following the familiar pattern, this pottery was locally made, imitating the Mycenaean pottery of the Greek mainland. Specimens of this local pottery were the first artifacts I picked up off the surface during my visit to Maa. After excavating Mycenaean IIIC:1b pottery for several seasons at Ekron in Israel, I was excited at finding identical pottery at this site on Cyprus.

According to Dr. Karageorghis, the excavator, both Pyla and Maa were military outposts originally built by invaders, possibly Sea Peoples, at previously uninhabited sites. Then after its 1210 B.C. destruction, Maa was inhabited by a new wave of Sea Peoples from the Peloponnese or the Greek islands off southwest Turkey, the Dodecanese. Dr. Karageorghis has concluded that these new invaders were Achaeans who were somehow related ethnically to the other Sea Peoples.

The Late Bronze Age on Cyprus had witnessed a great deal of trade and coexistence between peoples, including people from the Mycenaean orbit, until the mid-thirteenth century B.C. Other interesting finds which can be traced to the earlier mid-thirteenth-century wave of invaders at Pyla include a large amount of Late Minoan (Cretan) pottery as well as stone "horns of consecration" like those made famous at Knossos. Grey Minyan ware (Trojan ware) has also been recovered at various Cypriot sites, indicating contact with Anatolia.

The sequence of events at Maa and Pyla was apparently duplicated at Sinda and Enkomi, sites to the north of Pyla. The Sea People invaders often destroyed Late Bronze Age settlements on Cyprus such as at Enkomi and Kition (called Larnaca today, but the old name may also be the source of the biblical Kittim; see Achtemeier 1985, 532-33), only to rebuild them utilizing ashlar block construction in part. The rebuilt defensive wall at Maa as well as other walls at Kition, Sinda, and Enkomi are sometimes called "Cyclopean," because they call to mind the great boulder walls in the Peloponnese at Mycenae and Tiryns.

There are two finds that provide a direct link between Cyprus and the Philistine Sea Peoples. The first is a stamp seal of the late thirteenth century, which was found sealed below a floor at the southern end of a megaron at Enkomi, a site that had been destroyed and rebuilt by the Sea Peoples. A megaron is an Aegean-style palace, a long building with a central hall, a hearth, side rooms, and an open-faced porch. The seal shows a warrior crouched behind a shield in a defensive position. The warrior's headgear includes the feathered headdress characteristic of the Philistine invaders of Egypt pictured on reliefs at Medinet Habu during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III. It is suggested that the seal represents an enemy invader, due to his unheroic pose behind the shield.

The other artifact, also from Enkomi and this time from a tomb, is a beautiful ivory game box. The rectangular box with legs holds the pieces needed to play the game. The side of the box has a hunting scene carved into it: The wheeled chariot depicted is pulled by horses and bears a charioteer and a hunter carrying a drawn bow. On foot are two men wearing the feathered headgear. One of these men is spearing an animal, and the other, standing behind the chariot, is bearing an ax. His headgear is very clear, as is his kilt with its pointed tassel. This second man especially resembles some of the Philistines who attacked Ramesses III early in the twelfth century B.C. The men on the seal and on the game box are all bearded. Whereas most of the Philistines pictured at Medinet Habu are clean-shaven, a few of them are bearded.

In addition, bovine scapulae, both incised and non-incised, have been found at Tel Miqne-Ekron in Israel. Such scapulae have also been found at Kition and elsewhere on Cyprus, in the stratigraphic context of Late Cypriot IIIA (1225 B.C. and later). Scapulomancy is a divination technique that may have been used on Cyprus (Webb 1986), whereby priests tried to determine future events by studying the natural features of bovine shoulder blades. The incisions or notches must have played a role, since the incisions present on some of the scapulae at Ekron and on Cyprus appear not to have occurred naturally, but to have been cut into the bone. However, their purpose is not known. Scapulomancy was practiced elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin, but at present it is impossible to explain how or if these incised scapulae were used in cultic practices on Cyprus and at Ekron. There are other possible explanations for the presence of numbers of bovine scapulae. Oxen were common sacrificial animals on Cyprus, and of course the Old Testament also specifies the ox as one of the sacrificial animals to be used by the Israelites (e.g., Exod. 20:24; 24:5).

To summarize, Sea People settlers came to Cyprus (Maa, Pyla, Sinda, Enkomi, Kition, and other sites) late in the thirteenth century B.C., after the Trojan War, from Crete, Greece, and Anatolia. At the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the twelfth centuries more Sea People settlers arrived, this time Achaeans from the Peloponnese or from the islands off western Anatolia, according to Dr. Karageorghis, and one of their distinguishing features was their Mycenaean IIIC:1b pottery, made locally. Mycenaean IIIB imports ceased, and the new Sea Peoples evidently became the ruling class at Enkomi, Kition, and other sites. As will be demonstrated in later chapters, the sequence of events on Cyprus was reflected in findings about the Philistine sites in Canaan. Cyprus seems to have been the bridge between the Aegean and Canaan. The presence of the Sea Peoples is evident at various sites on Cyprus, and from these sites they launched their attacks on the Eastern Mediterranean coast and down into Egypt, to be repulsed first by Pharaoh Merneptah and finally by Ramesses III.