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Show "ENCHANTED ISLAND" Cyprus, fairy land of the Mediterranean, Mediter-ranean, which Greeks have been urging Great Britain to turn over to them, has n history no less strange thnn the fiction fic-tion of Shnkespenre's "Othello," for which tho Island, In part, Is the setting. lllchnrd Cocur do Lion wrested It from a ruler who had won It by forging forg-ing letters In his monarch's name lifter lif-ter thnt ruler, Isaac Comnonuu, had refused yo let tho CruRader's shipwrecked ship-wrecked and seatrtck lady-lovo land there the llrst time she asked. Itlchard married Bcrengnrla there and went his way, after turning over tho Island to a penniless adventurer, Guy de Luslgnnn, who founded a "feudal state amongst spice gardens an if silken luxury," and. thus established establish-ed a dynasty which has been described ns the most romantic I'uropenn history. his-tory. Cyprus bulks large In tho crotch of Asia Minor, like a bugo fist with a lean finger pointing straight nt An-tloch. An-tloch. Historically, one may Imagine, the finger should bo crooked a hit more, In perpetunl accusation of the sultan, tho degenerate fiellm II, whose generals captured the Island, Impelled In part, nt least, by the. fact thnt Sellm'a favorite wine cntno from there. Geographically, the promontory tnnrks the line of Cyprus'- prehistoric connection connec-tion with Asia's jnnlplnud, ., ' There too, rejgni'd I he,, beautiful Queen Catherine Cflpuro. adopted "daughter of Venice." who. though grlof-strlcken by her-hnshn'ml'imchth. struggled ngnlnsjlnkll" that.lHo throne mlht be, fnyjjd jot his iinhprtv clilld. ' . V '! u Early came to Cyprus ihosp "Yankees "Yan-kees of the Levant." the Phoenician. Kareon. Uit kins: of A".vrln wb'. ns IsnlHll had i; nliPsll'd lrl "tlp !'-n tlai8 pijr"- and tho I' ' '..ns BHWMIsMesi aw'i'MiTiirii m sr-- - i i captives," alio conquered Cyprus. Esarhaddon, the Caesar and Carnegie of Assyria, who left at Nineveh an indexed library of many thousands of clay tablets, received tributes from ten Cyprian kings. Pnusnnlns, Benedict Arnold of Sparta, liberated Cyprus from Persian dominion, nnd Evngoras, ono of tho Islnnd kings, hero of tho world's first known biography, penned by Isocrntes, who united tho scattered principalities, principali-ties, Is tho King Arthur of lslund tradition. tra-dition. Thus Cyprus reeks wHh composite memories of enstcrn. Greclnn, llotunn, and even Anglo-Saxon civilization. No less wns It n focal point for religions. At Kouklln, where certnln tides still pile masses of foam along tho shore, Aphrodlto Is supposed to hnvo been born of the waves. Hero nro ruins of a temple for her worship, where originally fetes were held which, as ono writer puts It, "were tho scenes of n too literal worship of Venus1," and where until recently It wns tho custom cus-tom to Immerse maidens In honor of the goddess' blrlh. Kouklla Is on the slto of tho ancient an-cient Pnphos. Tho Pnphos of todny wob tho one-tlmo Nenpnphos, where St. Paul struck blind tho sorcerer, Elymns, nnd converted Serglus Puulun, tho Uo-man Uo-man deputy. Tho preaent-dny Larnnkn Is on tho slto of tho biblical Chlttlm, whose sh'lps nro mentioned by Daniel, nnd Whoso Ivory Is referred to by Ezeklel. In Lnrnnka Is tho tomb of Lazarus, who, after being raised from tho dead, Is said to havo become bishop of the renowned city. Tho nrea of Cyprus Is nbout equal to tho combined areas of Delaware and llhodo Island, whllo Its total population popula-tion Is about Imlf that of Uio latter trtate. |