Was Cyprus the island of Atlantis? A Mediterranean empire with its centre in Cyprus? In antiquity people used to believe that. Hebrew texts call the whole of the Mediterranean basin "The Lands of Kittim" Kittim being the ancient name for modern day Larnaca. Other ancient writers clearly state that Cyprus once ruled all the islands. You find it difficult to believe? Don't worry you are not the first one. Plato felt the need to start his Atlantis text with: "Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is certainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of the seven sages" Solon not only knew the story of Atlantis well, but he also knew Cyprus very well. And both places seem astonishingly similar. In this book we will analyse ancient texts trying to make sense of a period for which very little written accounts survived. We will try to reconcile history with the myth of Atlantis.
