As a strategical point, there was no more formidable position than Cyprus; it formed a common centre within immediate reach of Alexandria and all the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor.
The Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon were the English of to-day; the Egyptians and the Greeks were followed as the world grew older by the Venetians and Genoese, and throughout the world's history no point possessed a more constant and unchangeable attraction from its geographical position and natural advantages than the island of Cyprus, which in turn was occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Byzantine rulers, Saracens, Byzantine rulers again, English, Lusignans, Venetians, Turks, and once more English in 1878.
The countries which surrounded this great inland sea were rich; the climate throughout its course combined the temperate with almost tropical, according to the changes of seasons; accordingly, the productions of the earth varying upon the northern and southern coasts, were all that could be required for the necessities of the human race.
The Phoenicians, who first circumnavigated Africa by passing through the then existing canal between Suez and the Nile, coasted the whole voyage, as did in later years the famous Portuguese, Vasco di Gama, and stations were formed along the shores at convenient intervals.
