When our world became Christian: Crete and Cyprus during Late Antiquity

The chapter addresses the parallel history of two large Mediterranean islands – Cyprus and Crete – which experienced during Late Antiquity a series of social and cultural transformations that affected their regional identities. As far as Cyprus is concerned, the spotlight is focused on the 3rd and, more particularly, the 4th century AD, showing how Cyprus’s position in the Graeco-Roman oikoumene resets in this period. During this time, Cyprus grew into a highly connected province that was able to import and export goods by sea, based largely on its own skills and manpower, at an unprecedented level. Imperviousness to war, local opulence, and expanding commerce but limited access to the imperial power, also characterised Cyprus throughout this period. The strenuous elimination of the island’s pagan past and the concomitant spread of Christianity were the most important developments in Cypriot identity since the end of the ancient Cypriot kingdoms. The issue of Cretan regional identity is mainly addressed through evidence concerning its capital city, Gortyn. Still in the 4th century Crete was connected to Rome and Capua through patrimonial interests enjoyed in the island by high ranking Roman senators. Christianisation was another major transformation that affected Cretan society, a process opposed by part of the local ruling class. Like Cyprus, throughout the period in question the economy of Crete grew within a highly developed network of maritime links with the whole Mediterranean, reaching important levels of wealth. Although not entirely overlapping – and indeed sometimes different – the socio-economic and cultural processes that characterised Cyprus and Crete in Late Antiquity can be studied in parallel. This parallelism ceased from the mid-7th century, when Cyprus faced a much more invasive confrontation with Muslim expansion in the Mediterranean than Crete.