Eteocypriot Myth and Amathusian Reality

Abstract

In a recent article (JMA 11: 3-29), Michael Given tried to show how British colonial propaganda perpetuated the existence in ancient Cyprus of a so-called 'Eteocypriot' population, in order to check Greek nationalism which was threatening its power in the island. At the end of this work, Given devoted some pages to discussing and questioning the historical and archaeological reality of the Eteocypriots themselves, and concluded that there is no evidence for them. In this reply, I attempt to show that this last conclusion is based on an incomplete scrutiny of both epigraphical and literary evidence now available. Indeed, it seems that we must henceforth avoid the use of 'Eteocypriot' to define this population and its language. Nevertheless, the Amathusians and their very peculiar language, far from being a '20th-century myth', are a well-documented historical reality.