After preaching in the synagogues of Salamis — the plural number indicates that the Jemsh colony was large — they went through the whole island (13^), and Ramsay (Expositor, 5th ser. iii. [1896] p. 385 fi". ) contends that SieXOovres signifies ' a missionary progress.' The verb, with the accusative of the region traversed, occurs other eight times in Acts (never in chs. 1-12), and also in 1 Co 16*, each time apparently with this meaning, and it seems to have been a terminus technicus in the missionary language of the Apostle and the his- torian. To travel across Cyprus by either of two roads — the one inland, the other along the south coast — would take only 3 or 4 days, but an evan- gelistic tour would occupy a much longer time. The Apostles had John Mark, Barnabas' cousin, himself perhaps a Cypriote, with them as their attendant (inrr/ph-r}^, Ac 13*), but he deserted them at Perga, and his conduct ultimately led to the painful separation of the two leaders (15""**). Barnabas and Mark thereafter returned to Cyprus (v.**), probably to resume a joint-ministry, of which no record has been preserved. Another Cypriote was the 'early disciple' Mnason, who may have been one of Barnabas ' converts, and who became St. Paul's host in Jerusalem (Ac 21"").
The other references to Cyprus are geographicaL The ship which brought St. Paul back to Syria at the end of his second missionary tour went straight across the high seas from Patara to Tyre, Cyprus being sighted — dvacpavivres is one of St. Luke's many nautical terms — on the left, i.e. to north- ward (Ac 21*). At the beginning of his voyage from Cajsarea to Italy, his ship sailed round the north side of the island, in order to get under its lee, and to have the benefit of the current which sets strongly westward along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphilia.
The connexion of the Jews with Cyprus ended in disaster. In A.D. 117 they rose and massacred 240,000 of tlieir fellow-citizens. To avenge this appalling crime, Hadrian banished all the Jews from the island, forbidding them to return on pain of death. If at any time thereafter a Jew was wrecked on the shores of Cyprus, he pleaded for mercy in vain (Eusebius, HE iv. 6). The later his- tory of the Cyprian Church lacks distinction. The legendary discovery of St. Matthew's Gospel in the tomb of Barnabas at Salamis gave the patriarch of the island the right to sign his name in red ink ; and the Council of Cyprus was convened for the purpose of forbidding the reading of the books of Origen 1
LiTERATimB. — E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cyptm, \. [Munich, 1903]; Perrot and Chipiez, Phinicie et Cypre, Paris, 1885; M. Ohnefalscb-Richter, Kyproa, Bibel und Homer, 2 vols., Berlin, 1893. JaMES STRAHAN.
CYRENE, CYRENIANS.— Cyrene (Kt/^i/i;), the capital of Cyrenaica, was an important city in N. Africa, about equidistant from Alexandria and
DALi\IATIA
DAMASCUS, DAMASCKN^ES 273
Carthage. It was founded by a colony of Dorians in 631 B.C., and its inhabitants retained their thoroughly Hellenic nature, though with some mixture of Libyan blood.
Standing on a plateau 10 miles from the coast, 1800 feet above the sea-level, with a background of mountains on the S., and in full view of the sea to the N., the city was famous for its beauty, its climate, and its fertility. It excelled in culture as well as in commerce. It Avas the birth-place of Aristippus, whose school of philosophy was called the Cyrenaic, of Callimachus the poet, of Eratos- thenes the father of geography, and of Carneades the founder of the New Academy. The phrase used in Ac 2i" to describe Cyrenaica, to. pAp-q ttjs Ai^vrjs TTJs Kara Kvp-qvrjv, corresponds with Al^vt] t] repl Kvp^vrjv of Dio Cassius (liii. 12) and i] vpbs Kvp^vtjv Ai^uTj of Josephus {Ant. xvi. vi. 1).
After the time of Alexander, Cyrene was subject to the Greek kings of Egypt. Jewish settlers were attracted to it at an early period. Ptolemy the son of Lagos (305-285 B.C.), 'being desirous to secure the government of Cyrene and of the other cities of Libya to himself, sent a party of Jews to inhabit them' (Jos. c. Ap. ii. 4), and in all such cities the Jews had equal rights with the Mace- donians and Greeks. Strabo (quoted by Jos. Ant. XIV. vii. 2) says that the population of Cyrene consisted of citizens, husbandmen, strangers, and Jews. The second book of Maccabees is stated to have been written by Jason of Cyrene (2 Mac 2'^). The territory of Cyrene was left to the Komans by Ptolemy Apion in 95 B.C. Cyrenaica and Crete, being separated by no great expanse of sea, were made into a dual province, Creta et Cyrence, which at the division of the provinces in 27 B. a became
senatorial. Under Eoman government the Jews had their ancient privileges confirmed (Jos. Ant. XVI. vi. 5).
Cyrenians played an interesting and important part in the expansion of the primitive Church. Simon of Cyrene (6 'Kvp-qvalos in each of the Synop- tists, Mt 27H Mk lo^i, Lk 23-«) was the cross-bearer, and his sons Kufus and Alexander were Christians well known to St. Mark's first readers (Mk 15^^). Rufus may be the ' choice Christian ' (rbv iKkeKrhv iv Kvpiuj) of Ro 16^^, whose mother had at some time ' mothered ' St. Paul. Jews and proselytes from Cyrenaica were present at the first Christian Pentecost (Ac 2^"). Cyrenian Jews resident in Jerusalem, wiiere they had a Hellenistic synagogue, were among the narrow-minded antagonists of Stephen (6^) ; but, on the other hand, Cyrenian Jewish Christians, progressive in thought and action, were among the original founders of Gentile Christianity in Antioch (11-**), and Lucius of Cyrene was one of a number of prophets and teachers in that city who are credited with the organization of the first mission to the nations (13^). A tradition which cannot be called well-founded makes Lucius the first bishop of Cyrenaica.