PERIOD GUIDE · Cyprus
The Department of Antiquities, Cyprus table gives the Byzantine period the years 965-1191. On this site it is represented by two painted churches in the Troodos, Asinou and Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis, whose painting phases continue long after the period ends.
965-1191 CEMove through the periods
The whole scheme with this period marked; the periods before and after are its neighbours in the row. Boundaries follow the sources and are not to scale.
In the chronological table of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, the Byzantine period runs from 965 to 1191, for the whole island. The Department of Antiquities pages cited here could not be opened for checking on 24 October 2026; the details from them follow notes taken from those pages at an earlier stage and were not re-checked. Both limits fall within entries of the Met's timelines: in ca. 965-969 Cyprus was "firmly reincorporated into the Byzantine empire" under Nikephoros II Phokas, and in 1189-1192 the English king Richard I Lionheart, on the Third Crusade, established the Crusader kingdom of Cyprus "after seizing control of the Byzantine island". Sources 1, 2, 3.
The table's year 1191 lies within the entry for 1189-1192, which gives no exact year for the seizure of the island; this is not a contradiction, only a different precision. According to the same entry, the event marks "the decisive influx of Western artistic traditions into Cyprus". The painting phases of the churches on this page cross the boundary: the UNESCO page on the painted churches in the Troodos mentions 14th-century wall paintings at Panagia Phorbiotissa, that is, Asinou, and at Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis the latest phase, according to the Department of Antiquities page, is of 1633, after 1571, the end of the Venetian period with which the site's scheme for Cyprus ends. Sources 3, 4, 5, 1.
Two articles are placed in this period. "Asinou: what a dated dedicatory inscription tells" deals with a church that, according to its inscription of 1105/6, was built with the donation of the magistros Nikephoros Ischyrios, and with a monastery founded in 1099. "Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis: a church and its layers of painting" follows an 11th-century church whose painting phases continue until 1633. The UNESCO page counts both churches among those in which "important examples of the 11th century iconography survive". Sources 6, 5, 4.
Source
The research and references behind this page. Rights to external content remain with their owners.
Department of Antiquities, Cyprus · Not opened for checking
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2001 · Checked
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2001 · Checked
UNESCO World Heritage Centre · Checked
Department of Antiquities, Cyprus · Not opened for checking
Department of Antiquities, Cyprus · Not opened for checking
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