Pestarino, Beatrice; (2021) Kypriōn Politeia: the political and administrative systems of the classical Cypriot city-kingdoms. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The thesis aims to reconstruct the political and administrative systems of the Cypriot city-kingdoms during the classical period. It analyses inscriptions, some specific case studies, written in a variety of languages such as Cypriot-syllabic Greek, Eteocypriot and Phoenician. New textual readings and a fresh interpretation of the content of these documents show that the Cypriot city-states shared similar political and administrative systems. The administrative one was strictly connected to the exploitation of the island’s resources. It managed the collection, processing and sale of local products. They could come from the land of the king or from the land of private citizens, who may have received their territory as gift by the sovereign. Products’ processing and storage took place in palaces and administrative buildings – located in both the centre and periphery of the city-states – where officials and specialised workers were employed. Some case studies show that these offices were hierarchical and hereditary. The political system, on the contrary to the administrative one, differs more amongst the polities: some magistracies are specific to some city-kingdoms and never attested in others. Furthermore, this system has seen more changes over the years, particularly during the fifth and fourth century BC. New offices developed beyond the king, and polis and ‘M (people) started to appear in governmental inscriptions. The polis or the ‘M became contractors along with the sovereigns in agreements concerning the management of the city-states. This may suggest the development of more ‘republican’ institutions beyond the king, perhaps assemblies. The thesis concludes that one of the reasons of this development was the reform of the administration of the Achaemenid Empire to which Cyprus belonged during the classical period. The local population may have requested a greater representation in light of the new tax, the phoros, that the city-states had to pay to the Great King.

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