Around 1200 B.C., the Sea Peoples began to arrive as settlers to Cyprus, a process that lasted for more than a century. This migration is remembered in many sagas concerning how some of the Greek heroes that participated in the Trojan War came to settle in Cyprus. The newcomers brought with them their language, new technology and introduced a new outlook for visual arts. The Phœnicians arrived at the island in the early first Millennium BC. In those times, Cyprus supplied the Greeks with timber for their fleets.
In the 6th century B.C., Amasis of Egypt conquered Cyprus, which soon fell under the rule of the Persians when Cambyses conquered Egypt. In the Persian Empire, Cyprus formed part of the fifth satrapy and in addition to tribute it had to supply the Persians with ships and crews. In their new fate, the Greeks of Cyprus had as companions the Greeks of Ionia (west coast of Anatolia) with whom they forged closer ties. When the Ionian Greeks revolted against Persia (499 BC), the Cypriots, except for the city of Amathus, joined in led by Onesilos who dethroned his brother, the king of Salamis, for not wanting to fight for independence. The Persians reacted quickly, sending a considerable force against Onesilos. The Persians finally won despite Ionian help.
After their defeat, the Greeks mounted various expeditions in order to liberate Cyprus from Persian rule, but all their efforts bore only temporary results. Eventually, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) took the island from the Persians. Later, the Ptolemies of Egypt controlled it; finally Rome annexed it in 58-57 BC. No doubt the most important event that occurred in Roman Cyprus was the visit by Apostles Paul and Barnabas accompanied by St Mark who came to the island at the outset of their first missionary journey in AD 45. After their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to Christianity making Cyprus the first country in the world governed by a Christian ruler.