Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/281

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CYRENAICS 237 CYRUS ore reared, and a coarse kind of silk is woven. Salt in large quantities is produced. The minerals are valuable; the copper mines were of great impor- tance in ancient times (the name copper is derived from that of this island), and are again being worked. Large num- bers of sheep and goats are reared on the extensive pasture lands of the island. The principal towns are Lefko- sia or Nicosia, the capital, the only con- siderable inland town, and the seaports Larnaca and Limassol. The chief e - ports are carobs, wine, and cotton, with cheese, raisins, cocoons, wool, etc. After belonging successively to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Egypt, Persia, and again Egypt, Cyprus in 57 B. C. became a Roman province, and passed as such to the E. division of the empire. In 1191 it was bestowed by Richard of England (who had conquered it when engaged in the third crusade) on Guy de Lusignan, and after his line was ex- tinct, it fell into the hands of the Vene- tians (1489), with whom it remained till it was conquered by the Turks in 1571 and annexed to the Ottoman Em- pire. In 1878 it was ceded to Great Britain by the convention of Constanti- nople concluded between England and Turkey. The island has become much more prosperous under British adminis- tration, and roads, harbor-works, etc., hav^e been constructed, trees planted, and schools opened. The head of the government is the chief-commissioner, and there is a legislative council. Great Britain annexed the island in November 1914. Over three-fourths are Greeks, the rest Mohammedans. Pop. (1919) 311,108. Capital, Nicosia (pop. 16,632). CYRENAICS, or CYRENIANS, a sect of ancient philosophers, whose founder, like that of the Cynics, had been a disciple of Socrates, being Aristippus, a native of Cyrene, in Afri- ca, afxer which city his followers were called. His great maxim was that a man ought to control circumstances, and not be controlled by them. According to him, the sum of life was made up of pleasure and pain; the one to be sought after as good, the other to be avoided as evil. The chief good, according to him, was the greatest number of agree- able perceptions; and the true philoso- pher was one who actively and success- fully pursued pleasure. The chief suc- cessors of Aristippus were Theodorus, Heigesias, and Anniceris, each of whom became the founder of a sect known re- spectively as the Theodoran, Hegesian, and Annicerian schools. As cynicism was the forerunner of stoicism, so cyrenaicism likewise paved the way for epicureanism, which constitutes its chief merit. CYRENE, the capital of Cyrenaica, was founded by Battus and his followers from Thera, 631 B. c. Seven kings of this race succeeded, anJ about 450 B. C. a republic was established. It was afterward made subject to Egypt, and passed under the dominion of Rome, 74 B. c. The ruins of this town, called Ghrennah by the Turks, still exist, in a beautiful and fertile plain, about 11 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, and attest its former magnificence. It was the birthplace of many great men, among whom were Callimachus, Eratos- thenes, Carneades, and Aristippus. CYRIL, the name of three saints or fathers of the Christian Church. Cyril of Jerusalem, born there about A. D. 315, was ordained presbyter in 345; and in 350 or 351 became Patriarch of Jerusalem. He engaged in a warm con- troversy with Acacius, the Arian Bishop of Caesarea, by whose artifices he was more than once deposed from his epis- copal dignity. He died in 386 or 388. There are extant some writings com- posed by him. Cyril of Alexandria was educated by his uncle Theophilus, Patriarch of Alex- andi-ia, and in a. d. 412 succeeded him as Patriarch. In this position his am- bitious spirit brought the Christians into violent quarrels. At the head of the populace he assailed the Jews, destroyed their houses and drove them out of the city. Orestes, the prefect, having com- plained of such violence, was attacked by 500 furious monks. The assassina- tion of Hypatia took place, it is said, at his instigation. His quarrel with Nes- torius and with John, Patriarch of Anti- och, regarding the two-fold nature of Christ, convulsed the Church, and much blood was shed between the rival fac- tions at the Council of Ephesus in 431, the emperor having at last to send troops to disperse them. Cyril closed his restless career in 444. St. Cyril, "the Apostle of the Slavs," a native of Thessalonica. He converted the Chazars, a people of Hunnish stock, and the Bulgarians, about A. D. 860. He died about 868. He was the inventor of the Cyrillian Letters, which took their name from him, and is probably the author of the Apologies which bear his name. CYRUS, surnamed The Elder, founder of the Persian monarchy, was son of Cambyses, a Persian noble, and of Man- dane, daughter of Astyages, king of Media. The principal exploits attributed to him are the incitement to a revolt of 16 — Vol. Ill — Cyc