There are many legends about the Greeks founding settlements far and wide on their way back from Troy after the fall of the city. According to one of these legends, a group of Greeks led by Teucer settled on Cyprus after the Trojan War. What do we know about this tradition, and how well does it tie in with archaeological evidence?
Teucer and his Greek troops
Teucer, the leader of the Greek settlement on Cyprus after the Trojan War, was a prince of the island of Salamis in Greece and son of King Telamon.
In the Iliad, Teucer fought alongside Ajax the Great, his half-brother. Interestingly, Teucer was actually related through his mother to the royal family of Troy, the very people he was fighting against in the Trojan War.
He was a great warrior, particularly skilled as an archer. Homer mentions numerous Trojans killed by Teucer during the war.
How Teucer led the Greeks to Cyprus after the Trojan War
According to legends, due to a dispute over who would acquire Achilles’ armor, Ajax killed himself out of shame or possibly grief. Teucer, his half-brother, did not bring his body back to their home of Salamis. For this reason, Teucer’s father, Telamon, banished him from their kingdom.
Thus, Teucer had to search elsewhere for a new home. He eventually joined forces with Belus, the king of Tyre. This latter king sought to conquer Cyprus, and Teucer helped him do so.
King Belus allowed Teucer to found a city on Cyprus. The city that Teucer supposedly founded was Salamis, named after Teucer’s original home of Salamis in Greece.
Traces of this tradition can be seen as early as the fourth century BC. It appears that Lycophron, a Greek poet from that century, wrote about how Teucer married the daughter of King Cinyras of Cyprus. Pausanias, the geographer and historian of the second century AD, also wrote about this tradition.
Understanding this tradition through archaeology
What does archaeology reveal about Cyprus and a potential settlement by Greeks after the Trojan War? Interestingly, the archaeological record is very clear about when the earliest settlement at Salamis emerged. This was in the eleventh century BC.
How well does this tie in with the legend of Salamis’ founding by Teucer? Logically, this should be viewed in light of the date of the Trojan War. The traditional date is anywhere between c. 1250 BC to c. 1184 BC. With archaeology placing the foundation of Salamis in the eleventh century BC, it appears to have been a century or more too late.
Of course, many scholars question the traditional date for the Trojan War, arguing that it ultimately comes from ancient estimates using exaggerated generation lengths. Ctesias, for example, used an average generation length of 45 years, about twice as long as was actually the case.
Therefore, we cannot place too much weight on the traditional date of the Trojan War when examining this legend about the Greeks settling on Cyprus.
A later foundation
Interestingly, there is reason to conclude that the founding of Salamis remembered by the Greeks in later centuries may not have been the one that occurred in the eleventh century BC. Salamis essentially disappeared from the archaeological record after that century and did not appear again until, apparently, near the end of the eighth century BC.
It is very unlikely that the foundation of this small, short-lived town became part of Greek tradition in association with Teucer. It seems more likely that the legend of the Greeks settling on Cyprus following the Trojan War under Teucer finds its origin in the re-foundation of Salamis centuries later.
After no mention of it for at least two centuries during the Dark Ages, Salamis appears again in the archaeological record with a large quantity of Greek material culture. Various royal tombs have been found which archaeologists have dated to the end of the eighth century BC. In one of these tombs, various Greek Geometric Era bowls and dishes were found.
These tombs are also associated with Phoenician furniture, which is highly significant in view of the tradition that Teucer settled Cyprus in the service of King Belus. He was the king of Tyre, a Phoenician city-state.
Historically, we know that the Tyrians engaged in military campaigns against Cyprus at this time. The evidence from Salamis reveals their presence at this city specifically. The significance of this, along with the sudden emergence of Greek pottery and royal tombs, is immense.
Thus, archaeological evidence strongly suggests that the tradition of the Greeks settling Cyprus—allegedly just after the Trojan War—in association with the Tyrians is at least loosely based on the genuine history of the island.
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