Cyprus

, a daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, who married Agrippa.――A large island in the Mediterranean sea, at the south of Cilicia, and at the west of Syria, formerly joined to the continent near Syria, according to Pliny. It has been anciently called A cam antis , A math us i a , Aspelia , Cerastis , Coloni a or Colinia , Macaria , and Spechia . It has been celebrated for giving birth to Venus surnamed Cypris , who was the chief deity of the place, and to whose service many places and temples were consecrated. It was anciently divided into nine kingdoms, and was for some time under the power of Egypt, and afterwards of the Persians. The Greeks made themselves masters of it, and it was taken from them by the Romans. Its length, according to Strabo, is 1400 stadia. There were three celebrated temples there, two sacred to Venus, and the other to Jupiter. The inhabitants were given much to pleasure and di ipation. Strabo , bk. 16 .— Ptolemy , bk. 5 , ch. 14 .— Florus , bk. 3 , ch. 9 .— Justin , bk. 18 , ch. 5 .— Pliny , bk. 12 , ch. 24 ; bk. 33 , ch. 3 ; bk. 36 , ch. 26 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 7 .