The industry of the inhabitants of Cyprus, even at that early period, attained such celebrity, that Semiramis obtained shipbuilders from Kiti to be employed on the banks of the Euphrates. With the Phœnicians, the worship of the Syrian goddess, Astarte, was introduced into Cyprus, to whom altars were erected at Paphos, Amathus, and Idalion. How beautiful must then have been the forests reflected in the waters, the verdure of the plains, the rich colour of the blossoms, soon however to be invaded by the scorching heat of summer, whereby the last leaf, the last blade of grass would be dried up, not inaptly symbolising the new divinity, the teeming but merciless goddess Astarte. Cyprus became her most celebrated sanctuary, and the worship of Astarte, which was imported from the banks of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Nile, into Phœnicia and Cyprus, there took root, and put forth new branches, making its way towards the north-west, and at last reached the Greeks, a lively, imaginative, and energetic people, who readily embraced the new religion. After this came the Trojan War, the history of which never will be obliterated from the memory of mankind. All the noble warriors and chiefs who took part in the strife with their ancestry, descendants, and personal prowess, are freshly remembered even in the traditions of the present day, but the chief thing to be recollected is, that this memorable strife was the commencement of the struggle between the East and the West. At length the princely city of Troy was overpowered. A long and bloody strife was fought out before her walls, and upon her whitened plains are still assembled the shades of her heroes, while their fame is emblazoned in the most beautiful of heroic poems. Soon after the Trojan War, the Greeks took possession of Cyprus under the leadership of Teucer, Akamas, Demophon, Agapenor and Kephas, Praxander, and numerous other petty chieftains, seized upon the quiet bays, wherever the scenery of the coast had a tempting appearance, and speedily brought their armed ships to land. They then plunged into the dense forests, hewed down the trees, and building entrenchments, awaited armed with shield and spear, to see whether the islanders who were assembled in the distance, dared to attack them. All round the coast similar inroads were continually repeated, until at length, they ventured up the rivers and there established their domiciles; the nucleus of a petty state. The Greeks occupied Cyprus for a considerable period, and mixed with the Syrians of Phœnician or of Jewish extraction, until at length becoming assimilated both in speech and manners, they formed but one people. Certain inscriptions found in the country were at first quite impossible to decipher, insomuch that they were thought to belong to some very ancient people older even than the Phœnicians; these have however been proved quite recently to be of Græco-Cyprian origin.