CYPRUS
(Greek, “kupros”, “copper”).
Mountainous island located in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea and formerly famous for its copper mines, once leased to Herod the Great (Josephus, Ant., 16:4, 5).
Its early inhabitants descended from Chittim, a branch of the Greek race (Gen. 10:4), but it was later colonized by the Egyptians.
There were numerous groups of Jews there (Acts 4:36).
Before Stephen’s martyrdom there were already Christians from Cypro, and during the persecution that followed, many of them returned to the island preaching the gospel (Acts 11:19, 20).
It was visited by Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13:4) and later by Barnabas and Mark (Acts 15:39).
Today it is called Cyprus.