1489, The Last Crusader State

Cyprus, the last Crusader State,
                                           [became a colony this year,
and to the queen Catherine Cornaro,
                          [the Republic of Venice made it clear,
that she must leave the country,
          [after signing away her fate at the notary public,
in other words she was forced to abdicate,
          [and sell the administration to Venice Republic...

Venice, a new conqueror of the Greeks in Cyprus,
                           [a conquest that meant extra misery,
subordination to the Doge,
                       [that is to his army, navy, and artillery.

The Greeks were constantly harassed,
                       [hard-pressed and plundered by conquerors,
barbarians, savages, brutes, wild men, in other words,
                              [authorized by their countries torturers,

Over the centuries, a Greek leader of Cyprus,
                                   [has existed, for a while, only once,
it was the queen of Egypt, the Greek Cleopatra*,
                            [until last century's Cyprus renaissance,
where a heroic small group (EOKA*)

                                                   [of determined Greek fighters,
fought bravely, achieved independence,
              [and their struggle was glorified by poets and writers.
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to be continued

* ''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE in verse''
Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS//
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* Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. Ptolemy was a Greek general under Alexander the Great, one of the three Diadochi who succeeded to his empire. Ptolemy became ruler of Egypt (323–283/2 BC) and founded a dynasty which ruled it for the next three centuries, turning Egypt into a Hellenistic kingdom and Alexandria into a center of Greek culture. The Ptolemies spoke Greek throughout their dynasty, and refused to speak Late Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian were used on official court documents.
Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes, and later with her brothers Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom, but eventually she became sole ruler. As queen, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated Caesarion, her son with Caesar, to co-ruler in name..
Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and many dramatizations of incidents from her life in literature and other media, such as William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, George Frideric Handel's opera Giulio Cesare, George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet's opera Cléopâtre, and the films Cleopatra (1934) and Cleopatra (1963).

* EOKA was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of British rule in Cyprus, for the island's self-determination and for eventual union with Greece.
The oath of EOKA I swear in the name of the Holy Trinity that:   I shall work with all my

power for the liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke, sacrificing for this even my life.

 ELEGHOS... at history