Cyprus was originally settled in prehistory from the Levant. There are numerous traces of the Stone Age, going back to the aceramic Neolithic. Greek and Phœnician settlements belong to the Iron Age, and the development of towns, copper mining and seafaring trade can be traced to the Bronze Age. The influence of the Mycenæan culture of Greece seems to have reached the island around 1600 B.C., when local copies of Mycenæan pottery were produced, although some scholars argue that this was the result of trade and that Mycenæan settlement did not begin in earnest for another four hundred years. The island was invaded by Pharaoh Thothmes III of Egypt about 1500 BC, and was forced to pay tribute. This migration may be remembered in legends about Greek heroes who settled in Cyprus after the Trojan War. Cypriot culture remained a mixture of Mycenæan, Egyptian, Levantine and Anatolian elements.

In the 8th century BC, Cyprus became a part of the Assyrian Empire. At that time, Cyprus was ruled by eleven kings, clients of the Assyrians. In the 6th century B.C., Amasis of Egypt conquered Cyprus, which soon fell under the rule of the Persians when Cambyses conquered Egypt. Under the Persian Empire, Cyprus formed part of the Fifth Satrapy and, in addition to tribute, it had to supply the Persians with ships and crews, drawing on its seafaring culture. When the Ionian Greeks revolted against Persia in 499 BC the Cypriot kings, except for Amathus, joined at the instigation of Onesilaos, brother of the king of Salamis, whom he dethroned for not wanting to fight for independence. The Persians reacted quickly sending a considerable force against Onesilaos and crushed the Ionian rebellion.

After defeat by the Persians, the Greeks mounted various expeditions against Persian rule in Cyprus, but no effort resulted in better than temporary results. After the victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians at Issos, the Cypriot kings went over to the Macedonians at Tyre. Later, the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt controlled the island, until it was annexed by Rome in 58-57 BC. During the Roman period, Cyprus was visited by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas–who came to the island with Mark the Evangelist at the outset of their first missionary journey in 45 AD. After their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to Christianity. This is the origin of the claim that Cyprus became the first territory in the world to be governed by a christian ruler.