The culture is shattered, and eventually the neighboring Myceneans from mainland Greece exploit this weakness and take over," he continued.

Bronze Age man - who left behind the remains of a 2,300-year-old cargo boat which can still be seen in Kyrenia Castle - was followed by the Myceneans of classical antiquity, then the Romans, Byzantines, Lusignans, Venetians and Ottomans.

Scholars were so successful at defining Myceneans as Aryan ancestors of the Greeks and downplaying Egyptian or Assyrian influences on Greek art that even art historians without an ax to grind against "Semites" thought it necessary to distinguish Oriental contributions to Greek art from the pure Greek component, tracing to Mycenean art the creative, dynamic impulses in Greek art that brought an element of change to static Oriental art.