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Koine
Also called: koiné
A common culture, style or language shared across several regions; from the Greek word for 'common'.
The word first named the common Greek dialect of the Hellenistic world, and archaeologists extend it to any widely shared set of styles and habits. In Cypriot archaeology it describes the Hellenistic koine that Cyprus joined under the Ptolemies, visible in portraiture, pottery and architecture, and the mixed island culture of the Iron Age, 'neither purely Greek nor purely Cypriot'.
Recent work stresses that a koine can hide a great deal of local variation, and the Hellenistic koine of Cyprus has been called a superficial veneer over persistent local traditions. See Hellenistic Cyprus.
Full entry: Hellenistic Cyprus
Related terms
- Arcado-Cypriot
The group of ancient Greek dialects shared by Arcadia in the Peloponnese and by Cyprus, and the form of Greek written in the Cypriot Syllabary.
- Aegean
The sea between Greece and Turkey and the lands around it, including Crete, the Cyclades and mainland Greece, home of the Minoans and Mycenaeans.
- Levant
The lands along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, roughly modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, facing Cyprus to the east.