Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War, Greek Heroine
The Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus was fought between 1570 and 1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the latter joined by the Holy League. The war, the pre-eminent episode of Sultan Selim II's reign, began with the Ottoman invasion of the Venetian-held island of Cyprus. The capital Nicosia and several other towns fell quickly to the considerably superior Ottoman army, leaving only Famagusta in Venetian hands. Nikosia was in the hands of the Mussulmans, and the last Christian city in the East entirely destroyed. Enormous booty comprising an immense amount of jewels, gold cloth, and fine works of art, and nearly a thousand of the fairest and noblest maidens, were put on board three ships to be sent to Constantinople, as tribute from Cyprus to the Sultan. A Greek lady on board, preferring death to the fate that awaited her, found her way to the powder mazagine, which she ignited. The ship at once exploded, setting fire to its companion vessels, which were also totally destroyed. Excerpt from Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Franz von L?her, Mary Anne Joyner, 1878. Engraving appeared in The gallery of heroick women by Peter Le Moyne, 1652
