Massacre in Nicosia

The Massacre in Nicosia was a massacre committed by the Ottomans during Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573).

Map of the siege of Nicosia, by Giovanni Camoccio, 1574

On 3 July 1570, Cyprus was invaded by troops of the Ottoman Empire. On 22 July Piali Pasha, having captured Paphos, Limassol and Larnaca, marched his army towards Nicosia and laid siege to the city.^[1] The city managed to last 40 days under siege until its fall on 9 September 1570..^[2]

Approximately 20,000 Greek inhabitants died during and following the siege and every church, public building, and palace was looted.^[3] Nicosia had an estimated population of 21,100 before the Ottoman invasion and, based on the Ottoman census data of 1572, the population was reduced to 1,100–1,200.^[4] The devastation of the city was so extensive that, for several years after the conquest, a number of Cypriot villages had a larger population than the city.^[5] The main churches, including Saint Sophia Cathedral, were converted into mosques.^[6]

Finally, after 45 days of siege, on 9 September, the 15th assault succeeded in breaching the walls^[7] after the defenders had exhausted their ammunition. A massacre of the city's 20,000 inhabitants ensued. Even the city's pigs, regarded as unclean by Muslims, were killed, and only women and boys who were captured to be sold as slaves were spared.^[2] A combined Christian fleet of 200 vessels, composed of Venetian (under Girolamo Zane), Papal (under Marcantonio Colonna), and Neapolitan/Genoese/Spanish (under Giovanni Andrea Doria) squadrons that had belatedly been assembled at Crete by late August and was sailing towards Cyprus, turned back when it received news of Nicosia's fall.^[8][9]

Arnaude de Rocas is a legendary personality from Cyprus, remembered there as a martyr^[10] and a Cypriot heroine.^[11]