ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a reading of the works of the three most important authors treated in the project from the perspective of the experience and culture of exile and its impact on social thought. The revolt ignited in October 1764 by the maltreatment of the bishops of the Church of Cyprus by governor Chil Osman has always intrigued me as an instance of a premodern, prenational rebellion in which both religious communities on the island joined against the rapacity of the governor. The book discusses the occasion of commenting on the visual evidence supplied by the wall painting of the family of Dragoman Christophakis at the church of Saint George of Arpera invites the observer of Cypriot social history to direct attention to issues of gender and to the multiple and subtly disguised forms of inequality in premodern society.
