The decline of the Hellenistic states coincided with the rise of Rome. The period of about thirty years until 30 BC was marked by the struggle for power in Rome. The Senate had lost its authority over the generals, who fought among themselves for supreme power. Julius Caesar eventually assumed the dictatorship, determined to reform the empire's government. His assassination in 44 BC was followed by unrest until Octavian, Caesar's grandson, came to power as Emperor Augustus.

Augustus implemented many of the reforms initiated by Caesar, including the abolition of agriculture by the collection of taxes. This reform allowed the government to spend a lot on public works without weighing on the finances of the farmers.

A large-scale construction program started in Cyprus. New ports were built, roads were laid, aqueducts were built to channel water to cities that had temples, markets, theatres and other public services.

In 46 AD Paul and Barnabas, a native of Salamis, went to Paphos where they revealed the Gospel to the Roman governor Sergius Paulus. He converted and thus became the first Christian ruler of the world. Barnabas later preached in Salamis where he was finally martyred by the Jews.

Paul and Barnabas' mission was to have far-reaching implications, allowing the church in later years to demonstrate its apostolic origin and justifying its claim to be independent of the patriarch of Antioch.

After their revolt was quelled in Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans, many Jews settled in Cyprus, particularly in Salamis. Here in 115 AD, they rebelled again, and the carnage that followed in the next two years pushed Rome to expel all Jews from the island.

For the next 50 years Cyprus enjoyed unparalleled prosperity, but the degeneration of the Roman empire left the country in a sad situation. The situation improved under Constantine the Great (324-337 AD), who attempted to tie his empire with the glue of Christianity, but in 364 AD the empire split and the Eastern half was governed by the new capital of Constantinople, located on the Bosphorus.