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KERYNIA (Ancient city) CYPRUS
Ceryneia (Keruneia, Scyl.; Kerunia, Keronia, Keraunia, Ptol. v. 14.
§ 4; Diod. xiv. 59; Koroneia, Korone, Steph.B.; Kurenia, Hierocl.; Kureneia, Const.
Porph.; Kinureia, Nonnus; Corineum, Plin.; Cerinea, Peut. Tab.: Eth. Kerunites,
Keronites), a town and port on the N. coast of Cyprus 8 M.P. from Lapethus (Peut.
Tab.). The harbour, bad and small as it is, must upon so iron a bound coast
as that of the E. part of the N. side of Cyprus, have always insured to the position
a certain degree of importance. Though little is known of it in antiquity it became
famous in the middle ages. (Wilken, die Kreuzz, vol. vi. p. 542.) It is now called
by the Italians Cerine, and by the Turks Ghirne. On the W. side of the town are
some catacombs, the only remains of ancient Cerynia. (Leake, Asia Minor,
p. 118; Mariti, Viaggi, vol. i. p. 116; Engel, Kypros, vol.
i. p. 80.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
On the N coast 23 km E of Cape Kormakiti. The ruins cover a large
area now occupied by the modern town. The town site is situated on the shore,
but its limits are difficult to define. The town had a harbor, used to this day
by small craft, whose ancient breakwaters are still visible behind Kyrenia Castle.
The necropolis extends W along the shore.
One of the ancient kingdoms of Cyprus, Keryneia was traditionally
founded by Kephios from Achaia in the Peloponnese. Evidence for the arrival of
the Mycenaeans in the area occurs at the villages of Kazaphani and of Karmi, both
very near the site. Archaeological evidence for the town itself, however, does
not at present support a date earlier than the Geometric period for its founding.
In Early Christian times it became the seat of a bishop. The ancient town flourished
down to Early Byzantine times when it was sacked during the first Arab raids of
A.D. 647.
Very little is known of the history. Kelena, identified with it, appears
in a list of names in the temple at Medinet Habu in Egypt of the time of Rameses
III (12th c. B.C.) but this reading is not to be trusted. The name of the Classical
town is mentioned for the first time by Skylax in the mid 4th c. B.C., by Diodoros,
and later by Ptolemy, Pliny, and Pompeius Melas, but strangely enough it is omitted
by Strabo. It is also mentioned in the list of the theodorokoi at Delphi (early
2d c. B.C.) and at Kafizin the ethnic occurs in the time of Ptolemy III, Euergetes
I (second half of the 3d c. B.C.).
It is conjectured that Themison, the Cypriot king to whom Aristotle
dedicated his "Protreptikos," was a king of Keryneia, who must have
reigned during the second half of the 4th c. B.C. Its last "dynast,"
possibly Themison, suspected of being on the side of Antigonos, was arrested in
312 B.C. by Ptolemy. From inscriptions we learn of the worship of Aphrodite and
of Apollo but nothing is known of the position of the sanctuaries.
From inscriptions also we learn that there was a gymnasium, but again
its site remains unidentified. And from an inscription of the time of the emperor
Claudius we are informed that water was carried to the town by an aqueduct from
a source at Limnal. No coins have been attributed to Keryneia. The town site itself
is still unexcavated but many casual finds have been recorded.
Practically nothing survives in the way of monuments except for some
rock-cut tombs in the W part of the town, looted long ago. In a sanctuary in the
upper part of the town many statuettes of terracotta and of limestone were found,
dating from the archaic to the Hellenistic period. In the same area some other
buildings also came to light but nothing is visible today. More recently a number
of fragmentary limestone statues and of terracotta figurines were accidentally
found in a bothros within the town. They date from Classical and Hellenistic times
and obviously belong to a nearby sanctuary. Recent rescue excavations have also
brought to light a number of tombs dating mainly from the Classical and Hellenistic
periods.
The finds are in the Keryneia and Nicosia Museums.
K. Nicolaou, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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