Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "KYTHIRA Island GREECE".
An island S of the Peloponnesos. The sources (Il. 10.268; Paus. 3.23.1) speak of the ancient port of Skandia, which is probably modern Kastri. The island belonged to Argos, but in Classical times on was under Sparta. The ancient city of Kythera is identified with the summit now called Palaiokastro, at the center of the island, where traces of an enclosing wall, probably archaic, are visible. Near the church of Haghios Kosmas, on the SW slopes of the mountain, rose the sanctuary of Aphrodite (Hdt. 1.105.3). Near Kastri on the SE side of the island was a Minoan settlement, begun toward EM I-II, with Mycenaean pottery in the ultimate phase. At Kastraki there have been finds of EH I-Il. There is a small museum at Khora.
M. G. Picozzi, 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.
(Kuthera). The modern Cerigo; an island off the southeast point of Laconia, with a town of the same name in the interior, the harbour of which was called Scandea. It was colonized at an early time by the Phoenicians, who introduced the worship of Aphrodite into the island, for which it was celebrated. This goddess was hence called Cytheraea, Cythereis; and according to some traditions, it was in the neighbourhood of this island that she first rose from the foam of the sea.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cythera (ta Kuthera, also he Kuthera at a later time: Eth. Kutherios:
Cerigo), an island lying off the south-eastern extremity of Laconia. Its northern
promontory, Platanistus, was distant 40 stadia from Onugnathos, from whence persons
usually crossed over to the island. (Paus. iii. 23. § 1; Strab. viii. p. 363.)
Pliny says that it was 5 miles from Malea; but he ought to have said Onugnathos,
since the island is much further from Malea than this distance. (Plin. iv. 12.
s. 19.) Cythera is of an irregular oval shape, about 20 miles in length from N.
to S., and about 10 miles in breadth in its widest part. Its area is about 112
square miles. It is very rocky and contains only a few valleys; and being the
most southerly continuation of the mountains of the Peloponnesus, it forms, together
with Crete, the southern boundary of the Mediterranean sea. After passing this
island, the ancient Phoenician and Grecian mariners entered upon an unknown sea,
not so rich in islands and harbours, with different currents and winds. If we
could obtain an account of the early Phoenician voyagers, there is no doubt, as
Curtius remarks, that we should find that the stormy Cape Malea and the island
of Cythera long formed the extreme point of their voyages, beyond which they did
not venture into the unknown western seas. The Phoenicians had an ancient settlement
in the island, which was the head-quarters of their purple fishery off the Laconian
coast. Hence the island is said to have derived its name from Cytherus, the son
of Phoenix, and also to have been called Porphyrusa or Porphyris. (Aristot. ap.
Steph. B. s. v. Kuthera; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 498, ad Il. p. 304, 36; Plin.
iv. 12. s. 19.) It was from Cythera that the worship of the Syrian goddess Aphrodite
was introduced into Greece; and consequently in the Grecian legends this island
is said to have been the spot which received the goddess after her birth from
the foam of the sea. Hence, in the Greek and Latin poets Cythera is constantly
represented as one of the favourite residences of Aphrodite, and Cytheraea is
one of the most frequent epithets applied to her. (Hesiod. Theogn. 195; Herod.
i. 105; Virg. Aen. i. 680, et alibi.)
On the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, Cythera, together
with the whole eastern coast of Laconia, was dependent upon Argos (Herod. i. 82).
It afterwards became subject to the Spartans, who attached great importance to
the island, since it afforded a landing-place for their merchant-vessels from
Egypt and Africa, and the possession of it protected the coasts of Laconia from
the attacks of privateers. Accordingly, they sent over annually to Cythera a magistrate
called Cytherodices, with a garrison of Spartans. (Thuc. iv. 53.) The Lacedaemonian
Chilon, who is reckoned among the Seven Sages, considered the proximity of Cythera
so dangerous to Sparta, that he wished it sunk in the sea; and Demaratus, king
of Sparta, advised Xerxes to seize this island, and from it to prosecute the war
against Laconia. (Herod. viii. 235.) The fears of Chilon were realized in the
Peloponnesian war, when Nicias conquered the island, B.C. 424, and from thence
made frequent descents upon the Laconian coast. (Thuc. iv. 54.)
Thucydides, in his account of the conquest of Cythera by Nicias, mentions
three places; Scandeia, and two towns called Cythera, one on the coast and the
other inland. Nicias sailed against the island with 60 triremes. Ten of them took
Scandeia upon the coast (he epi thalassei polis, Skandeia kaloumene); the remainder
proceeded to the side opposite Cape Malea, where, after landing, the troops first
captured the maritime city of the Cytherians (he epi thalassei polis ton Kutheron),
and afterwards the upper city (he ano polis). According to this account, we should
be led to place Scandeia upon the coast of the Sicilian sea, where Kapsali, the
modern town of Cerigo, now stands; and the maritime city, at Avlemona, on the
eastern coast opposite Cape Malea. This is, however, directly opposed to the statement
of Pausanias, who connects Scandeia and Cythera as the maritime and inland cities
respectively, separated from one another by a distance of only 10 stadia. Of this
contradiction there is no satisfactory explanation. It seems, however, pretty
certain that the sheltered creek of Avlemona was the principal harbour of the
island, and is probably the same as the one called Phoenicus (Phoinikous) by Xenophon
(Hell. iv. 8. § 7), a name obviously derived from the Phoenician colony. About
three miles above the port of Avlemona are the ruins of an ancient town, called
Paleopoli, which is evidently the site of the upper city mentioned by Thucydides.
Here stood the ancient temple of Aphrodite, which was seen by Pausanias.
In B.C. 393, Cythera came again into the possession of the Athenians,
being taken by Conon in the year after the battle of Cnidus. (Xen.) It was given
by Augustus to Eurycles to hold as his private property. (Strab. viii. p. 363.)
Its chief productions in antiquity were wine and honey. (Heraclid. Pont. s. v.
Kutherion.) The island appears to have been always subject to foreign powers,
and consequently there are no coins of it extant. It is now one of the seven Ionian
islands under the protection of Great Britain. Its modern name Tzerigo, in Italian
Cerigo, is remarked by Leake as almost the only instance of a Slavonic name in
the Greek islands. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 69, seq.; Curtius, Peloponnesos,
vol. ii. p. 298, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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