Anticyra
Encyclopedia
Anticyra, or Antikyra the ancient (and modern) name of a city in Phokis, Greece
.
; until the early 20th century it was called "Aspra Spitia", a name given after 1960 to a wholly new adjacent settlement
, 3 km to the East; in Phocis, on the bay of Anticyra, in the Corinthian gulf
; some remains are still visible. It was a town of considerable importance in ancient times.
It is identified with the Homeric Kyparissos, appearing in the Catalogue of Ships
, from where the Phokian fleet sailed to Aulis and then to Troy
. In Roman times still existed in Antikyra the grave of Schedios and Epistrophos, the admirals of the Phokian fleet. The name Kyparissos was due to the city's mythical founder, Kyparissos
, who was son of Orchomenus
and brother of the king Minyas
.
Hellebore was the main reason for Antikyras' fame all over the ancient world. The city was famous for its black hellebore (helleborus niger
), and for a drug elaborated from the base of white hellebore (veratrum album
). Both species of hellebore are herbs which grew in the vicinity of Antikyra and were regarded as a cure for insanity. This circumstance gave rise to a number of proverbial expressions, like Αντικυρας σε δει or "naviget Anticyram," and to frequent allusions in the Greek and Latin writers. Hellebore was likewise considered beneficial in cases of gout and epilepsy.
during the Third Sacred War
, in 346 BC. It recovered however quickly its prosperity, as one can judge by the construction of an Artemis temple and the commissioning of the cult statue to the famous sculptor Praxiteles
, already by 330 BC. Later Antikyra has been besieged and destroyed several times during the Roman-Macedonian conflict. In 198 BC was captured by Titus Quinctius Flamininus
, who choose it as winter base for his army. During the 2nd century BC Antikyra struck autonomous bronze coins with the head of Poseidon on the obverse and Artemis bearing a torch and an arch on the reverse.
, who visited the city during the third quarter of the 2nd century AD, gives a detailed account of it: a temple of Poseidon
in the city with a bronze statue of the god in the familiar “Lateran type”, two gymnasia, one with a statue of the Olympic winner Xenodamos (winner in pangration during the delayed Olympic games of 67 AD, due to the participation of emperor Nero), an agora with many bronze statues, a sheltered well, the grave of Schedios and Epistrophos, and two temples of Artemis extra muros, one dedicated to Artemis Diktynna and the other (with the Praxiteles sculpture) to Artemis Eileithyia (according to a recently found inscription).
period the city was a bishopric, and a large five-nave basilica with mosaic floor has been unearthed during the 1980s. It seems that major destruction of the city and its buildings occurred around 620 AD by a mighty earthquake. During the 14th century the city was a fortified port of the Catalans
, named Port de Arago and probably belonging to the dominium of the county of Salona (mod. Amphissa
).
, who found the first among the several known inscriptions mentioning its name. Latter investigations by Lolling, Dittenberger, Fossey, the 10th Archaeological Ephorate and the 1st Byzantine Ephorate brought to light several testimonies of Antikyra’s glorious past. Among the most noteworthy remains is an Archaic temple of Athena, in which a fine bronze late Archaic / Sever style statuette of the goddess has been found, a large part of the 4th century BC isodomic fortification walls of the city with two rectangular towers, and an early Christian bath with hypocaustum, as part of a large house.
, on the right bank of the river Spercheus
, near its mouth. It is called usually "Mallian Antikyra" after the Mallian gulf, on the shores of which it was located.
For a long time it was believed that a third Antikyra existed somewhere in Locris
, on the north side of the entrance to the Corinthian gulf, near Naupactus
. This view has been proven to be a misunderstanding of Titus Livius, who did not know the area.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Name and Mycenaean past
Mod. name AntikyraAntikyra
Antikyra is a town and a former community in Boeotia, Greece, near the location of the ancient settlement Anticyra. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 2,984 . Antikyra is located about...
; until the early 20th century it was called "Aspra Spitia", a name given after 1960 to a wholly new adjacent settlement
Paralia Distomou
Paralia Distomou is a village in the municipal unit Distomo, in Boeotia, Greece. Its 2001 population was 1,258. The settlement was founded in 1960 by the Aluminio tis Ellados...
, 3 km to the East; in Phocis, on the bay of Anticyra, in the Corinthian gulf
Gulf of Corinth
The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece...
; some remains are still visible. It was a town of considerable importance in ancient times.
It is identified with the Homeric Kyparissos, appearing in the Catalogue of Ships
Catalogue of Ships
The Catalogue of Ships is a passage in Book 2 of Homer's Iliad , which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy...
, from where the Phokian fleet sailed to Aulis and then to Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
. In Roman times still existed in Antikyra the grave of Schedios and Epistrophos, the admirals of the Phokian fleet. The name Kyparissos was due to the city's mythical founder, Kyparissos
Cyparissus
In Greek mythology, Cyparissus or Kyparissos was a boy beloved by Apollo, or in some versions by other deities. In the best-known version of the story, the favorite companion of Cyparissus was a tamed stag, which he accidentally killed with his hunting javelin as it lay sleeping in the woods...
, who was son of Orchomenus
Orchomenus
-Greek mythology:*Orchomenus, a king, the father of Elara*Orchomenus, one of the twenty sons of Lycaon*Orchomenus, son of Zeus and Isonoe, father of Minyas and Kyparissos*Orchomenus, a son of Athamas and Themisto-Ancient Greek geography:...
and brother of the king Minyas
Minyas (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Minyas was the founder of Orchomenus, Boetia. As the ancestor of the Minyans, a number of Boeotian genealogies lead back to him, according to the classicist H.J. Rose...
.
Hellebore
According to a different tradition the city was named Antikyra after another mythical hero, Antikyreus, who cured Herakles' mania with hellebore.Hellebore was the main reason for Antikyras' fame all over the ancient world. The city was famous for its black hellebore (helleborus niger
Helleborus niger
Helleborus niger, commonly called Christmas rose or black hellebore, is an evergreen perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae...
), and for a drug elaborated from the base of white hellebore (veratrum album
Veratrum album
Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine (also known as White Hellebore, European White Hellebore, White Veratrum; syn...
). Both species of hellebore are herbs which grew in the vicinity of Antikyra and were regarded as a cure for insanity. This circumstance gave rise to a number of proverbial expressions, like Αντικυρας σε δει or "naviget Anticyram," and to frequent allusions in the Greek and Latin writers. Hellebore was likewise considered beneficial in cases of gout and epilepsy.
Classical and Hellenistic periods
Antikyra was destroyed by Philip II of MacedonPhilip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
during the Third Sacred War
Third Sacred War
The Third Sacred War was fought between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon, and the Phocians...
, in 346 BC. It recovered however quickly its prosperity, as one can judge by the construction of an Artemis temple and the commissioning of the cult statue to the famous sculptor Praxiteles
Praxiteles
Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...
, already by 330 BC. Later Antikyra has been besieged and destroyed several times during the Roman-Macedonian conflict. In 198 BC was captured by Titus Quinctius Flamininus
Titus Quinctius Flamininus
Titus Quinctius Flamininus was a Roman politician and general instrumental in the Roman conquest of Greece.Member of the gens Quinctia, and brother to Lucius Quinctius Flamininus, he served as a military tribune in the Second Punic war and in 205 BC he was appointed propraetor in Tarentum...
, who choose it as winter base for his army. During the 2nd century BC Antikyra struck autonomous bronze coins with the head of Poseidon on the obverse and Artemis bearing a torch and an arch on the reverse.
Roman period
PausaniasPausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...
, who visited the city during the third quarter of the 2nd century AD, gives a detailed account of it: a temple of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
in the city with a bronze statue of the god in the familiar “Lateran type”, two gymnasia, one with a statue of the Olympic winner Xenodamos (winner in pangration during the delayed Olympic games of 67 AD, due to the participation of emperor Nero), an agora with many bronze statues, a sheltered well, the grave of Schedios and Epistrophos, and two temples of Artemis extra muros, one dedicated to Artemis Diktynna and the other (with the Praxiteles sculpture) to Artemis Eileithyia (according to a recently found inscription).
Middle Ages
In early ByzantineByzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
period the city was a bishopric, and a large five-nave basilica with mosaic floor has been unearthed during the 1980s. It seems that major destruction of the city and its buildings occurred around 620 AD by a mighty earthquake. During the 14th century the city was a fortified port of the Catalans
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
, named Port de Arago and probably belonging to the dominium of the county of Salona (mod. Amphissa
Amfissa
Amfissa is a town and a former municipality in Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is also the capital of the regional unit of Phocis...
).
Modern times
The city was identified with the ancient Antikyra in 1806 by William Martin LeakeWilliam Martin Leake
William Martin Leake, FRS , British antiquarian and topographer, was born in London.After completing his education at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and spending four years in the West Indies as lieutenant of marine artillery, he was sent by the government to Constantinople to instruct the...
, who found the first among the several known inscriptions mentioning its name. Latter investigations by Lolling, Dittenberger, Fossey, the 10th Archaeological Ephorate and the 1st Byzantine Ephorate brought to light several testimonies of Antikyra’s glorious past. Among the most noteworthy remains is an Archaic temple of Athena, in which a fine bronze late Archaic / Sever style statuette of the goddess has been found, a large part of the 4th century BC isodomic fortification walls of the city with two rectangular towers, and an early Christian bath with hypocaustum, as part of a large house.
Other cities of the same name
In ThessalyThessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, on the right bank of the river Spercheus
Spercheus
In Greek mythology, Spercheus or Spercheios was the name of a river in Thessaly , and of the god of that river. According to Antoninus Liberalis, Cerambus was punished for claiming that the nymphs of Mount Othrys were daughters of Spercheus by Deino...
, near its mouth. It is called usually "Mallian Antikyra" after the Mallian gulf, on the shores of which it was located.
For a long time it was believed that a third Antikyra existed somewhere in Locris
Locris
Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of three distinct districts.-Locrian tribe:...
, on the north side of the entrance to the Corinthian gulf, near Naupactus
Naupactus
Naupactus or Nafpaktos , is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafpaktia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
. This view has been proven to be a misunderstanding of Titus Livius, who did not know the area.