Cydonia or Kydonia was an important ancient city-state

City-state

A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...

 on the northwest coast of the island of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

. It is at the site of the modern-day Greek city of Chania

Chania

Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...

. In legend Cydonia was founded by King Cydon, a son of Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

 and of Akakallis, the daughter of King Minos

Minos

In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...

.

Cydonians are mentioned in book 12 of the Aeneid

Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...

, where their excellent bow skills are used in an extended Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

ian simile

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...

 describing the Fury's descent to Juturna

Juturna

In the myth and religion of ancient Rome, Juturna was a goddess of fountains, wells and springs. She was a sister of Turnus and supported him against Aeneas by giving him his sword after he dropped it in battle, as well as taking him away from the battle when it seemed he would get killed...

.

The exact location of Kydonia was not understood until Robert Pashley

Robert Pashley

Robert Pashley was a 19th century English traveller and economist. See Pashley was born in York and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. Distinguished in mathematics and Classics, in 1830 he was elected a Fellow of Trinity at his first sitting...

 worked it out based solely on ancient historical literature, without any archaeological recovery; Kydonia was centred around the present day harbour area and Kastelli Hill

Kastelli Hill

Kastelli Hill is a landform at the city of Chania on the island of Crete in the present day country of Greece. The Minoan city of ancient Cydonia was centered around Kastelli Hill, which later was selected by the Romans as the site of an acropolis.-References:...

. Today's archaeological recoveries from the ancient city of Kydonia are largely stored in the Chania Archaeological Museum in present day Chania.

Notable people

• Aristocles
  Aristocles (sculptors)
  Aristocles is a name attributed to two sculptors in Ancient Greece, as well as a nominal hereditary school of sculpture, started by the elder Aristocles, known to us primarily through different passages in Pausanias....
  
   (5th century BC) sculptor
• Kresilas
  Kresilas
  Kresilas was a Greek sculptor from Kydonia. He lived in the 5th century BC. He worked in Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian war, as a follower of the idealistic portraiture of Myron.-Pericles statue:...
  
   (5th century BC) sculptor

See also

• Malaxa
  Malaxa, Crete
  Malaxa is a village in the Chania Prefecture on Crete in Greece. The 2001 census counted a population of 178 people in the village. In ancient times the Malaxa area was under the sphere of influence of the nearby powerful city of Kydonia. Malaxa lies on the feet of the Lefka ori, and is separated...
  
  
• Lasthenes
  Lasthenes
  Lasthenes was a general of the ancient Cretan city of Kydonia at when the Romans attacked the city in 69 BC. In this era Kydonia had protected pirates and incurred the anger of the Roman Senate...
  
  
• Knossos
  Knossos
  Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
  
  
• Panares
  Panares
  Panares was a general of the ancient city of Kydonia at the time which the Romans attacked the city in 69 BC. In this era Kydonia had aligned itself with the interests of pirates and incurred the anger of the Roman Senate...
  
  
• Polychna
  Polychna
  Polychna is an ancient city on the island of Crete in present day Greece. In the year 429 BC, Polychna was in an alliance with the Athenians, who laid waste to neighbouring Cydonia....
  
  
• Cydonia Mensae, Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
  (region named after Kydonia)