Kyrenia
Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the control of Northern Cyprus.
While there is evidence showing that the wider region of Kyrenia has been populated before, Greek myths suggest Kyrenia was founded by the Achaeans Cepheus and Praxandrus who ended up there after the Trojan War. The heroes named the new city after their hometown Kyrenia in Achaea, Greece.
As the town grew prosperous, the Romans established the foundations of its castle in the 1st century AD. Kyrenia grew in importance after the 9th century due to the safety offered by the castle, and played a pivotal role under Lusignan rule as the city never capitulated. The castle was most recently modified by the Venetians in the 15th century. The city surrendered to the Ottoman Empire in 1571.
The city's population was almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians in 1831, with a slight Muslim majority. However, with the advent of British rule, many Turkish Cypriots fled to Anatolia, and the town came to be predominantly inhabited by Greek Cypriots. While the city suffered little intercommunal violence, its Greek Cypriot inhabitants, numbering around 2,650, fled or were forcefully displaced in the wake of the Turkish invasion in 1974. Currently, the city is populated by Turkish Cypriots, mainland Turkish settlers, and British expats, with a municipal population of 33,207.
Kyrenia is a cultural and economical centre, described as the tourism capital of Northern Cyprus. It is home to numerous hotels, nightlife and a port. It hosts an annual culture and arts festival with hundreds of participating artists and performers and is home to three universities with a student population around 14,000.
History
Ancient times
The earliest document which mention Kyrenia is the Periplus of Pseudo Skylax. It dates to the thirteenth century but is based on fourth-century BC knowledge. The manuscript names numerous towns along the Mediterranean coast and mentions Kyrenia as a harbour town: "Opposite Cilicia is the island of Cyprus, and these are its city-states : Salamis, which is Greek and has a closed winter harbour; the Karpasia, Kyrenia, Lapithos, which is Phoenician; Soloi ; Marion, which is Greek; Amathus. All of them have deserted harbours. And there are also city states speaking strange languages inland." 4 Skylax referred to both Kyrenia and Lapithos as Phoenician towns. Coins with Phoenician legends underline that the Northern coast between Kyrenia and Lapithos were at least under Phoenician influence.Another topographical source is the Stadiasmus Maris Magni. The unknown author, who sailed from Cape Anamur on the Cilician coast to Cyprus and circumnavigated the island, gave the distances from Asia Minor to the nearest point in Cyprus. This was 300 stadia, around. He also recorded distances between towns. From Soli to Kyrenia he counted 350 stadia, 50 from Kyrenia to Lapithos and 550 from Lapithos to Karpasia.
Ptolemy's Geography gives the distances between the towns and settlements of Cyprus which are marked by cycles and lists Kyrenia. Ptolemy, lived in Alexandria, Egypt, around 150 AD.
Another medieval reproduction of an ancient scroll is the Tabula Peutingeriana. It is nearly long and wide and shows the road network in the Roman Empire of the 4th/5th century. Kyrenia together with Paphos, Soloi, Tremethousa and Salamis are marked by a pictogram showing two towers close together. Kyrenia is connected by a road via Lapithos and Soli with Paphos and via Chytri with Salamis.
The use of milestones during Roman times, shows that the road circuit around the island was completed. Kyrenia was connected via Soli and Paphos to the western and southern part of the island. At the same time, the road to the east was extended along the shore to Karpasia and Urania on the Karpas Peninsula. During the following centuries, Kyrenia is variously named on the maps as Ceraunia, Cerenis, Keronean, Kernia and Kerini.
Cepheus from Arcadia is believed to be the founder of the town of Kyrenia. A military leader, he arrived at the north coast of Cyprus bringing many settlers with him from various towns in Achaea. One such town, located near present-day Aigio in the Peloponnese, was also called Kyrenia. This is said to be the home of the mythical Ceryneian Hind from the 12 Labours of Hercules. East of Kyrenia lies the "Coast of Achaeans". According to Strabo, It was at Kyrenia that Teucer came first ashore, to found the ancient Kingdom of Salamis after the Trojan war.
The earliest reference made to the town of Kyrenia is found, together with that of the other seven city-kingdoms of Cyprus, in Egyptian scripts dating from the period of Ramesses III, 1125–1100s BC.
From its early days, Kyrenia's commerce and maritime trade benefited enormously from its proximity to the coast of Asia Minor. Boats set sail from the Aegean islands, traveled along the coast of Asia Minor, then crossed over the short distance to the northern shores of Cyprus to reach the two city-kingdoms of Lapithos and Kyrenia. This lively maritime activity is evident in an ancient shipwreck discovered by Andreas Kariolou in 1965, just outside Kyrenia harbour. The vessel's route along Samos, Kos, Rhodes, the Asia Minor coastline and then Kyrenia, demonstrates the town's close maritime relations with other city-kingdoms in the eastern Mediterranean.
During the succession struggle between Ptolemy and Antigonus that followed Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC, Kyrenia was subdued under the rule of the kingdom of Lapithos that allied itself with the Antigonid dynasty. Diodorus Siculus observes that in 312 BC. Ptolemy arrested Praxipos the king of Lapithos and the king of Kyrenia. Once the Ptolemies were successful in dominating the whole island, all city-kingdoms were abolished. Kyrenia however, because of its maritime trade, continued to prosper. In the 2nd century BC, it is cited as one of six Cypriot towns which were benefactors to the Oracle at Delphi, that is, it received its special representatives who collected contributions and gifts. The town's prosperity at this time is also evident from its two temples, one dedicated to Apollo and the other to Aphrodite, and from the rich archeological finds dating from the Hellenistic period excavated within the present-day town limits.
The Romans succeeded the Ptolemies as rulers of Cyprus and during this time Lapithos became the administrative centre of the district. The numerous tombs excavated and the rich archeological finds dating from this period indicate, however, that Kyrenia continued to be a populous and prosperous town. An inscription found at the base of a limestone statue dating from 13 to 37 AD, refers to 'Kyrenians Demos' that is, the town's inhabitants. Here as elsewhere, the Romans left their mark by constructing a castle with a seawall in front of it so that boats and ships could anchor in safety.
Christianity found fertile ground in the area. Early Christians used the old quarries of Chrysokava, just east of Kyrenia castle, as catacombs and cut-rock cemeteries which are considered among the island's most important specimens of this period. Later, some of these caves were converted into churches and feature iconography, the most representative of which is that found at Ayia Mavri. The latest editions of the Roman Martyrology no longer include a mention, as a martyr, of Bishop Theodotus of this see. The Greek Menologium recounts, under 6 May, that under Licinius he was arrested and tortured, before being released when the Edict of Milan of 313, of which Licinius was co-author, mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire.
Middle ages
With the division of the Roman Empire into an eastern and a western empire, in 395, Cyprus came under the Byzantine emperors and the Greek Orthodox Church. The Byzantine emperors fortified Kyrenia's Roman castle and in the 10th century, they constructed in its vicinity a church dedicated to Saint George, which the garrison used as a chapel. Then, when in 806, Lambousa was destroyed in the Arab raids, Kyrenia grew in importance as its castle and garrison offered its inhabitants protection and security. Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus, the island's last Byzantine governor, sent his family and treasures to the castle for safety in 1191 when King Richard I of England went to war with him and became the island's new ruler.Richard's rule was not welcomed in Cyprus so he sold the island first to the Knights Templar, and then in 1192, to Guy of Lusignan. Under Frankish rule, the villages of the district of Kyrenia became feudal estates and the town once again became the administrative and commercial centre of its region. The Lusignans enlarged the castle, built a wall and towers around the town, and extended the fortifications to the harbour. They also fortified the Byzantine castles of Saint Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara, which, together with Kyrenia Castle, protected the town from land and sea attacks. Kyrenia castle played a pivotal role in the island's history during the many disputes among the Frankish kings, as well as the conflicts with the Genoese.
File:Lusignan coat of arms Detail.jpg|thumb|Lusignan coat of arms detail crests above the gateway to Kyrenia Castle
In 1229, during the civil war in Cyprus, the forces of King Henry I of Cyprus and the Ibelins took the castle of Kyrenia from the supporters of Frederick II with the support of Genoese ships.
In 1489, Cyprus came under Venetian rule. The Venetians modified Kyrenia Castle to meet the threat that gunpowder and cannons posed. The castle's royal quarters and three of its four thin Frankish towers were demolished and replaced by thickset circular towers that could better withstand cannon fire.
In 1505, a plague that was thought to have originated in Anatolia killed a quarter of the town's population. Another plague that originated in the Levant and affected parts of the island struck the town in 1523.
The castle's towers were never put to the test. In 1571, the castle and the town surrendered to the Ottoman army.