Kythira


Kythira, also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is distant from the main group. Administratively, it belongs to the Islands regional unit, which is part of the Attica region, despite its distance from the Saronic Islands, around which the rest of Attica is centered. As a municipality, it includes the island of Antikythera to the south.
The island is strategically located between the Greek mainland and Crete, and from ancient times until the mid-19th century was a crossroads of merchants, sailors, and conquerors. As such, it has had a long and varied history and has been influenced by many civilizations and cultures. This is reflected in its architecture, as well as the traditions and customs, influenced by centuries of coexistence of the Greek, and Venetian cultures.

Administration

Kythira and the nearby island of Antikythira were separate municipalities until they were merged at the 2011 local government reform; the two islands are now municipal units of Kythira municipality. The municipality has an area of 300.023 km2, the municipal unit 279.593 km2. The province of Kythira was one of the provinces of Lakonia, then of Argolis and Korinthia, then of Attica Prefecture from 1929 to 1964. Then from 1964 to 1972 Kythira became part of the newly establishment Piraeus Prefecture and after dissolution of Piraeus prefecture returned to Attica Prefecture as part of Piraeus prefecture. It was abolished in 2006. From 2011 it is part of the Islands regional unit of Attica region.

History

Pre-classical and ancient

There are archaeological remains from the Helladic period, contemporary with the Minoans. There is archaeological evidence of Kythiran trade as far as Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Kythira had a Phoenician colony in the early archaic age; the sea-snail which produces Tyrian purple is native to the island. Xenophon refers to a Phoenician Bay in Kythira. The archaic Greek city of Kythira was at Scandea on Avlemonas; its ruins have been excavated. Its acropolis, now Palicastro, has the temple of Aphrodite Ourania, who may well represent a Phoenician cult of Astarte.
In classical times, Kythira was part of the territory of several larger city-states. Sparta took the island from Argos early in the sixth century BC, and ruled it under a kytherodíkes, in Thucydides' time ; Athens occupied it three times when at war with Sparta and used it both to support her trade and to raid Laconia.
Kythira was independent, and issued her own coins in 195 BC after the Achaean defeat of Sparta. In Augustus' time, it was again subject to Sparta, being the property of Gaius Julius Eurycles, who was both a Spartan magnate and a Roman citizen.
By this time, the Greek cities were in practice subject to the Roman Empire. Kythira continued to exist under the Roman Empire and its Byzantine successor state for centuries. Christianity is attested from the fourth century AD, the time of Constantine; according to her legend, Saint Elessa came from Laconia to convert the island.

Medieval and modern

Kythira is not mentioned in the literary sources for centuries after its conversion; in the period of Byzantine weakness at the end of the seventh century, it might have been exposed to attacks from both the Slavic tribes who raided the mainland and from Arab pirates from the sea. Archaeological evidence suggests the island was abandoned about 700 AD.
When Saint Theodore of Cythera led a resettlement after the Byzantine reconquest of Crete in 962, he found the island occupied only by wandering bands of hunters. He established a great monastery at Paliochora; a town grew up around it, largely populated from Laconia.
When the Byzantine Empire was divided among the conquerors of the Fourth Crusade, the Republic of Venice took her share, three eighths of the whole, as the Greek islands, Kythira among them. She established a coast patrol on Kythira and Antikythera to protect her trade route to Constantinople; Kythira was one of the islands Venice continued to hold despite the Greek reconquest of Constantinople and the Turkish presence all over the Near East. During the Venetian domination the island was known as Cerigo.
Kythirans still talk about the destruction and looting of Paliochora by Barbarossa; it has become an intrinsic part of the Kytherian folklore. One can easily accept the stories of locals by noticing the number of monasteries embedded in the rocky hillsides to avoid destruction by the pirates.
Barbary pirates ranged across the Mediterranean waters, raiding ships, coasts and islands, taking booty and slaves for the Barbary slave trade. Kythira was at the mercy of Barbary pirates due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean. In order to intercept merchant vessels, islands along the trade routes were of course more interesting for pirates. In the 17th century the small islands like Sapientza south of Messinia, Cerigo south of the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese, and along the coast of Asia minor, the then deserted islands of Fourni southwest of Samos, and the island of Psara, west of Chios, were all pirate bases.
When Napoleon put an end to the Venetian Republic in 1797, Kythira was among the islands incorporated in that most distant department of France, called Mer-Égée. Kythira shared a common destiny with the other Ionian islands during the turbulent Napoleonic era, and is still regarded as one of them; it was counted as one of the Cyclades in antiquity.
In 1799, the Ionian islands became the Septinsular Republic, nominally under Ottoman suzerainty, but in practice dominated by Imperial Russia. In 1807, the French recaptured the islands, before they were captured again by the British in 1809, who set up the United States of the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate. The British ruled over the islands for nearly half a century; under British rule, they were governed by a High Commissioner who was granted both legislative and executive powers. During the period of British rule, the city was known as Carigo or Cerigo, a name it had been acquired under Venetian control. After a long period of turbulence in the colony, which even eminent Commissioners as William Ewart Gladstone who served in the role for three weeks in the winter of 1859 failed to resolve, the British discussion whether they were a waste of money or a vital overseas possession ended with the cession of the Ionian Islands, including Kythira, to the new King George I of Greece, who was brother-in-law to the Prince of Wales.
The chief town of the island, Kythira, houses the Historical Archives of Kythira, the second largest in the Ionian islands, after Corfu.

Geography

Kythira has a land area of ; it is located at the southwestern exit from the Aegean Sea, behind Cape Malea. The rugged terrain is a result of prevailing winds from the surrounding seas which have shaped its shores into steep rocky cliffs with deep bays. The island has many beaches, of various composition and size; only half of them can be reached by road through the mountainous terrain of the island.
The Kythirian Straits are nearby.
Kythira is close to the Hellenic arc plate boundary zone, and thus highly prone to earthquakes. Many earthquakes in recorded history have had their epicentres near or on the island. Probably the largest in recent times is the 1903 earthquake near at the village of Mitata, that caused significant damage as well as limited loss of life. It has had two major earthquakes in the 21st century: that of November 5, 2004, measuring between 5.6 and 5.8 on the Richter scale and the earthquake of January 8, 2006, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the latter was in the sea about to the east of Kythira, with a focus at a depth of approximately. Many buildings were damaged, particularly old ones, mostly in the village of Mitata, but with no loss of life. It was felt as far as Italy, Egypt, Malta and Jordan.

Communities and villages

The municipal unit Kythira is subdivided into 13 communities :
  • Kythira or Chora
  • Aroniadika
  • Karavas
  • Karvounades
  • Kontolianika
  • Livadi
  • Logothetianika
  • Mitata
  • Mylopotamos
  • Myrtidia
  • Potamos
  • Fratsia
  • Friligkianika

    Climate

Kythira has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with mild, rainy winters and warm to hot dry summers.

Mythology

In Ancient Greek mythology, Kythira was considered to be the island of celestial Aphrodite, the Goddess of love. Aphrodite is said to have been birthed from sea foam rising from the severed genitals of Uranus near the island.

Cytherean

Cytherean is an adjective literally meaning of Cythera. The word Cytherean was first applied to the goddess and later, due to word taboo, to the planet Venus that had been named after the goddess.
When planetary scientists began to have a need to discuss details of the planets, a need arose for generally accepted adjectives. As the planets had traditionally been associated with gods in classical mythology, there were commonly used adjectives that already related to some characteristic of the gods; for example, Mars and "martial", Saturn and "saturnine". A consensus arose to use a slightly modified form - "Martian" for Mars, "Saturnian" for Saturn - that avoided these existing connotations.
In the case of Venus, however, the traditional adjective would have been "Venereal" or "Venerial", which was strongly associated with sex, and the alternative term "Venerean"/"Venerian" was felt by many astronomers to be too similar, and was generally avoided. The Greek name for Venus was Aphrodite; an adjective derived from that name would be "Aphrodisian", or "Aphrodisial", which was again avoided due to a similarity to "aphrodisiac". A consensus arose to use "Cytherian" or "Cytherean"; Cytherēa had been used in Greek mythology as an alternative name for Aphrodite, derived from the legend that she had been born from the sea and emerged on the island of Cythera.
The term "Venusian" was not originally popular as it was seen as clumsy; Sagan referred to it in 1966 as "a barbarism, comparable to 'Marsian', 'Jupiterian' or 'Earthian'.". However, practices shifted over the years, and in the 21st century "Venusian" is now the form most commonly used, with "Cytherean" less common.