Kirra, Phocis

Coordinates: 38°25′57″N 22°27′02″E / 38.4325°N 22.4505°E / 38.4325; 22.4505
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Kirra
Κίρρα
UTC+3 (EEST
)
This article is about the modern subdivision of the port of Itea, Phocis. For other uses, see Cirrha (disambiguation).

Kirra (

Latin: Cirrha[2]) is a village in Phocis, Central Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Itea, to which it is adjacent. Kirra is the point where the Pleistos river meets the Gulf of Iteas, a bay of the Gulf of Corinth
.

Ancient history

Main article: Cirrha

In ancient times

Anthele (initially) and of Apollo in Delphi. The Amphictyony consulted the oracle for advice on dealing with Kirra, and the reply was a call for war. Tradition goes that they added a curse in the name of Apollo: that the soil should bring forth no crops, that the children of the women and livestock should be deformed, and that the entire ethnic group that inhabited the city should be eradicated.[3] The ensuing war lasted for ten years (595 BC-585 BC) and became known as the First Sacred War
.

A leading figure of the attack was the

asclepiad named Nebros,[5] or, according to another version the Athenian Solon[6] advised the allies to poison the water with hellebore. The hellebore soon rendered the defenders so weak with diarrhea that they were unable to continue resisting the assault. Kirra was captured and the entire population was slaughtered. Nebros was an ancestor of Hippocrates of Kos, so this story has caused many to wonder whether it might not have been guilt over his ancestor's use of poison that drove Hippocrates to establish the Hippocratic Oath.[3]

Later historians told different stories. According to

Anticyra, where it was abundant. The stories of Frontinus and Polyaenus both have the same result as Thessalos's tale: the defeat of Kirra.[3]

The last major historian to advance a new story of the siege was

wells and rainwater collection. Solon then added a great quantity of hellebore to the water of the Pleistos and let it flow into Kirra. The poisoning then allowed the allies to destroy the city.[3]

Archaeological remains

Archaeological excavations proved that the first settlement in Kirra dates to the 3rd millennium B.C. and was located close to the present-day church of the Dormition of Mary. The settlement, inaugurated in the Early Helladic Period, thrived throughout the Middle Helladic period and in the early Mycenaean era. Archaeological sections throughout the modern settlement revealed houses, streets and several tombs as well as a pottery kiln. In the historic era, Kirra was referred to in the ancient authors as port of Delphi. Port infrastructure, part of which is still visible, protected the city from the sea, whereas a sturdy wall, with rectangular towers, built probably in the mid-4th century B.C. protected the settlement from inland attacks. The shipyards, the best preserved monument, were built in the 5th century B.C. They consisted of at least five rectangular and long compartments, in which small ships and boats could be dragged from the sea for repairs. At the back of the complex lay two rooms, probably used by the travelers as storage space or for their own rest. An important sanctuary, dedicated to Apollo, Artemis and Leto was also extant in Kirra. Next to the modern Church of the Dormition of Mary a rectangular area was discovered, measuring 160 x 130 meters and surrounded by porticoes giving to the interior open-air rectangle, where the temple building was erected. A number of clay figurines were discovered here and displayed nowadays in the Archaeological Museum of Amphissa.[7]

Modern Kirra

Kirra is part of the

water sports
. Excavations in the region have revealed traces of habitation since the Early Helladic period with a prosperity period in the Middle Helladic period. A sanctuary, possibly dedicated to Poseidon, has been excavated close to the beach of the modern town. The Medieval tower on the seaside as well as some traces of port infrastructure attest to the prosperity of Kirra in the Byzantine and Frankish period.

Name

  • Cirrha (Kirra) was a nymph from whom the town of Cirrha in Phocis was believed to have derived its name.
  • Kirra is another name for the nymph
    Erinys ("implacable") is specially applied to Demeter and the Phrygian mother goddess, Cybele
    .

Cultural references

References

  1. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
  2. ^ Public Domain Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Crissa". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 1. London: John Murray. p. 706.
  3. ^
    ISBN 1-58567-348-X
    . pages 100–101
  4. ^ We should here note that in archaic Greece a 'tyrant' was simply an aristocrat who gained supreme power against his fellow aristocrats, usually with the support of the people. The word did not necessarily mean a despot.
  5. ^ Πρεσβευτικός Λόγος 17-19
  6. ^ Pausanias, X, 37, 7-8
  7. ^ "Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού | Κίρρα".

Sources

  • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.37.8.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kirra Fokidas.
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