Kythrea

Kythrea, Greek Kythrea ( Κυθραία ), Turkish Degirmenlik, is a village in the district Lefkoşa in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with about 5,000 inhabitants. The village is situated on the southern slopes of the Pentadaktylos about 15 km northeast of Nicosia and 20 km south-east of Kyrenia near the main road to Famagusta. Kythrea lies in a narrow valley, and extends over a length of about four kilometers.

In Kythrea is a commune of the Cypriot Maronite Church.

History

Chytroi, Assyrian Kitrusi (Ki -it -ru- si), ancient Greek Chytroi ( Χύτροι ), also Chythroi, is an Iron Age city kingdom and an ancient city in northern Cyprus.

As early as the Neolithic people settled in the area which at that time by water-rich sources ( Kephalovrysi ) was particularly fruitful.

In the 7th century BC was Kitrusi (Ki -it -ru- si) an independent kingdom. On the Kition stele of Sargon the ruler Pilagura is occupied. Rollinger wants to equate the name with the Greek Pythagoras

Later, the city came under the rule of Salamis and only reached 311 BC regain their independence. The importance of the city is supported by numerous Hellenistic and Roman inscriptions.

The ancient Chytroi was about 1.5 km southeast of Kythrea at the ruins of the Church of Saint Demetrius of Alexandria. To the north lay the Acropolis.

A masterpiece of bygone days is a water line from the Kephalovrysi source to Salamis, which was built as of covered canal and aqueduct. Whether the construction took place during the Roman Empire, or only during the Byzantine period, is not safe in use. Today, the source is largely dried up.

To 911 the place was raided and destroyed by Arab soldiers. In early medieval times, the place had a monopoly on the production of flour on Cyprus. 1879 there were 32 mills in the town. Today is still a mill at Başpınar in operation. Supposedly was grown in Kythrea cauliflower and brought in 1604 for the first time on the European mainland. However, this hypothesis is disputed.

1928 a statue of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus was discovered in Kythrea. The 2.08 -meter-high statue is now restored in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia.