Chytri was one of the ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus

Ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus

The ten city-kingdoms of ancient Cyprus were the Greek, Graeco-Phoenician or Graeco-Eteocypriot, states listed in an inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 673-672 BC:*Paphos, Πάφος *Salamis, Σαλαμίς *Soloi, Σόλοι...

 in antiquity. It was beautifully located in the centre of the island, in the territory of Chytraea, west of Mesaoria

Mesaoria

The Mesaoria is a broad, sweeping plain which makes up the centre of the island of Cyprus.-Geography:The Mesaoria plain is bounded on the east and west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the south by the Troodos mountains and on the north by the Kyrenia mountains. It has an area of approximately...

. Today the modern town of Kythrea

Kythrea

Kythrea is a village on the island of Cyprus.Kythrea is situated near the ancient kingdom of Chytroi which was founded by Chytros. Chytroi was one of the ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus in antiquity. According to one tradition the name Kythrea came from Chytroi...

 (Kyrka) has preserved the ancient name.

Ancient history

After 1200 B.C. and after the Trojan war many Greek immigrants led by Chytros, grandson of the Athenian Akamantas, hero of the Attican tribe of the same name, settled in Cyprus. Kythrea is situated near the ancient kingdom of Chytroi which was founded by Chytros. There has been found here a necropolis

Necropolis

A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...

. In the time of the Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

n king Assurbanipal, Pilagura was King of Kitrusi, one of the ten kingdoms on the island. Numerous inscriptions have been found in the Cypriot dialect, some in ordinary Greek. Chytri was noted for the worship of Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

, Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

 and Aphrodite Paphia. Later forms of the name are Cythraia, Cythereia, Cythroi, Chytrides; according to the late Greek work of Sakellarios

Sakellarios

Sakellarios is an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties . The title was used in the Byzantine Empire with varying functions, and remains in use in the Eastern Orthodox Church....

 (Kypriaka, 2nd ed., 202-205) Kyrka should be Cythera or Cythereia; he identifies Chytri with Palo-Kythro, a village with ruins two hours south of Kyrka. However, the historical texts mention only one town.

Middle ages

Chytri was at an early date an episcopal see. Lequien's list of the bishops of the see (II, 1069) is very incomplete, only eight being recorded: the first is St. Pappus, who suffered martyrdom under Licinius

Licinius

Licinius I , was Roman Emperor from 308 to 324. Co-author of the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire, for the majority of his reign he was the rival of Constantine I...

, Maximinus

Maximinus

Maximinus II , also known as Maximinus Daia or Maximinus Daza, was Roman Emperor from 308 to 313. He was born of Dacian peasant stock to the half sister of the emperor Galerius near their family lands around Felix Romuliana; a rural area then in the Danubian region of Moesia, now Eastern Serbia.He...

 or Constantius Chlorus

Constantius Chlorus

Constantius I , commonly known as Constantius Chlorus, was Roman Emperor from 293 to 306. He was the father of Constantine the Great and founder of the Constantinian dynasty. As Caesar he defeated the usurper Allectus in Britain and campaigned extensively along the Rhine frontier, defeating the...

; the most famous is St. Demetrian, 885-912 (?).

The Greek, i.e. Orthodox, see of similar title was suppressed in 1222 by Cardinal Pelagius, the papal legate

Papal legate

A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

, while the islands was a Latin crusader kingdom.