Kynos

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Kynos on the Pyrgos hill

Kynos or Kynus ( Greek  Κῦνος ; Latin Cynus ) was the most important port city of the Opuntian Lokrians in central Greece on the northern Gulf of Evia and was the port of the city of Opus . Today it is in the district of Livanates , which belongs to Lokri .

Lore

Even Deucalion is said to have lived in Kynos and his wife Pyrrha was buried there. Also Lokros , son of Physkios and namesake of the Locrians, to have lived here. The city was finally named after Lokros' grandson Kynos , the son of Opus . The city of Kynos also took part in the battle against Troy under the leadership of Aias the Lokrer . The inhabitants of Kynos founded the city of Kanai in Aeolia opposite the island of Lesbos . 426 BC Kynos was destroyed by an earthquake. In 207 BC Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus landed with his fleet in Kynos after his plan to take Chalkis had failed.

Strabo reports that Kynos was situated on a headland and was 60 stadiums (about 11 km) from Opus, 90 stadia (about 17 km) from Daphnus and 50 stadia (about 9 km) from Mount Knemis. The distance to Aidipsos , which was opposite on Euboea , is said to have been 160 stadia (about 30 km).

exploration

The English archaeologist William Martin Leake identified the hill Palaipyrgos with Hellenistic ruins at Livanates as the remains of Kynos in the early 19th century . From 1985 to 1995 the 14th Ephoria for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities led by the archaeologist Fanouria Dakoronia carried out systematic excavations for six weeks each summer.

Shards of a crater depicting a ship

Archaeological history reconstruction

The hill Palaipyrgos, which is also called Pyrgos, Loutra and Pati, lies directly on the sea and was continuously inhabited from the Neolithic (4300-3200 BC) to the Early Byzantine period (500-600 AD). Most of the building remains discovered so far date from the late Helladic period (SH III C, 12th century BC)

Pottery shards were discovered from the end of the Neolithic and Early Helladic times . Stone box graves date from the Middle Helladic period . Houses from the Late Helladic III C (12th / 11th century BC) had walls made of adobe bricks that rested on a base made of dry stone . The houses had storage rooms and workshops. From the same time a pottery kiln including a dump with a false fire was found . The slag found here also suggests a metal processing company. The large number of weaving weights, spindle whorls and purple snails also suggest the existence of textile and dyeing factories in Kynos. The paleobotanical examination of plant remains shows that einkorn , emmer , lentils, beans, barley, flat peas and olives were grown.

While it can only be speculated for the Mycenaean period whether there was already viniculture at that time, this is considered certain for the classical period, as it was passed down through ancient literature and grapes were depicted on the Opuntian coins. Numerous animal bones were found on the ancient heaps. There were many bones from sheep and goats, pigs, horses and a small species of cattle. Numerous donkey bones were also found, but they were used for transportation. The abundance of the individual varieties shows that hunting was not just a sport, but also a source of food and raw materials for craft and shipbuilding. Their skin, hair, and even bones and horns were used in many ways (e.g. for shoes, tunics, armor, thread, tools, jewelry, clothing accessories, etc.). Wild boar bones were less represented. Overall, the large proportion of wild animal bones from the late Bronze Age suggests that there were many dense forests in the vicinity of Kynos. This is confirmed by the finds of tools made by woodcutters, joiners and wood carvers.

Middle of the 12th century BC The city was destroyed by an earthquake . Significant fragments of a crater depicting a ship were found in this layer of destruction . Kynos was rebuilt, but at the end of the 12th century BC. Chr. Destroyed by fire a second time. Since the debris was scattered and there was also marine debris, it is believed that a tsunami caused this second destruction.

The city was rebuilt, but this time only small houses were built. Small stone box graves for children were found in the floor of these houses. From the 10th century BC A house with pottery was found. The fortification walls on the hill date from Hellenistic times and were probably built by Demetrios I Poliorketes . Most of the walls from the 1st millennium BC However, they were destroyed in Roman times because the area was leveled before new houses were built. Other foundation walls date from Roman and Byzantine times. Remains of the former port facility are still visible by the sea.

literature

  • John M. Fossey: The Ancient Topography of Opountian Lokris . Gieben, Amsterdam 1990

Web links

Commons : Kynos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pausanias : Travels in Greece , 10.1,2
  2. ↑ Strabon , Geographika , 9,4,2
  3. ↑ Eustathios of Thessalonike : Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem; ad fidem exempli romani editi , p. 277 ( online )
  4. ↑ Homer , Iliad , 2.531
  5. ↑ Strabon, Geographika , 13,1,68
  6. ↑ Strabon, Geographika , 1,3,20
  7. ↑ Titus Livius , From the Foundation of the City , 28.6 ( online )
  8. ↑ Strabon, Geographika , 9,4,2
  9. ↑ William Martin Leake: Travels in Northern Greece , Volume 2, p. 174 ( online )
  10. ↑ Fanouria Dakoronia: The Transition from Late Helladic III C to the early Iron age at Kynos in LC III C, Chronology and Synchronisms , Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3146-1 , pp. 37-51
  11. ↑ Alfred de Grazia : The Iron Age of Mars , p. 151 ( online ; PDF; 5.0 MB)
  12. ↑ Elsa Nikolaou: ΠΑΙΔΙΚΕΣ ΤΑΦΕΣ "INTRA MUROS" ΤΗΣ ΕΣΧΑΤΗΣ ΧΑΛΚΟΚΡΑΤΙΑΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΚΥΝΟ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΗΣ ΛΟΚΡΙΔΑΣ in Η ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΜΥΚΗΝΑΪΚΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ Lamia 1999, ISBN 960-8063-31-0 , pp. 153–156

Coordinates: 38 ° 43 '24 "  N , 23 ° 3' 45"  E