17 Facts About Kythira

Kythira is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula.

The province of Kythira was one of the provinces of Lakonia, then of Argolis and Korinthia, then of Attica Prefecture from 1929 to 1964.

Kythira had a Phoenician colony in the early archaic age; the sea-snail which produces Tyrian purple is native to the island.

The archaic Greek city of Kythira was at Scandea on Avlemonas; its ruins have been excavated.

In classical times, Kythira was part of the territory of several larger city-states.

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Kythira was independent, and issued her own coins in 195 after the Achaean defeat of Sparta.

Kythira continued to exist under the Roman Empire and its Byzantine successor state for centuries.

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.

Kythira established a great monastery at Paliochora; a town grew up around it, largely populated from Laconia.

Kythira was at the mercy of Barbary pirates due to its strategic location in the Mediterrean.

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-Egee.

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.

Chief town of the island, Kythira has the Historical Archives of Kythira, the second largest in the Ionian islands, after Corfu.

Kythira is close to the Hellenic arc plate boundary zone, and thus highly prone to earthquakes.

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

Kythira's is said to have been birthed from sea foam near the island.

Since the late 20th century, the Kythirean economy has largely focused and, in the process, has become dependent on tourism, which provides the majority of the island's income, despite the fact that Kythira is not one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece.