Kyparissia () is a village in southwestern
Arcadia, in the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...
peninsula of continental
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
It is part of the municipal unit of
Gortyna
Gortyna (; also known as Gortyn (Γορτύν)) was a town of ancient Crete which appears in the Homeric poems under the form of Γορτύν; but afterwards became usually Gortyna (Γόρτυνα). According to Stephanus of Byzantium it was or ...
. It is situated near the left bank of the river
Alfeios
The Alpheios (, , Latin Alpheus), sometimes spelled Alfeiós, is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Peloponnesus of Greece, a ...
. 1 km south of
Mavria, 3 km east of
Kourounios, 3 km northeast of
Isoma Karyon, 3 km west of
Katsimpalis, 5 km southeast of
Karytaina and 8 km northwest of
Megalopoli
Megalopoli () is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( literally ''large/great city''). When it was founded in 371 BCE, it was the first large urba ...
. There are
lignite
Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...
mines east of the village.
History and remains
The town lay in
Achaea (Roman province)
Achaia (), sometimes spelled Achaea, was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, Attica, Boeotia, Euboea, the Cyclades and parts of Phthiotis, Aetolia and Phocis. In the north, it bordered on the provinces of Epirus vet ...
and after split in the Late Roman province of
Peloponnesus Secundus.
The ancient city
Trapezus
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid Em ...
was situated near the village.
To the east of the modern village lay the ancient town of
Basilis (Βασιλίς), which had largely vanished by the 2nd century AD, when the geographer
Pausanias recorded that only the sanctuary of hunting goddess
Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
survived. The site is now being excavated.
Population
Notable locals
*
Michalis Katsaros (1923-1998), poet
See also
*
List of settlements in Arcadia
This is a list of settlements in Arcadia, Greece.
* Aetorrachi
* Agia Sofia
* Agia Varvara
* Agiorgitika
* Agios Andreas
* Agios Georgios
* Agios Ioannis
* Agios Konstantinos
* Agios Petros
* Agios Vasileios, Leonidio
* Agios Vasileio ...
References
Sources and external links
History and Information about Kyparissia* Raymond Janin, lemma 'Cyparissia', in'' Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. XIII, Paris 1956, coll. 1147-1148
{{Gortyna
Gortyna, Arcadia
Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese