# Cynus

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cynus
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cynus.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynus
> Source revision: 1345068878
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Greek port attested by ancient authors}}
'''Cynus''' ({{langx|grc|Κῦνος|Kynos}})<ref>{{Cite Stephanus|''s.v''}}</ref> was the principal sea-port of the [Opuntian Locrians](/source/Opuntian_Locrians), situated on a cape at the northern extremity of the [Opuntian Gulf](/source/Opuntian_Gulf) in Greece.

==Historical mentions==
Cynus was an ancient town, being mentioned in the [Homer](/source/Homer)ic [Catalogue of Ships](/source/Catalogue_of_Ships) in the ''[Iliad](/source/Iliad)''.<ref>{{Cite Iliad|2.531}}</ref> It was reported to have been the residence of [Deucalion](/source/Deucalion) and [Pyrrha](/source/Pyrrha); the tomb of the latter was shown there.<ref name=Strabo/> Beside Livy and Homer, Cynus is mentioned by other ancient authors, including [Strabo](/source/Strabo),<ref>{{Cite Strabo|i. p.60, ix. p. 446, xiii. p. 615}}</ref> [Pomponius Mela](/source/Pomponius_Mela),<ref>{{Cite Mela|2.3}}</ref> [Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder),<ref>{{Cite Pliny|4.7.12}}</ref> and [Ptolemy](/source/Ptolemy).<ref>{{Cite Ptolemy|3.15.10}}</ref>

Colonists from Cynus were said to have founded [Autocane](/source/Autocane) in [Aeolis](/source/Aeolis), situated opposite the island of [Lesbos](/source/Lesbos).<ref>{{Cite Strabo|13.1.68}}</ref> It was one of the places that suffered the destruction caused by a [tsunami](/source/426_BC_Malian_Gulf_tsunami) that took place after an earthquake in 426&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|1.3.20}}</ref> In 207&nbsp;BCE, during the [First Macedonian War](/source/First_Macedonian_War), Cynus, which appears defined as an [emporium](/source/Emporium_(antiquity)) of Opus, was the place to which the fleet of [Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus](/source/Publius_Sulpicius_Galba_Maximus) retired after failing in its attack against [Chalcis](/source/Chalcis).<ref name=Livy/>

==Location==
Ancient sources describe Cynus as sitting opposite [Aedepsus](/source/Aedepsus) in [Euboea](/source/ancient_Euboea), and at the distance of 60 ''[stadia](/source/stadion_(unit))'' from [Opus](/source/Opus%2C_Greece).<ref name=Strabo>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.425}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Pausanias|10|1|2}}</ref> [Livy](/source/Livy) describes it as situated on the coast, at the distance of a mile from Opus.<ref name=Livy>{{Cite Livy|28.6}}</ref>

==Name==
It took its name from Cynus, son of [Opus](/source/Opus_(mythology)) and father of [Hodoedocus](/source/Hodoedocus) and Larymna.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D41%3Aentry%3Dcynus-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Cynus]</ref>

==Archaeology==
The site is marked by a tower{{clarify|reason=still standing? or the ruins/foundations?|date=May 2025}}, called Paleopyrgo (or Pyrgos), and some [Hellenic](/source/Hellenic_period) remains, about a mile to the south of the village of [Livanates](/source/Livanates).<ref>{{Barrington Atlas|page=55}}</ref><ref>{{Cite DARE|29389}}</ref> The archaeological site is thus also referred to as '''Pyrgos Livanaton'''. The site was [excavated](/source/Archaeological_excavation) between 1985 and 1995 by the 14th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in [Lamia](/source/Lamia_(city)). {{as of|2007}}, the findings of these excavations had only been made known in preliminary reports,<ref>See e.g. Ph. Dakoronia, 'The Transition from Late Helladic IIIC to the Early Iron Age at Kynos.', in LHIIIC Chronology and Synchronisms. Proceedings of the international workshop held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences at Vienna, May 7th and 8th, 2001, ed. [S. Deger-Jalkotzy](/source/Sigrid_Deger-Jalkotzy) and M. Zavadil, Vienna 2003, pp. 37–51, with earlier references.</ref> but archaeologists have found items from the [Bronze](/source/Bronze_Age) and Early [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age).

Kynos, like nearby [Mitrou](/source/Mitrou), [Kalapodi](/source/Kalapodi), [Elateia](/source/Elateia), and [Lefkandi](/source/Lefkandi), shows continuous occupation throughout the transition from the [Mycenaean palatial period](/source/Mycenaean_Greece) to the Early Iron Age.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DGRG|title=Cynus}}

{{Authority control}}
{{coord|38.7234|N|23.0622|E|source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/29389.html|display=title|format=dms}}

Category:Populated places in Opuntian Locris
Category:Places in the Iliad
Category:Mycenaean sites in Central Greece
Category:Iron Age sites in Greece
Category:Former populated places in Greece
Category:History of Phthiotis

{{Greece-archaeology-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cynus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.