Keryneia, Ceryneia, Keronia or Keraunia, Cinyiriam, or Kerini, Kyrenia, Cyrene, has been in existence since the 13th century BC. The founder, believed to be Cepheus, head of the men of Bura, came from Achaea with settlers from the villages of Olenos and Dyme, close to the village and mountain of Keryneia in the Peloponnese. He gave the new settlement on the northern shores of Cyprus the same name. Or, it could be that the town took its name from Cyrene, daughter of the king of Lapithos Hypseus. Or yet again, the name could have come from Kinyras, another mythical king of Cyprus and was originally called Kinyria.
Painting: PNT-01025, Kyrenia, John Corbidge, ca.1960
© Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
The ‘Did You Know’ series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus).
