Cythère

Cythère (or Cythare , or Cérigo ), in Greek old ἡ Κυθηρία/ He Kythêría , in Greek modern Κύθηρα/ Kýthêra ), is a Greek island of the Aegean Sea, located between the Peloponnese and the Crete.

After Cyprus, Cythère is the island dedicated to Aphrodite. According to Homère, the goddess draws even one from it from her épiclèse S, Cythérée. Hérodote mentions the presence of a temple dedicated to the goddess in the island.

Antoine Watteau painted several paintings evoking Cythère, of which Pèlerinage in the island of Cythère . Gerard de Nerval tells in its Voyage in the East how, by approaching Cythère, he saw one hung. This episode inspired with Charles Baudelaire the poem “a voyage in Cythère” of the Fleurs of the evil .

As much of small islands of the Aegean Sea, Cythère now is populated very little. It counts approximately: 3500 inhabitants, whereas probably: 60000 descendants of emigrants of Cythère live in Australia, to quote only one case.

A Séisme of magnitude 5,6 to 5,8 struck the island on November 5th, 2004.

Cythère has an archaeological museum which gathers many objects of the Minoan Civilization.

The island gave its name to a fruit tree: the Plum tree of Cythère, which however is not tree originating in Europe.

External bonds

Project Kythera Island, jointly carried out by University London College and the English School of Athens, on the history of the island.

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