Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "NICOSIA Town CYPRUS" .
NICOSIA (Town) CYPRUS
Leucosia (Leukosia, Leukousia), a city of Cyprus, which is mentioned only by Hierocles
and the ecclesiastical historian Sozomen (H. E. i. 3, 10). The name is preserved
in the modern Lefkosia or Nikosia, the capital of the island. (Engel, Kypros,
vol. i. p. 150; Mariti, Viaggi, vol. i. p. 89; Pococke, Trav. in the East, vol.
ii. pt. 1. p. 221.)
Nicosia. Titular archdiocese in the Province of Cyprus. It is now agreed (Oberhummer' "Aus Cypern" in "Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde", 1890, 212-14), that Ledra, Leucotheon, Leucopolis, Leucosia, and Nicosia are the same city, at least the same episcopal see. Ledra is first mentioned by Sozomen (H. E., I, 11) in connexion with its bishop, St. Triphyllius, who lived under Constantine and whom St. Jerome (De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis), pronounced the most eloquent of his time. Mention is made also of one of his disciples, St. Diomedes, venerated on 28 October. Under the name of Leucosia the city appears for the first time in the sixth century, in the "Synecdemus" of Hierocles (ed. Burckhardt, 707-8). It was certainly subsequent to the eighth century that Leucosia or Nicosia replaced Constantia as the metropolis of Cyprus, for at the (Ecumenical Council of 787 one Constantine signed as Bishop of Constantia; in any case at the conquest of the island in 1191 by Richard Coeur de Lion Nicosia was the capital. At that time Cyprus was sold to the Templars who established themselves in the castle of Nicosia, but not being able to overcome the hostility of the people of the city, massacred the majority of the inhabitants and sold Cyprus to Guy de Lusignan, who founded a dynasty there, of which there were fifteen titulars, and did much towards the prosperity of the capital. Nicosia was then made a Latin metropolitan see with three suffragans, Paphos, Limassol, and Famagusta. The Greeks who had previously had as many as fourteen titulars were obliged to be content with four bishops bearing the same titles as the Latins but residing in different towns. The list of thirty-one Latin archbishops from 1196 to 1502 may be seen in Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii aevi", I, 382; II, 224. Quarrels between Greeks and Latins were frequent and prolonged, especially at Nicosia, where the two councils of 1313-60 ended in bloodshed; but in spite of everything the island prospered. There were many beautiful churches in the possession of the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, Benedictines, and Carthusians. Other churches belonged to the Greeks, Armenians, Jacobites, Maronites, Nestorians etc. In 1489 Cyprus fell under the dominion of Venice and on 9 November, 1570, Nicosia fell into the power of the Turks, who committed atrocious cruelties. Nor was this the last time, for on 9 July, 1821, during the revolt of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, they strangled many of the people of Nicosia, among them the four Greek bishops of the island. Since 4 June, 1878, Cyprus has been under the dominion of England. Previously Nicosia was the residence of the Mutessarif of the sandjak which depended on the vilayet of the Archipelago. Since the Turkish occupation of 1571 Nicosia has been the permanent residence of the Greek archbishop who governs the autonomous church of Cyprus. The city has 13,000 inhabitants. The Franciscans administer the Catholic mission which is dependent on the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and has a school for boys. The Sisters of St. Joseph have a school for girls.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Joseph E. O'Connor
This text is cited June 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
LIDRA (Ancient city) CYPRUS
Remains of this ancient town extend S of the Venetian walls of Nicosia
as far as Haghioi, Omologitai. The necropolis extends W and S. In the light of
recent discoveries, the earlier identification of Ledrai with Leondari Vouno,
some 6 km SW of Nicosia, should now be dismissed.
Practically nothing is known of the origin of this town except that
it succeeded a Late Bronze Age settlement which has been discovered on the S boundary
of Nicosia and especially on either side of the Venetian fortifications. Here
were found quantities of Mycenaean pottery. The necropolis of this period was
at Haghia Paraskevi, which also yielded Mycenaean material. From present-day archaeological
evidence it is clear that Ledrai itself was in existence from the Geometric period
down to Early Christian times, when it became a bishopric. The area, however,
has been inhabited since Neolithic times and owed its prosperity to the river
Pediaios and to the fertile land of the surrounding plain.
Very little is known of the history. On the prism of Esarhaddon (673-672
B.C.) we find the name Unasagusu, king of Ledir, identified as Onasagoras (?),
king of Ledrai. The recent study of graffiti in the Temple of Achoris at Karnak
has revealed the presence in Egypt, at the beginning of the 4th c. B.C., of several
Cypriotes from Ledrai. The ethnic Ledrios appears also on a sherd from Kafizin,
a hill near Nicosia, of the end of the 3d c. B.C. We hear no more about the site
until A.D. 52, when St. Mark took refuge there on his way from Salamis to Limenia.
The next reference is in the 4th c. when Triphyllios was its bishop.
From inscriptions we learn of the worship of Aphrodite at Ledrai but
nothing is known of the site of the sanctuary. A sanctuary, possibly dedicated
to Apollo, has been located at the locality Haghios Georgios on a hill at the
back of the modern Civil Servants Club. The town site is unexplored but many casual
finds have been recorded.
K. Nicolaou, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
