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Modern Description: Ancient Kerinthos lies at the east end of the beach, beyond the fast-flowing Voudoros Stream, which narrows sufficiently by the sea to permit fording. Directly beyond this, a series of walls confront you, which were the western limit of the settlement – an outer enceinte in large, polygonal blocks whose masonry is that of the 6th century BC, with an inner wall constructed of smaller elements behind it. The site is oblong in shape and extends over three successive rises, terminating at the eastern end in a natural precipice. The base of a small temple, oriented to the cardinal points, can be detected at the highest point above this eastern limit. The line of the fortifications running east along the north side is clear, with the base of a bastion clearly visible; to the south, the ruins (mostly walls of Hellenistic construction) are immersed in undergrowth which covers the slope down to a basin of fertile fields which would in antiquity have been a protected area of water, possibly used as a harbour and linked to the sea below the western walls of the city. The remains of public buildings of the Hellenistic era, bordering a wide street, have been laid bare on the saddle between the central and western hills. The overall plan seems regular and oriented to the cardinal points, and therefore of Hippodamian inspiration. Kerinthos drew considerable wealth from the fertile land of its interior in the plain watered by the Kireas River. It figures in the Homeric catalogue of ships, and is mentioned by Strabo: early on, probably in the 5th century BC, it lost its independence to Histiaia.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerinthus_(Euboea)
Wikidata ID: Q16546046
Trismegistos Geo: 34089
Manto: 9718702

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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