Kleides Islands Explained

Kleides or Klides or Klidhes or Kleidhes (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Κλεῖδες and Κληῖδες), meaning keys in Greek,^{[1] [2]} is a group of small rocky uninhabited islands at the north of Cyprus. Some ancient writers called them the "edge of Cyprus" (ἄκρα τῆς Κύπρου).^[3] Strabo writes that the Kleides were two isles lying off Cyprus opposite the eastern parts of the island, which are seven hundred stadia distant from the Pyramos river.^[4] Pliny the Elder, writes that they were four islands.^[5] In reality the islets are six, but the three can considered more like rocks in the sea than islets.The islands are also mentioned by the Ptolemy in his work Geography,^[6] Herodotus in his work Histories^{[7] [8]} and Hesychius of Alexandria in his lexicon.^[3] A poem in Greek Anthology is also mentioning the islands.^[1]

Some writers, such as Agathemenos and Hesychios named Kleides also the cape itself.

Modern writers are also mentioned the Kleides islands including the:

• Florio Bustron (1550 - 1570) in his work Chronique de l'Île de Chypre de Florio Bustron.^[9]
• Stefano Lusignan in his Description de toute l'isle de Cypre, published in 1580.^[10]
• Luigi Palma di Cesnola in the Cyprus : its ancient cities, tombs, and temples : a narrative of researches and excavations during ten years' residence as American consul in that island, published in 1877.^[11]
• David George Hogarth in the Devia Cypria, which was published in 1889.^[12]
• Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn (1812 - 1881) in the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen.^[13]
• George H. Everett Jeffery in the A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus. Studies in the archaeology and architecture of the island, published in 1918, described his trip to the islets:

^[14]

During the British occupation of Cyprus, a lighthouse was built on one of the islets.

Notes and References

1. https://topostext.org/work/533#7.738 Greek Anthology, 7.738
2. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=cyprus-harpers Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Cyprus
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=l5gtAAAAQAAJ Hesychii Alexandrini, Lexicon, Volume 2, p.490
4. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:14.6.2 Strabo, Geography, 14.6.2
5. https://latin.packhum.org/cit/PlinSen/Nat/5.35 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 5.35.1
6. https://topostext.org/work/209#5.14.7 Ptolemaeus, Geography, 5.14.7
7. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0125%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D108%3Asection%3D2 Herodotus, The Histories, 5.108.2
8. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0028%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D108%3Asection%3D2 W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 5.108.2
9. https://archive.org/details/chroniquedelle00bustuoft/page/24/mode/2up?view=theater Chronique de l'Île de Chypre. Par Florio Bustron. Publiée par M. René de Mas Latrie. 1884
10. https://books.google.com/books?id=bwRGAQAAMAAJ&dq=Description%20de%20toute%20l%27ile%20de%20Cypre&pg=PP7 Description de toute l'isle de Cypre
11. https://archive.org/details/cyprusitsancien00cesngoog Cyprus : its ancient cities, tombs, and temples : a narrative of researches and excavations during ten years' residence as American consul in that island, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, 1877
12. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011401661&view=1up&seq=106&skin=2021 Hogarth, D. G., Devia Cypria, 1889, p.82
13. https://books.google.com/books?id=1g8YAAAAMAAJ Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen, Band 9, 1860, p.292
14. https://archive.org/details/cu31924028551319 A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus. Studies in the archaeology and architecture of the island, George Jeffery, 1918, p. 255