Antikyra is a seaside village in the Prefecture of Viotia and is a municipal unit of the Kallikratikos municipality of Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra with three settlements, the settlement of Antikyra, the settlement of Agios Isidoros and the settlement of Agia Sotira. The settlement of Antikyra is 16 km from Desfina, 27 km from Arachova and about 170 km from Athens. It is known for its beaches, as well as for the factory complex of the industrial company Aluminum of Greece, which is 10 minutes away.
Antikyra has been inhabited since the early historical
period. The traveler Pausanias identifies it with the Phocian city
of Kyparissos mentioned by Homer in the list of the Young. According
to tradition, the city was founded by the hero Antikyreas, who cured
Hercules of mania using the hellebore plant, a medicinal herb.
Follow the course of the other Phocian cities. It was occupied by
the Romans in 210 BC. but it continued to flourish, according to
Pausanias, who visited it four centuries later.
The city in
the Middle Ages declined and was eventually abandoned. It is
referred to as the "White Houses" (often in a corrupt form of the
name) on maps dating from the 16th century onwards. In the map of
Greece by Abraham Ortelius, around the end of the 16th century, as
"Apropiti". On the map of Frederik de Wit (Amsterdam, 1688) as
"Apropiti". On a map by V. Foglio, printed in Rome in 1788, they are
referred to as Apre Spizia. A map by Keith Johnston, London, 1879,
mentions Aspra Spitia Bay. In 1817 J. C. Hobhouse reports that "from
Distomo to the White Houses, so named after some white houses that
once stood at this point, is a two-hour drive south ... The port is
frequented by small boats carrying corn." It remained a fishing
village until the middle of the 19th century.
Antikyra came
to the fore in a tragic air force accident on May 18, 2000, when a
fighter jet crashed into a house in the area, killing two
schoolgirls who were inside at the time.