The
ancient Greek town Cyparissia () was already mentioned by
Homer in his
Iliad. Ancient writers took note of Cyparissia's beautiful situation upon the sides of one of the offshoots of the range of mountains, which run along this part of the Messenian coast. Upon the narrow summit of the rocks later occupied by a castle built in the Middle Ages, stood the ancient acropolis. There is no harbour upon the Messenian coast north of Pylos; but
Leake remarks that the roadstead at Cyparissia seems to be the best on this part of the coast; and in ancient times the town probably possessed an artificial harbour, since traces of a mole may still be seen upon the sea-shore. This was probably constructed on the restoration of
Messene by
Epaminondas; for it was necessary to provide the capital of the new state with a port, and no spot was so suitable for this object as Cyparissia. Hence we find Messene and the harbour Cyparissia mentioned together by
Scylax Pausanias found in the town a temple of
Apollo, and one of
Athena Cyparissia. The town continued to coin money down to the time of
Severus.
Stephanus calls Cyparissia a city of
Triphylia, and
Strabo also distinguishes between the Triphylian and Messenian Cyparissia, but on what authority we do not know. At a relatively late stage Cyparissia was a
bishopric that today, no longer being residential, is listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. In the
Middle Ages it was called
Arkadía, a name which was transferred from the interior of the peninsula to this place upon the coast. Under the
Principality of Achaea, Kyparissia/Arkadia was the seat of the
Barony of Arcadia, which was the last Frankish territory (except for the
Venetian possessions) to fall to the
Despotate of the Morea, in 1432. In 1460 Kyparissia came under Ottoman control, and remained so, with the exception of
thirty years of Venetian rule, until the
Greek War of Independence which began in 1821. Kyparissia continued to bear the name Arkadia till its destruction by
Ibrahim Pasha in 1825, during the
Greek War of Independence and when rebuilt it resumed its ancient name Cyparissia, by which it is now called. Some remains of ancient walls may be traced around the modern castle; and below the castle on the slope of the hill, near the church of Saint George, are some fragments of columns. On the south side of the town, close to the sea-shore, a fine stream rushes out of the rock and flows into the sea; and a little above is a basin with a spring of water, near which are some stones belonging to an ancient structure. This is the ancient fountain sacred to
Dionysus, which Pausanias perceived near the entrance of the city, on the road from
Pylus. ==Bishopric==