Cichyrus ( -
Kichyros), later called
Ephyra , was the capital of ancient
Thesprotia, according to the myth built by the
Pelasgian leader
Thesprotos.
Thucydides describes it as situated in the district
Elaeatis in
Thesprotia, away from the sea. At its site is the famous
Necromanteion (Νεκρομαντεῖον "Oracle of the Dead"). First settled during the
Bronze Age and resettled in the 14th century
BC by colonists most probably from
Chaonia and the west
Peloponnese region. The city is about 800 m north of the junction of the
Kokytos River with the
Acheron, and about 4.5 km east of the bay of
Ammoudia. Near it was the outlet into the sea of the
Acherusian Lake.
Strabo (7.7.5) gives the same information and adds that in his time Ephyra was called Kichyros. The name had been changed from Ephyra back to the more ancient name about 200 years earlier.