Ledra (), also spelt Ledrae, was an ancient city-kingdom located in the centre of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

where the capital city of

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

is today. Ledra was established in 1050 BC. It became a city-kingdom by the seventh century BC. At times, it had been subject to

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n rule. Ledra was one of ten Cypriot kingdoms listed on the prism (many-sided tablet) of the

n king

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

(680–669 BC). The only known king of Ledra is Onasagoras, mentioned in this tablet for paying tribute to Esarhaddon. By

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

times (330 BC) it had dwindled to a small village. An account suggested that it lost its city-kingdom status because it consolidated with other such kingdoms to form stronger territorial units. In 280 BC, Ledra became Leukotheon while the Byzantines started referring to it as Lefkon or " poplar grove". During the fourth century AD, it became a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and was renamed Lefkosia. It eventually became the capital of Nicosia under this name during the 10th century.

Ledra Street Ledra Street ( ''Odos Lidras''; ) is a major shopping thoroughfare in central Nicosia, Cyprus, which links North Nicosia, the part of the city under the control of the ''de facto'' Northern Cyprus, and south Nicosia. It is the site of the forme ...

in Nicosia is named after Ledra.

References

Cities in ancient Cyprus Former populated places in Cyprus States and territories established in the 11th century BC {{Europe-hist-stub