Kirra was besieged by land and sea and ultimately fell when the attackers poisoned the city’s water supply with hellebore, causing severe illness among the defenders. The plan is attributed either to Cleisthenes of Sicyon or, according to Pausanias, to the Athenian Solon. After its destruction (590 BC), the city was rebuilt; by the late 6th century BC it had established a large sanctuary, was later fortified, and once again flourished as a major port of the Corinthian Gulf and the harbor of Delphi.
Kirra continued to be inhabited through the Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman periods, as evidenced by harbor installations and a medieval tower along the coastal zone of modern Itea and Kirra. During Ottoman rule, the settlement of Itea (then Skala of Salona) was founded west of Kirra, beginning as a modest port with a wooden pier, customs house, huts, and warehouses.
During the Greek War of Independence, the wider area witnessed one of the most decisive naval engagements: the Naval Battle of Agkali (17 September 1827). Led by the philhellene British commander Frank Abney Hastings, aboard the pioneering steam-powered warship Karteria, a small Greek naval force destroyed the Ottoman flagship, sank six Ottoman warships and three Austrian supply vessels, and neutralized coastal batteries—restoring Greek control of the Corinthian Gulf.
Over time, Itea expanded, and today it forms a continuous urban complex with Kirra, uniting layers of ancient, medieval, and modern history along the coast.
