Εμφανίζονται 29 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ Επαρχία ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ" .
ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ (Πόλη) ΚΡΗΤΗ
The city was regained by the Byzantine Empire in 961 A.D. after many
unsuccessful attempts. After the Crusaders occupied Constantinople in 1204, they
gave Crete to Boniface of Monferrat who sold the island to Venice for one thousand
pieces of silver. Under Venetian rule the arts flourished and Candia, as the Venetians
renamed it, became a centre of learning. Many scholars and artists took refuge
in Candia after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Venetians began construction
of the city walls in 1462, which were completed more than a century later. The
walls were 4km in length, of a triangular shape and had seven bastions. The Venetians
also built the harbor and various other masterly architectural works. The walls
proved their deterrent strength when the city was besieged for 21 years, one of
the longest sieges in history. The final surrender came in 1669 after 100,000
Turks and 30,000 Venetians had been killed. Turkish occupation was heavily resented
by the Cretans and continuous guerrilla warfare was waged against the Turks and,
in return, the Turks often made reprisals against the Cretan population in the
cities. Iraklion grew in size after the 1913 union with Greece. However, its strategic
location again made it a target for invading forces in 1941. The German bombardment
during the Battle of Crete caused a great amount of damage and after the war the
city was extensively rebuilt. Chania was originally the capital of Crete. The
administrative centre of Crete was transferred to Iraklion in 1971.
Today Iraklion is the biggest city in Crete (and fifth in Greece)
with a population in excess of 130,000. It concentrates most of the economical
activity of the island, and is the main port of entry to Crete for the majority
of visitors. The Iraklion airport receives approximately 15% of the total tourist
traffic of Greece.
This extract is cited October 2004 from the URL below, which
contains image
ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΡΗΤΗ
Herakleion. A place in Crete, which Strabo calls the port of Cnossus,
was situated, according to the anonymous coast-describer (Stadiasm.), at a distance
of 20 stadia from that city. The name Heracleia (Herakleia, comp. Plin. iv. 20)
is simply mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as the 17th of the 23 Heracleias
he enumerates. Although the ecclesiastical notices make no mention of this place
as a bishop's see, yet there is found among the subscriptions to the proceedings
of the General Seventh Council held at Nicaea, along with other Cretan prelates,
Theodoros, bishop of Heracleopolis. Mr. Pashley has fixed the site at a little
rocky hill to the W. of Kakou-oros. There are remains of buildings, probably of
no earlier date than the Venetian conquest, but the position agrees with the indications
of the ancients.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΚΑΡΤΕΡΟΣ (Ποταμός) ΝΕΑ ΑΛΙΚΑΡΝΑΣΣΟΣ
Caeratus (Kairatos: Kartero), a river of Crete, which flows past Cnossus,
which city was once known by the same name as the river. (Strab. x. p. 476; Eustath.
ad Dionys. Perieg. v. 498; Hesych.; Virg. Ciris, 113, flumina Caeratea; comp.
Pashley, Trav. vol. i. p. 263.)
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
Gnosus, subsequently Cnossus, or Gnossus (Knosos, Knossos, Gnossos:
Eth. and Adj. Knosios, Knossios, Gnosios, Gnossios, Gnosius, Gnosiacus, fem.
Gnosis, Gnosias: Makro-Teikho). The royal city of Crete, situated to the N. of
the island, SE. of Matium, and 23 M. P. from Gortyna (Peut. Tab.). It originally
was called Caeratus (Kairatos, Strab. x.) from the small river of that name which
flowed beneath its walls. (Callim. Hymn. Dian. v. 44.) Tritta (Hesych. s. v. Tritta),
was a name that had been some time applied to it. Pliny (iv. 20), who places Cnossus
among the inland cities, and Ptolemy (iii. 17. § 10), are quite wrong in the positions
they assign to it. Strabo's text is undoubtedly corrupt; and this may in part
serve to account for the difficulty that has been found in reconciling the statements
of this writer, who was so intimately connected with Cnossus, with the known position
of the city. Its foundation was attributed to the hero of Cretan romance, Minos,
who made it his chief residence. (Hom. Od. xix. 178). Cnossus and its neighbourhood
was the chosen seat of legend; and the whole district was peculiarly connected
with Zeus. At the river Tethris, or Theron, according to tradition, the marriage
of Zeus and Hera was celebrated. (Diod. v. 72.) The most received mythus assigned
the birth-place as well as the tombs of the Father of gods and men to this locality.
The well-known Cretan labyrinth is uniformly attached to Cnossus. It was described
as a building erected by Daedalus, and the abode of the Minotaur (Diod. i. 61;
Apollod. iii. 4). This monument could never have had any actual existence, but
must be considered simply as a work of the imagination of the later poets and
writers. The Homeric poems, Hesiod and Herodotus, are all equally silent on the
subject of this edifice. The labyrinthial. construction is essentially Aegyptian,
and it would seem probable that the natural caverns and excavated sepulchres still
to be seen near Cnossus, and which were originally used for religious worship,
suggested, after the introduction of Aegyptian mythology into Greece, the idea
of the labyrinth and its fabled occupant.
Cnossus was at an early time colonized by Dorians, and from it Dorian
institutions spread over the whole island. It preserved its rank among the chief
cities of Crete for some time, and by its alliance with Gortyna obtained the dominion
over nearly the whole island. Polybius (iv. 53) has given an account of the civil
wars which distracted Crete, and in which Cnossus took part. Afterwards it became
a Roman colony. (Strab. x.) All the now existing vestiges of the ancient metropolis
of Crete are some rude masses of Roman brick-work, parts of the so-called long
wall, from which the modern name of the site has been derived. Chersiphron, or
Ctesiphon, and his son Metagenes, the architects of the great temple of Artemis,
were natives of this city, as well as Aenesidemus the philosopher, and Ergoteles,
whose victories in the Olympian, Pythian, and Isthmian games, are celebrated by
Pindar (Olynmp. xii. 19). For coins of Cnossus, both autonomous and imperial.
The usual type is the labyrinth; the forms, since they represent only a poetical
creation, are naturally varied.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΥΚΑΣΤΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ
Lycastus. Lukastos: Eth. Lukastios. A town of Crete, mentioned in the Homeric
catalogue. Strabo says that it had entirely disappeared, having been conquered
and destroyed by the Cnossians. According to Polybius (xxiii. 15) the Lycastian
district was afterwards wrested from Cnossus by the Gortynians, who gave it to
the neighbouring town of Rhaucus. In Mr. Pashley's map the site is fixed at Kaenuria.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
Knosos, more correct than Cnossus, Knossos, if we follow the
language of coins; also Gnosus. The royal city of Crete, on the northern coast,
at a small distance from the sea. Its earlier name was Caeratus, which appellation
was given also to the inconsiderable stream that flowed beneath its walls. It
was indebted to Minos for all its importance and splendour. That monarch is said
to have divided the island into three portions, in each of which he founded a
large city; and fixing his residence at Cnosus, it became the capital of the kingdom.
It was here that Daedalus cultivated his art and planned the celebrated labyrinth.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
ΛΥΚΑΣΤΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ
ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΡΗΤΗ
A small city on N coast of Crete. The city is barely mentioned by
ancient sources other than geographers. Together with and eventually superseding
Amnisos, it served as the port of Knossos which lay 5 km inland (Strab. 10.4.7;
10.5.1; cf. Ptol. 3.15.3; Stad. 348-49). The location of ancient Herakleion has
been much debated, but Platon has solved the main problem which lay in a reference
in Pliny (HN 4.12.59): the name Matium results from a misunderstanding by Pliny,
and ancient Herakleion does lie under modern Iraklion, once called Candia.
Slight epigraphic evidence shows that the city was a satellite of
Knossos in the Hellenistic period. No coins are certainly known.
At Katsaba in E Iraklion by the mouth of the Katsaba (ancient Kairatos),
which flows past Knossos, are Neolithic remains and a considerable Minoan site.
The later city seems to have been under the modern city center, but little is
known of its plan: scattered remains, mainly of tombs, have been found of the
Geometric period to 7th c. A.D.
D. J. Blackman, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
The site is best known
for its great Minoan palace and deep Neolithic deposits, but it was a flourishing
city in the Geometric and archaic periods and during the Classical and Hellenistic
eras it was again the principal city of the island. In the 4th and 3d c. it was
frequently at war with Lyttos, and after the destruction of Lyttos in the late
3d c. B.C., it was intermittently at war with Gortyn. The Roman invasion, which
Knossos resisted, resulted in the elevation of Gortyn to be capital of the island,
but Knossos was made a colony (Colonia Julia Nobilis) in 36 B.C., and was occupied
as a prosperous city continuously up to the early Byzantine period. There is some
evidence for a temporary decline in the early 3d c. A.D.
The Geometric and archaic cities were situated N of the Minoan palace
and settlement, and the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman cities remained in this
same area, eventually covering a little less than a square km. Little is known
of the Classical and Hellenistic towns, although temples on the old palace site,
on Lower Gypsades, and on or near the foot of the acropolis hill all seem to belong
to the 5th or 4th c. That by the acropolis hill is known mainly from a fine metope
relief showing Herakles and Eurystheus. The agora too, lying at the center of
the city, was probably already sited by the Classical period.
In the Roman period the agora was flanked on the W by a large basilica,
while to the S stood another public building often identified as a temple but
possibly the public baths. The basilica, like much else at Knossos, may not have
been built until the 2d c. A.D. Northwest of it, the remains of a small amphitheater
are known, now partially overlain by the modern road. To the W of this road, and
S of the amphitheater is the so-called Villa Dionysus. This is the best-known
and -preserved example of the wealthier Roman town houses at Knossos, most of
which are known only from fragmentary remains of walls and ill-recorded mosaics.
The villa is built around a peristyle courtyard, to the W of which is a large
square room with a mosaic showing the heads of Dionysus and maenads in medallions.
In the SW quarter of the building is a small household shrine. Recent excavations
suggest that the main period of occupation was in the 2d c. A.D. Contemporary
houses of a lower quality have recently been excavated immediately N of the Minoan
"Little Palace." Earlier Roman houses, built in the Neronian period,
were found beneath them, and around them were stretches of the narrow paved streets
which served them.
On the N edge of the city a Christian church with an E apse, nave,
and two aisles was built in the late 5th or early 6th c. It was erected over an
earlier cemetery which included tombs of the 2d to 4th c. A.D. Other cemeteries
were situated to the W and S of the city, and both dug and built tombs have been
discovered. In the S and SE slopes at the foot of the acropolis hill, rock-cut
Roman chamber tombs can still be entered.
Water was supplied to the city by an aqueduct coming from the S. Finds
from the site are found in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum and the Stratigraphical
Museum, Knossos.
K. Branigan, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 65 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΡΗΤΗ
On the north shore of Crete
was an ancient city called Heracleion. The Greeks still give the name of Heracleion
to a city built by the Arabs in 825 near the site of the ancient city; the Arabian
name was Khandak, whence the Italian name Candia is used also for the whole island.
In 960 Candia was taken by Nicephorus Phocas. In 1204 it passed to
the Venetians and in 1669 to the Turks. There are remains of its ancient walls
and aqueduct, also a museum of antiquities. Under the Venetian occupation Crete
was divided into eleven Latin sees, Candia being the seat of an archbishopric.
The hierarchy disappeared with the Turkish conquest. In 1874 Pius IX re-established
the See of Candia, as a suffragan of Smyrna.
S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Gerald M. Knight
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
ΑΡΧΑΝΕΣ (Δήμος) ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ
Το ανάγλυφο της περιοχής είναι ποικίλο εξαιτίας της ύπαρξης πλούσιων
γεωμορφολογικών σχηματισμών, όπως φαραγγιών, λόφων, βουνών και πεδινών καλλιεργήσιμων
εκτάσεων.
Αυτά όμως που χαρακτηρίζουν το χωριό είναι το όρος Γιούχτα και το
Κνωσανό φαράγγι τα οποία εκτός από την ομορφιά του φυσικού τοπίου τους και την
αρχαιολογική τους αξία, διαθέτουν σπάνια χλωρίδα, ενώ η οικολογική τους αξία σε
ότι αφορά στην πανίδα, έγκειται στο γεγονός ότι αποτελούν το μοναδικό φυσικό οικοσύστημα
στην ευρύτερη περιοχή.
Ο Γιούχτας έχει χαρακτηριστεί ως αναδασωτέα έκταση (το 1969), ως περιοχή
ιδιαίτερου φυσικού κάλλους (από το 1970), και προστατεύεται ως αρχαιολογικός χώρος
(από το 1980). Επίσης έχει ενταχθεί στο Ευρωπαϊκό Δίκτυο NATURA 2000, για τη διατήρηση
των φυσικών οικοτόπων καθώς και της άγριας χλωρίδας και πανίδας, ενώ το 61% της
ορνιθοπανίδας του βουνού προστατεύεται από διεθνείς συμβάσεις και το 8% του συνόλου
περιλαμβάνονται στο Κόκκινο Βιβλίο των Απειλούμενων Σπονδυλόζωων της Ελλάδας.
Τα τελευταία 5 χρόνια υλοποιείται πρόγραμμα με τίτλο «Οικολογικό Αρχαιολογικό
Πάρκο Γιούχτα», το οποίο αφορά στην εφαρμογή έργων και ενεργειών, που στοχεύουν
στην προστασία του βουνού και της ευρύτερης περιοχής.
Ειδικότερα αφορά στην:
•Προστασία της χλωρίδας, βλάστησης και εδαφών
•Προστασία του γύπα (gyps fulvus)
•Προστασία και ανάδειξη ιστορικών και αρχαιολογικών χώρων
•Οργάνωση της πρόσβασης του κοινού
•Προετοιμασία και ολοκλήρωση των απαιτούμενων προϋποθέσεων για το χαρακτηρισμό
της περιοχής ως προστατευόμενης
•Δημιουργία Κέντρου Ενημέρωσης - Μουσείο Φυσικής Ιστορίας και Διοικητήριο
του Πάρκου. •Πληροφόρηση, ευαισθητοποίηση του κοινού και των υπηρεσιών σε
σχετικά θέματα.
Το πρόγραμμα αυτό υλοποιείται σε συνεργασία με γειτονικούς Δήμους
της περιοχής. Στα πλαίσια της προστασίας του φυσικού περιβάλλοντος ο Δήμος έχει
ήδη ξεκινήσει την κατασκευή βιολογικού καθαρισμού - επεξεργασίας λυμάτων. Σε συνεργασία
με άλλους δύο γειτονικούς δήμους έχει προχωρήσει στη σύσταση φορέα για την υγειονομική
ταφή των απορριμμάτων. Το έργο βρίσκεται στην τελική φάση κατασκευής του.
Επίσης έχει δημιουργηθεί σε συνεργασία με υπηρεσίες αλλά και εθελοντές,
τεχνητό πάρκο σε γειτονικό λόφο, στο οποίο σχεδιάζεται να κατασκευαστούν χώροι
αναψυχής και αθλοπαιδιών. Σε συνεργασία επίσης με άλλους τοπικούς φορείς σχεδιάζεται
η συστηματικότερη παρέμβαση στα ζητήματα της χρήσης φυτοφαρμάκων και της προώθησης
εναλλακτικών μορφών προστασίας στης αγροτικής παραγωγής.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Ιανουάριο 2005 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφίες, του Δήμου Αρχανών
ΒΑΘΥΠΕΤΡΟ (Οικισμός) ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ
Το Βαθύπετρο βρίσκεται 21 χιλιόμετρα νότια του Ηρακλείου στο δρόμο
Ηράκλειο - Αρχάνες - Βαθύπετρο. Ένα χιλιόμετρο δυτικά του Βαθύπετρου βρίσκεται
το μινωικό μέγαρο.
ΕΠΑΝΩ ΑΡΧΑΝΕΣ (Κωμόπολη) ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ
Το χωριό Επάνω Αρχάνες βρίσκεται 16 χιλιόμετρα νότια του Ηρακλείου
στο δρόμο Ηράκλειο - Κνωσός - Αρχάνες. Η περιοχή είναι σπουδαία μινωική τοποθεσία
κι επιπρόσθετα υπάρχουν αρκετές βυζαντινές εκκλησίες. Η πόλη βρίσκεται στο μέσο
της περιοχής παραγωγής σταφυλιών και εξάγει κρασί, σταφίδες και σταφύλια. Ένα
φεστιβάλ κρασιού και σταφυλιού διοργανώνεται τον Ιούλιο. Στο χωριό επίσης γίνονται
τρείς αρχαιολογικές ανασκαφές σε μινωικά αξιοθέατα. Μπορείτε να δείτε τα ευρήματα
μόνο έξω από τους φράκτες αφού ο χώρος είναι κλειστός για το κοινό.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Φεβρουάριο 2003 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφία, της Crete TOURnet
Epano Arhanes is 16km south of Iraklion on the Iraklion - Knossos - Arhanes road. The area is a major Minoan site, and in addition contains several Byzantine churches. The town is in the middle of the vineyard district and exports wine, raisins and grapes --a grape and wine festival is held in July. Arhanes is also the location of three on-going archaeological excavations on Minoan sites. You may only view these through fences since they are closed to the public.
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
Η Κνωσός βρίσκεται σε απόσταση 5 χιλιομέτρων νοτιοανατολικά του Ηρακλείου.
Χτισμένο σ' ένα κατά μεγάλο ποσοστό τεχνητό λόφο το Παλάτι της Κνωσού ήταν το μεγαλύτερο, το πιο δυνατό και το πιο εντυπωσιακό από τα μινωικά παλάτια του νησιού. Είχε συνολική έκταση 22.000 τετραγωνικών μέτρων και είχε γύρω του ένα πληθυσμό μεταξύ 80.000 και 100.000.
ΠΡΟΦΗΤΗΣ ΗΛΙΑΣ (Κωμόπολη) ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ
Το χωριό του Προφήτη Ηλία βρίσκεται 20 χιλιόμετρα νότια από το Ηράκλειο
κι έχει ένα λόφο από πάνω του με δύο κορυφές (Ρόκα), όπου βρίσκεται η ακρόπολη
της αρχαίας Λύκαστου. Ο Νικηφόρος Φωκάς έχτισε το βυζαντινό κάστρο Τέμενος στην
ίδια περιοχή το 961, όταν απελευθέρωσε το νησί από τους Σαρακηνούς. Είχε σκοπό
να μεταφέρει την πόλη του Χάντακα (Ηράκλειο) στο κάστρο Τέμενος, αλλά κάτι τέτοιο
δεν πραγματοποιήθηκε και η πόλη παρέμεινε στη θέση της. Κατά τον 13ο αιώνα το
κάστρο κυριεύτηκε από το Γιενοβέζο Pescatore κι αργότερα από τους Βενετούς. Το
όνομα Κανλί Καστέλι στα τουρκικά σημαίνει αιματοβαμμένο κάστρο και πήρε το όνομά
του από την αιματοχυσία των Τούρκων από τους Βενετούς και τους Ελληνες το 1647.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Φεβρουάριο 2003 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα, με φωτογραφία, της Crete TOURnet
The village of Profitis Ilias, 20km south of Iraklion, has a hill above it with two peaks (Roka) which was the Acropolis of ancient Lycastos. Nikiforos Fokas built the Byzantine castle of Temenos in the same location in 961 when he freed the island from the Saracens. His objective was to bring the city of Hantaka (Iraklion) into the castle of Temenos. However, this did not materialize and the city remained were it was. In the thirteenth century the castle of Temenos was occupied by the Genoese Pescatore, and later by the Venetians. The name Kanli Kastelli in Turkish means blood-painted castle, and took its name from a massacre of Turks by the Venetians and Greeks that took place here in 1647.
ΡΟΥΚΑΝΙ (Χωριό) ΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ
Το χωριό Ρουκάνι βρίσκεται 25 χιλιόμετρα νότια του Ηρακλείου στο δρόμο
Ηράκλειο - Προφήτης Ηλίας - Κυπάρισσος - Ρουκάνι. Στο Ρουκάνι βρίσκεται η βυζαντινή
εκκλησία του Αγίου Ιωάννη. Η εκκλησία του Αγίου Ιωάννη χρονολογείται από τον 11ο
αιώνα.
ΣΙΒΑ (Χωριό) ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ
Το χωριό Σίβα απέχει 18 χιλιόμετρα νοτιοδυτικά από το Ηράκλειο προς
Αγία Βαρβάρα. Στη Σίβα υπάρχει μια μικρή Βυζαντινή εκκλησία.
ΦΟΡΤΕΤΣΑ (Οικισμός) ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ
Η Φορτέτσα είναι ένα μικρό χωριό 5 χιλιόμετρα νότια από το Ηράκλειο
στη δεξιά στροφή στο 4,2 χιλιόμετρο του δρόμου από το Ηράκλειο. Στην περιοχή υπάρχουν
τα ερείπια του βενετικού υδραγωγείου που είχε μήκος 15 χιλιόμετρα κι έφερνε νερό
στο Ηράκλειο.
ΚΝΩΣΟΣ (Μινωικός οικισμός) ΚΡΗΤΗ
Main city of the Island of Crete,
south of the Aegean Sea.
Cnossus was the capital city of the kingdom of the legendary king
Minos, who gave his name to a highly developed civilization of the Bronze Age,
the Minoan civilization, that flourished from about 3000 to 1400 B. C. in the
island of Crete and was rediscovered
at the beginning of the century by the digs of Sir Arthur Evans (1900) who uncovered
the remnants of the palace of Cnossus. More archaeological work through this century
has allowed us to know a lot more about this civilization and the palaces that
were at the center of its organization.
If texts written in a system called Linear A used in Crete
from the XVIIIth to the XVth century B. C. have not yet been deciphered, those
more recent (XIVth to XIIth century B. C.) written in the syllabic script known
as Linear B have been deciphered in 1952 and give us a vivid picture of the life
in palaces such as that of Cnossus.
For the Greeks of classical times, Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa.
He was praised as a model lawgiver, the author of the most admired laws of Crete,
that he was said to owe Zeus himself, whom he kept visiting every nine years in
the cave of Mount Ida where
the god was born and had been raised. As a result of his justice as a king, Minos
was, along with his brother Rhadamanthus who had served as a judge in Crete,
one of the judges of the souls of the dead in Hades.
Another part of Minos' story that is worth mentioning is that of the
Minotaur. This creature, half man, half bull, was the product of the love of Minos'
wife, Pasiphae, for a bull that had been sent to Minos by Poseidon to show him
that he favored him as king of Crete
(this bull, that Minos, according to his pledge to Poseidon, should have offered
in sacrifice to the god, had been rendered furious by Poseidon after Minos broke
his vow at the sight of so beautiful an animal and decided to keep it in his flock
; known as the bull of Crete,
he was later captured by Heracles as part of his labors and brought back to Crete
where he was set free by Hera and was eventually killed by Theseus in the plain
of Marathon. When Minos saw
the result of his wife's unnatural love, he asked Daedalus to build a huge palace,
the Labyrinth, in which he locked the Minotaur up.
Later, Minos waged a war against Athens
to avenge his son Androgeus. In order to end the war, the Athenians, weakened
by famine and plague, had to accept Minos' conditions that every nine years (or
each year, according to other sources) they would send to Crete
seven youths and seven maidens as a tribute to be offered the Minotaur. It is
Theseus who put an end to this obligation: he volunteered to be part of one shipment
and, once in Crete, he killed
the Minotaur and managed to get out of the Labyrinth with the help of a thread
that Ariadne, the daughter of Minos who had fallen in love with him, had given
him before entering the maze to mark his way while proceeding. He was thus able
to bring back his companions alive to Athens.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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