Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "FESTOS Minoan settlement HERAKLIO".
Classical and Hellenistic city situated 5 km W of Mires. The site
is best known for its Minoan palace and underlying pre-palatial village. There
was, however, a flourishing Geometric settlement there, and occupation continued
in the archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. The extensive city of the
last period was eventually destroyed by the neighboring city of Gortyn in the
middle of the 2d c. B.C.
Remains of the Geometric settlement are most impressively preserved
on the slopes at the SE foot of the acropolis hill. Here several well-constructed
houses are served by a cobbled road which has been traced up the S slope of the
hill toward the old W court of the Minoan palace. Traces of a Geometric defense
wall around the acropolis have also been noted in excavation. Of the archaic period,
the only building to survive in recognizable form is an oblong structure at the
SW corner of the palace, which is usually identified as a temple, probably dedicated
to Rhea. Archaic deposits have been found elsewhere on both the hill and the lower
slopes, however.
Hellenistic remains are the most widespread and best preserved at
Phaistos. They are known to cover an area extending from immediately W of the
palace, down the slopes W of (and originally probably over) the W Court, and thence
farther down the slopes either side of a Hellenistic successor to the Geometric
roadway, to the area of the earlier Geometric settlement. On the SE slopes of
the hill, Hellenistic houses were found to belong to two phases, the earlier destroyed
by earthquake and the latter, presumably, by the Gortynians. A fine series of
Hellenistic houses, terraced into the steep hillside, have been excavated on the
S and SW slopes of the hill, but these were removed in order to facilitate the
excavation of Minoan levels. The best-preserved Hellenistic houses are therefore
those standing on a platform above the W Court. Most of the remains here belong
to a single house with a small open courtyard around which were grouped the main
domestic rooms.
Although the city was destroyed in the mid 2d c. B.C., it is clear
that there was some sporadic Roman occupation of the site. Early excavations found
Roman deposits above the palace, and more recently an extensive though shabbily
built late Roman farmhouse has been discovered overlying the destroyed Hellenistic
buildings on the SE slopes.
The city's water supply probably came from the river Hieropotamos,
which runs around the base of the hill, and from a series of deep wells, of which
a Hellenistic example has been excavated on the SW slopes. Matala, 9 km to the
SW, served as the principal port for Phaistos, although Komo is thought to have
continued to operate as its port after the close of the Bronze Age. Finds from
the site are mainly in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum, although some of
the pottery material is in the Stratigraphic Museum at Phaistos itself.
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 34 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
A town in the southern part of Crete, near Gortyna, twenty stadia from the sea, with a port-town Matala, said to have been built by Phaestus, son of Heracles. It was the birthplace of Epimenides.
Phaistos: Eth. Phaistios. A town in the S. of Crete, distant 60 stadia
from Gortyna, and 20 from the sea. (Strab. x. p. 479; Plin. iv. 12. s. 20.) It
s said to have derived its name from an eponymous hero Phaestus, a son of Hercules,
who migrated from Sicyon to Crete. (Paus. ii. 6. § 7; Steph. B. s. v.; Eustath.
ad Hom. l. c.) According to others it was founded by Minos. (Diod. v. 78; Strab.
l. c.) It is mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 648), and was evidently one of the most
ancient places in the island. It was destroyed by the Gortynians, who took possession
of its territory. (Strab. l. c.) Its port was Matalum, from which it was distant
40 stadia, though it was only 20 from the coast. (Strab. l. c.) We also learn
from Strabo that Epimenides was a native of Phaestus. The inhabitants were celebrated
for their sharp and witty sayings. (Athen. vi. p. 261, e.) Phaestus is mentioned
also by Scylax, p. 18; Polyb. iv. 55.
Stephanus B. (s. v. Phaistos) mentions in the territory of Phaestus
a place called Lisses, which he identifies with a rock in the Odyssey (iii. 293),
where in our editions it is not used as a proper name, but as an adjective,--lisse,
smooth. Strabo (l. c.) mentions a place Olysses or Olysse in the territory of
Phaestus (Olussen tes Phaistias); but this name is evidently corrupt; and instead
of it we ought probably to read Lisses. This place must not be confounded with
Lissus. which was situated much more to the W.
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
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