Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "PRESSOS Ancient city SITIA".
Hellenistic city a little over 10 km S of Sitia. The two hills occupied
by the Hellenistic city have yielded no traces of earlier occupation, although
S of the city a third hill was the site of a sanctuary from the 8th to the 5th
c. B.C., and S of this sanctuary two Late Bronze Age tholoi have been discovered.
The Late Bronze Age settlement may have been another km to the S, where remains
of well-built houses have been observed.
The Hellenistic city was founded in the 4th c. and destroyed about
the middle of the 2d c. B.C. by Hierapetra. The Hellenistic city was situated
on two hills and a low saddle between them, the whole area being flanked on E
and W by streams and their respective valleys. Traces of the defense wall have
been recognized, mainly on the E and S sides, and they, together with the general
spread of debris, suggest that the walled city occupied an area of more than 10
hectares. Within this area, the higher of the two hills seems to have been fortified
as a citadel and to have formed the center of the city as a whole. On the peak
of this hill, remains of a major temple have been recognized.
On the slopes of both hills terrace walls can be traced, and on the
S side of the lower hill rectangular cuttings in the rock are thought to represent
the remains of houses cut back into the slope here. Narrow, stepped streets ran
up the slopes and were flanked by built houses, only one of which was ever extensively
excavated. This proved to be a fine house of ashlar, with six or seven downstairs
rooms and traces of stairs leading to an upper floor. The whole building had a
tiled roof, and was occupied from the 3d c. until the mid 2d B.C. The saddle between
the two hills is thought to have been the site of the agora, and from it were
recovered several architectural fragments, including part of a Doric frieze and
a fragment from an Ionic capital. A paved road led from this area up toward the
summit of the lower hill.
The third hill, beyond the city walls to the S, was found to have
first been used as a sanctuary in the Geometric period. To it belonged a thick
deposit of soil containing many votive terracottas and miniature bronze pieces
of armor. At the close of the 5th c. the whole hill summit was enclosed by a temenos
wall, except where the hillside was particularly steep. An entrance in the SE
corner of this wall led into an enclosure where there was an altar, a long building
probably used as a repository for gifts, and probably a temple. No trace of the
temple was found on the summit, but a leveled rectangular area of rock, 13 x 9
m, probably indicates its situation. From the fields immediately below the cliff
traces of ashlar blocks and columns may well belong to this temple, presumably
completely destroyed in the mid 2d c. B.C.
The city was supplied with water from a source more than 3 km to the
S, where a small temple stood above the spring. Cemeteries were situated on the
E, S, and probably W of the city, while some 400 m NW of the lower hill quarries
used during the building of the city are still visible.
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 bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
The name Eteokretes--"true" or "native" Cretans--shows
that they were commonly recognized as the original population of the island, like
the Sicani and Siculi in Sicily. In historical times they are found in the eastern
end of Crete, near Mount Dicte, the seat of the primitive worship of the Dictaean
Zeus. Their city was Praesus (Prasos in Strabo, x. 4. 6, but Praisos on the inscriptions).
From an inscription discovered at Praesus some years ago it appears that they
retained their ancient non-Hellenic language down to a comparatively late period.
(...)Minos, it is said, went to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search
for Daedalus, and perished there by a violent death. Presently all the Cretans
except the men of Polichne and Praesus were bidden by a god to go with a great
host to Sicania (Herodotus 7.170.1)
Commentary: Praisos. High on the central plateau near the east end of Crete. Two
'Eteocretan' inscriptions have been found there in recent excavations. That these
two cities (Praisos and Polichne) took no part in the expedition is no historical
tradition, though it may have been derived, like the notice of the newer colonists,
from Praesus, but merely an inference from the fact that their inhabitants belonged
to the pre-Hellenic 'Minoan' race (Hom. Od. xix. 176; Strabo 475, 478), and therefore
presumably had not been affected by the migration preceding or following the death
of Minos. The words stoloi megaloi imply a large migration which left Crete empty;
this hypothesis explained the disappearance of the 'Minoan' people, and the existence
as early as Homer of Achaeans, Pelasgians, and Dorians in Crete.
Prasus (Praisos; in the MSS. of Strabo Prasos, but in inscriptions Praisos, Bockh, Inscr. vol. ii. p. 1102: Eth. Praisios, more rarely Praisieus, Steph. B. s. v.). A town in Crete, belonging to the Eteocretes, and containing the temple of the Dictaean Zeus, for Mt. Dicte was in the territory of Praesus. (Strab. x. pp. 475, 478.) There is a difficulty in the passage of Strabo, describing the position of this town. He first says that Praesus bordered upon the territory of Leben, and was distant 70 stadia from the sea, and 180 from Gortyn; and he next speaks of Praesus as lying between the promontories Samonium and Chersonesus, at the distance of 60 stadia from the sea. It is evident that these are two different places, as a town, whose territory was contiguous to that of Leben, must have been situated in the southern part of the island; while the other town, between the promontories of Samonium and Chersonesus, must have been at the eastern end. The latter is the town of the Eteocretes, possessing the temple of the Dictaean Zeus, and the Praesus usually known in history : the former is supposed by Mr. Pashley (Crete, vol. i. p. 289, seq.) to be a false reading for Priansus, a town mentioned in coins and inscriptions, which he accordingly places on the southern coast between Bienna and Leben. In this he is followed by Kiepert. But Bockh thinks (Inscr. vol. ii. p. 405) that Pransos, or Priansos was the primitive form of the name, from which Praisos, or Priaisos (a form in Steph. B. s. v.), and subsequently Prasos, were derived, just as in the Aeolic dialect pansa became paisa, and in the Attic dialect pasa. Kramer (ad Strab. l. c.) adopts the opinion of Bockh. Upon the whole we must leave uncertain what town was intended by Strabo in the former of the above-mentioned passages. The territory of Praesus extended across the island to either sea. (Scylax, p. 18, Huds.) It is said to have been the only place in Crete, with the exception of Polichna, that did not take part in the expedition against Camicus in Sicily, in order to avenge the death of Minos (Herod. vii. 170). It was destroyed by the inhabitants of Hierapytna. (Strab. x. p. 479.) Agathocles, the Babylonian, related that the Praesii were accustomed to sacrifice swine before marriage. (Athen. ix. p. 376.) The ruins of Praesus are still called Praesus. (Pashley, Crete, vol. i. p. 290, seq.; Hock, Kreta, vol. i. p. 413, seq.)
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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