Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus and Corsica. It bounds the southern border of the Aegean sea. Crete lies approximately 160 km (99 mi) south of the Greek mainland. It has an area of 8,336 km2 (3,219 sq mi) and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi).
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, flourishing from c. 3000 BC to c. 1450 BC until a late period of decline, finally ending around 1100 BC. It represents the first advanced civilization in Europe, leaving behind massive building complexes, tools, artwork, writing systems, and a massive network of trade. The civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. The name "Minoan" derives from the mythical King Minos and was coined by Evans, who identified the site at Knossos with the labyrinth and the Minotaur. The Minoan civilization has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, and historian Will Durant called the Minoans "the first link in the European chain".
Cycladic culture was a Bronze Age culture found throughout the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. In chronological terms, it is a relative dating system for artefacts which broadly complements Helladic chronology and Minoan chronology (Crete) during the same period of time.
A rhyton is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. They are typically formed in the shape of an animal's head, and were produced over large areas of ancient Eurasia, especially from Persia to the Balkans. Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; others did not, and were merely used as drinking cups, with the characteristic that they could not usually be set down on a surface without spilling their contents.
Sitia is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 9,912 inhabitants (2011) and the municipality has 18,318 (2011). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos and northeast of Ierapetra. Sitia port is on the Sea of Crete, part of the Aegean Sea and is one of the economic centers of the Lasithi region. European route E75, which ends in Vardø, starts in Sitia. Sitia is served by the Sitia Public Airport. Sitia has not experienced the effects of mass tourism even though there is a long beach along the road leading to Vai and several places of historical interest.
Zakros is a site on the eastern coast of the island of Crete, Greece, containing ruins from the Minoan civilization. The site is often known to archaeologists as Zakro or Kato Zakro. It is believed to have been one of the four main administrative centers of the Minoans, and its protected harbor and strategic location made it an important commercial hub for trade to the east. Flinders Petrie related Zakro with Tjeker of the Sea Peoples.
Ierapetra is a town and municipality on the south coast of Crete.
Agios Nikolaos or Aghios Nikolaos is a coastal town on the Greek island of Crete, lying east of the island's capital Heraklion, north of the town of Ierapetra and west of the town of Sitia.
Gortyn, Gortys or Gortyna is a municipality, and an archaeological site, on the Mediterranean island of Crete 45 km (28 mi) away from the island's capital, Heraklion. The seat of the municipality is the village Agioi Deka. Gortyn was the Roman capital of Creta et Cyrenaica. The area was first inhabited around 7000 BC.
Aegean art is art that was created in the lands surrounding, and the islands within, the Aegean Sea during the Bronze Age, that is, until the 11th century BC, before Ancient Greek art. Because is it mostly found in the territory of modern Greece, it is sometimes called Greek Bronze Age art, though it includes not just the art of the Mycenaean Greeks, but also that of the non-Greek Cycladic and Minoan cultures, which converged over time.
Minoan pottery has been used as a tool for dating the mute Minoan civilization. Its restless sequence of quirky maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the strata of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, on Cyprus, along coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.
Mochlos is a modern island in the Gulf of Mirabello in eastern Crete, and the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement. There is evidence that Mochlos was not an island in Minoan times, but was attached to the mainland and acted as an eastern harbor.
Hagia Photia is an archaeological site of a fortified ancient Minoan building on eastern Crete. Sitia lies five kilometers to the west.
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artefacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete.
Makry Gialos is a former municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece, with a population 3,894 in 2011. It is located on the south-east coast of Crete. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ierapetra, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 159.229 km2 (61.479 sq mi). The seat of the municipality was in Koutsouras, 22 kilometers east of Ierapetra. It was established in 1998 when the communities of Schinokapsala, Orino, Stavrochori, Chrisopigi, Aghios Stefanos, Pefki, Lithines and Pervolakia amalgamated into one municipality (Δήμος).
Minoan religion was the religion of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization of Crete. Modern scholars have reconstructed it almost totally on the basis of archaeological remains rather than texts. Minoan religion is considered to have been closely related to Near Eastern prehistoric religions, and its central deity is generally agreed to have been a goddess. Prominent Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys, the serpent, and to some extent, the Ankh.
Priniatikos Pyrgos is an archaeological site near Istron River, in the eastern Cretan regional unit of Lasithi, (Greece). The nearest big town is Agios Nikolaos, Crete. The site is on a coastal promontory. It appears to have been first settled in the Final Neolithic, circa 3000 BC. Nearby, there's a small resort town of Kalo Chorio, Lasithi. It is not to be confused with Myrtos Pyrgos on the south coast.
The Archaeological Museum of Chania is a museum located in the former Venetian Monastery of Saint Francis at 28 Chalidon Street, Chania, Crete, Greece. It was established in 1962.
Roussolakkos is the site of an important Minoan city, located near Palekastro, Crete. It is the only Minoan city to have survived intact. Its harbor, outlying settlements, sanctuaries, and quarries are preserved under sediments accumulating over more than 2,000 years. It was here, the ancient authors tell us, that Diktaian Zeus was born and where this young god founded his holy city. A temple to Zeus was built at the nearby Elaea promontory. It was also here that Jason and the Argonauts confronted Talos, the man of bronze, a generation before the Trojan War.
The name poppy goddess is used often for a large female figurine discovered in a sanctuary of the Post-palace period at Gazi, Crete. It now is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The terracotta figurine has raised hands and seeds of opium poppies on her head, and is believed to represent a Minoan goddess.
Building of the Museum
Ithyphalic stone, Palekita near Sitia, 3000 BC
Cycladic type pottery, Agia Fotia near Sitia, 3000-2500 BC
Early Minoan bird-shaped rhyton, Agia Fotia, 3000-2500 BC
Goddess of Myrtos, Phournou Koryphi, 2500-2300 BC
Vasiliki ware, Phournou Koryphi, 2500-2300 BC
Horns of Consecration, Petsofas, 2000-1425 BC
Minoan female figurines, Petsophas, 2000-1425 BC
Minoan male figurines, Petsophas, 2000-1425 BC
Minoan small stone vessel, Palace of Malia, 1800-1700 BC
Minoan tripod, Palace of Malia, 1800-1700 BC
Ritual tall cup, Makrygialos, 1780-1425 BC
Triton-shaped stone rhyton with engraving, Malia, 1550-1500 BC
Gold needle, 1600-1425 BC
Clay sistrum, Ag. Charalambos cave, 1800-1050 BC
Goddess or priestess, Myrsini near Sitia, 1450-1100 BC
Clay censer (Thymiaterion), Gralygia near Ierapetra, 1400-1200 BC
Pottery for water at the ceremony, 1350-1300 BC
Late Minoan Larnax no 262, Sitia, 1440-1050 BC
Ancient Greek flask, geometric style, 750-725 BC
Small Goddesses, Greek archaic period
Head of a larger clay statue, Daedalic style, 700-550 BC
Multiple lamp, clay, Olous (Elounda), 700-400 BC
Skull of athlete with coin for Charon, Ag. Nikolaos, 1st century AD
