Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LOUTRO Port CHANIA" .
LOUTRO (Port) CHANIA
This village may be reached by boat from Hora Sfakion and Agia Roumeli
or by foot from Anopolis, Hora Sfakion, and Agia Roumeli. The footpaths appear
deceptively short, especially in the heat of the summer. In addition, they may
also be dangerous for inexperienced hikers. The boat trip from Hora Sfakion takes
about 20 minutes. Picturesque Loutro has a very inviting hotel, rooms for rent,
and tavernas of good quality. Because there are no cars, Loutro is a good place
to enjoy the relative peace and quiet. Loutro is the site of the Doric city of
Finix. In the area there are remains of Byzantine churches, and Venetian and Turkish
castles. In Loutro there are local fishermen who will ferry people to and from
the beach of Marmara, which is near the exit of the Aradena Gorge.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
FINIKOUS (Ancient city) SFAKIA
Phoinix. City on the S coast of W Crete, near Loutro, Sphakia district, 9.6
km E of Tarrha and 4.8 km W of Chora Sphakion; it was the port of inland Anopolis
and also of later Aradena. The name is probably connected, not with the Phoenicians,
but with the palm trees common on this coast. On Paul's voyage to Rome (A.D. 60)
the majority wished to winter at Phoinix. Ptolemy lists a city called Phoinix
on this coast, and a harbor called Phoinikous (3.15.3: probably the city near
Loutro and Phoinika Bay to the W); the Stadiasmus (328-29) says Phoinix has a
harbor and an island (the offshore rock Loutronisi?); Steph. Byz. lists a Cretan
city called Phoinikous. Hierokles (651.1) mentions Phoinike with Aradena, and
the two sites are linked in one see in the early 9th c. Notitiae (8.230; 9.139).
The site may have been unoccupied from the Arab conquest until the Venetian period.
A dedication to Iuppiter Sol Optimus Maximus Sarapis, of the Trajanic period,
was found here. Cape Plaka, to the W, is probably Ptolemy's Cape Hermes (3.15.3),
where a sanctuary of Hermes is likely.
Loutro was identified as Phoinix in the 15th c. The site is on a
narrow enclosed bay on the E side of Cape Mouri, the best all-season harbor on
the S coast of Crete. The city's prosperity must have depended almost entirely
on maritime trade; its disadvantages were the small size of the harbor, the lack
of good spring water, and the difficulty of inland communications. There were
many remains in the 15th c., but those now visible are on the peninsula between
Loutro and Phoinika Bay W of the promontory, and mainly on the plateau W of the
Turkish fort: a vaulted cistern, tombs, terrace walls, and house foundations of
the Roman and First Byzantine periods. Coarse Minoan sherds found S of the fort
attest a prehistoric settlement. The coast seems to have risen some 4 m since
antiquity.
A second city named Phoinix probably existed on the same coast some
distance to the E, at Phoinikias near Sellia, in the Agios Vasileios district.
This would have been the Phoinix in the territory of Lappa attested by Strabo
(10.475).
D. J. Blackman, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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