Listed 9 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LIMENAS CHERSONISSOU Small town HERAKLIO" .
AVDOU (Village) CHERSONISSOS
The village of Avdou is 39km southeast of Iraklion on the road from
Hersonisos to Lassithi Plateau. There are six Byzantine churches in this village.
Archaic objects have been found in the cave of Agia Fotini and Faneromeni southeast
above the village at 1,100 metres above sea level.
LIMENAS CHERSONISSOU (Small town) HERAKLIO
Hersonisos is 26km (30 minutes) east of Iraklion on the National Road.
The seaside resort of Limin Hersonisou is a busy town all year round. Half of
the shops and hotels are open throughout the year, in contrast to the rest of
Crete where many hotels and restaurants are open only during the tourist season
of April-October. Tourist offices book most of the hotels, which makes it very
difficult to find a room if not booked in advance. Hersonisos is easily reached
from Iraklion and Agios Nikolaos by frequent bus service. Limin Hersonisou stands
on the western edge of the bay of Malia. It is a summer resort with large hotels
and tourist shops. In ancient times it was an important trading centre. Originally
Hersonisos, which means peninsula in Greek, was the harbour of the city of Lyttos
(near Kastelli, Pediada). The city later became independent and the inhabitants
minted their own coins which depicted the head of Artemis on one side and Apollo
with a lyre on the opposite side. Archaeologists believe that Hersonisos was the
site of a temple dedicated to Vritomartis, "the sweet virgin", an ancient Minoan
deity later identified with Artemis.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains image.
Hersonisos was an important Byzantine area and the seat of an archbishop from the first Byzantine period. A triple-aisled fifth century basilica has been excavated in Kastri--one of the largest on Crete. The floors of the church are covered with mosaic. East of the town there is another basilica dating from the sixth century and its floors are also covered with mosaic.
POTAMIES (Village) CHERSONISSOS
The village of Potamies is 37km southeast of Iraklion on a south turn
from Hersonisos, towards the Lassithi Plateau. Just before you enter the village
a small road to the left leads to the Byzantine monastery of the Panagia Gouverniotissa
and the Byzantine church of Afentis Christos.
LIMENAS CHERSONISSOU (Small town) HERAKLIO
ARSINOE (Ancient city) CHERSONISSOS
A town of Crete assigned to Lyctus. (Steph. B.) Berkelius (ad loc.) supposes that
an error had crept into the text, and that for Auktou we should read Aukias. Its
existence has been confirmed by some coins with the types and emblems peculiar
to the Cretan mints. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 304.)
CHERRONISSOS (Ancient city) CHERSONISSOS
The haven of Lyctus, with a temple of Britomartis (Strab. x. p. 479),
16 M P. from Cnossus. Mr. Pashley (Trav. vol. i. p. 268) found ruins close to
a little port on the shore, and the actual names of the villages Khersonesos and
Episcopiano, indicate that here is to be found what was once the ancient port
of Lyctus, and afterwards became an Episcopal city.
A titular see of Crete. The city stood on a little peninsula of the northeast coast, between Cnossus and Olous, and was the seaport of Lyttos. In the fourth century B.C. it struck coins, and was known for its temple of Britomartis. Its ruins are near the modern village of Khersonisi.
A. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Thomas M. Barrett
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
On the W side of the Bay of Mallia 26 km E of Herakleion. The ancient
site derives its name from the prominent peninsula, Kastri, which shelters the
harbor from the N. It served as out-port of the city of Lyttos, 15 km inland (Strab.
10.4.14); but in the 4th-3d c. issued its own coinage, an indication of autonomy.
Its harbor was the best on the N coast of Crete between Herakleion and Olous,
and in the Roman and first Byzantine periods it became much more important than
Lyttos.
Plutarch (De mul. vir. 247D) narrates its foundation legend; the colonists
arrived with a statue of Artemis. Strabo (10.4.14) mentions the temple of Britomartis,
one of the chief Cretan deities, and the site of the temple is indicated by the
find of an inscription to her of the late 2d c. B.C. on a small headland ca. 1
km E of Chersonesos, where a church of Hag. Nikolnos stands on the ruins of a
Roman building with a mosaic; remains of another building lie nearby, submerged
in shallow water. Britomartis is depicted on many coins of Chersonesos.
In a 3d c. inscription Chersonesos appears as a subordinate ally of
Knossos; in 183 B.C. it was one of the Cretan cities which made an alliance with
Eumenes II of Pergamum. In the 2d and 1st c. B.C. it seems again to have been
more closely linked with Lyttos, being described in inscriptions as "Lyttos
on the sea"; but this may indicate not subordination to Lyttos but the transfer
of real power to the coastal city. Bishops of Chersonesos are mentioned in the
5th to 8th c.
The peninsula N of the harbor has traces of Minoan settlement: sherds
appear in the NE cliff face at the bottom of a deep occupation deposit. The peninsula
was probably the city's acropolis in the Classical period; it was surrounded with
defense walls in Late Roman or Byzantine times, and a fine Christian basilica
was built on top in the 5th or 6th c. On the NE side of the peninsula a row of
three fish-tanks, now totally submerged, was cut into the E end of a rock shelf
in the Roman period.
The remains of the Roman city cover an extensive area S and W of the
peninsula. The theater, of the Roman period, is now almost completely destroyed,
but was still well preserved in 1583 (as was an amphitheater), and was visible
until 1897.
The most significant ancient remains are those of the Roman harbor
works, showing the city's importance and prosperity as a seaport. The harbor was
protected on the E and S by massive breakwaters of large boulders, along the inner
side of which run concrete moles which served as quays. These alone provided 330
m of berthing space, and there was a shoreline quay at least in the SW corner
of the harbor. The stumps of stone bollards survive in the surface of the E mole
and SW quay. On the W shore of the harbor remains are visible of house walls of
the Roman period. Just inland is a fountain-house with mosaics.
Inland near Potamies have been found stretches of the aqueduct which
brought water to the site from Lasithi.
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 bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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