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IERAPYTNA (Ancient city) IERAPETRA
Hieraputna, Hiera Putna, Hiera Petra, Hierapudna, Hiera Pudns. A town
of Crete, of which Strabo says that it stood in the narrowest part of the island,
opposite Minoa. Hierapytna, according to the Coast-describer, was 180 stadia from
Biennus, which agrees with the distance of 20 M. P. assigned to it by the Peutinger
Table. It was a town of great antiquity, and its foundation was ascribed to the
Corybantes; it bore the successive names of Cyrba, Pytna, Camirus, and Hierapytna.
From an inscription preserved among the Oxford marbles, it appears that the Hierapytnians
were at one time allied with the neighbouring city of Priansus. Traces of this
city have been found at the Kastele of Hierapetra. There are both autonomous and
imperial coins belonging to Hierapytna; the symbol on the former is generally
a palm tree.
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
Hierapytna, later Hierapetra (Ierapetra) Greece. City on the S coast of Crete, on the S side of the narrow isthmus
which forms the shortest and easiest route across the island from the Gulf of
Mirabello on the N coast. There is little evidence of prehistoric habitation.
The city was a Doric Greek foundation, with probably a considerable Eteocretan
element. Almost nothing is known of its early history. It was supposedly founded
by Kyrbas; the name indicates a Rhodian link, as do two of its early names, Kyrba
and Kamiros (Steph. Byz.). It struck coins from the 4th c. on. Much of our knowledge
of its history is derived from inscriptions, mainly treaties showing its growing
influence in the 3d c., and its pro-Macedonian policy at the end of the century.
In the war of certain Cretan cities supported by Macedon against Rhodes and her
allies (204-201), the powerful Hierapytnian fleet, which was probably active in
piracy, attacked Kos and Kalymnos. After the war the city changed sides and made
a treaty with Rhodes (201-200), indicating that Rhodes needed her support in suppressing
piracy.
Between 145 and 140 Hierapytna expanded to the E, destroying the neighboring
city of Praisos, and occupied its territory, including the Temple of Dictaean
Zeus (at Palaikastro on the E coast). There followed a long boundary dispute and
hostilities against Itanos; despite Roman mediation these were not settled until
112-111. During Metellus' conquest of Crete (68-67) Hierapytna was the last city
to surrender (Dio 36.19. 1ff). That the town prospered in the Imperial period
is clear from the remains which once existed, the continuing inscriptions, and
Servius remark (on Aen. 3.106) that only Hierapytna and Knossos, of the 100 cities
of Crete, survived in his day. The latest inscription is a copy of Diocletian's
price edict (301). The city was later a bishop's see; it was destroyed by the
Saracens in 824 and probably rebuilt by them.
The main deities were Zeus, Hera, Athena (Polias and Oleria) and Apollo;
Egyptian cults also flourished.
Travelers in the 15th- 19th c. saw considerable remains: a 16th c.
visitor reported two theaters, an amphitheater, baths, and an aqueduct. Today
there are only a few remains of one theater and the amphitheater on the E side
of the town, and a few scattered traces of other buildings. A number of tombs
have been found in the necropoleis E and W of the city, but the city site has
not been excavated. The harbor was an impressive construction, with an inner and
an outer basin; the inner one is now marsh and the outer basin is mostly under
the modern town. The final form of the harbor, particularly the outer basin with
two curving moles of rubble and concrete, must date from the Imperial period.
The harbor gave the city importance, but the site was low-lying and difficult
to defend.
Larisa, Oleros, and Chryse island (now Gaidharonisi) were in the territory
of Hierapytna. The site of Larisa is not certain, but it lay inland to the N;
the likeliest candidates are Kedri, just N-NE, which has LM remains, and Kalamafka
to the NW, with remains of MM to Byzantine date. The people of Larisa were transferred
to Hierapytna in a synoecism. Oleros, probably to the N at Meseleri, E of Kalamafka,
had a temple of Athena Oleria. By the Hellenistic period it belonged to Hierapytna,
but it had once been independent, and perhaps had controlled the latter as its
port.
On the coast to the W, near the modern Myrtos, are remains, including
a Roman bath building, of a Graeco-Roman harbor town whose ancient name is not
known. It seems to have been within the territory of Hierapytna in the Hellenistic
period (see Myrtos).
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 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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