Listed 28 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "AGIOS NIKOLAOS Municipality LASSITHI" .
AGIOS NIKOLAOS (Town) LASSITHI
Agios Nikolaos, the capital of the prefecture of Lassithi, is a picturesque
and popular resort town on the bay of Mirabelo with a harbour area pulsating with
activity and restaurants and cafes providing a cosmopolitan atmosphere, though
the town itself has maintained its traditional style.
Agios Nikolaos is easily reached in an hour (65km) from Iraklion, 1 1/2 hours
from Sitia (70km), and 45 minutes from Ierapetra (36km).
There is no airport, although Iraklion airport is less then one hour away. There
are boats to Piraeus (Athens) and to Rhodes during the summer. The islands of
the Cyclades are accessible from Agios Nikolaos, as are Kasos, Karpathos, and
Kos of the Dodecanese.
The municipality of Agios Nikolaos organizes "Lato" during the tourist season.
This festival consists of a number of music and dance groups including ethnic
and foreign, folkloric, and modern. There are also theatrical performances and
water sports competitions. In addition, every two years, during Naval Week in
July, special events are organized.
All types of tourist facilities may be found in Agios Nikolaos. Since it is a
very popular resort, there may be some difficulty finding accommodation. The National
Tourist Office (EOT) is very helpful and is found on the main street, on the west
side of the bridge at the harbour.
Tours may be arranged in Agios Nikolaos to Spinalonga Islet, to Lassithi Plateau,
the town of Kritsa and its Byzantine churches. The best beaches are on the east
side of the town, in the small protected bays, and may be reached by local bus
service. Ask for details at the Tourist Office.
Agios Nikolaos is the most touristically developed town in Crete. The area has
a great deal to offer to everyone.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains image.
ELOUNDA (Small town) LASSITHI
Elounda, a growing resort area 11km north of Agios Nikolaos, is noted
for its coves and rocky coastlines as well as for the beautiful village of Elounda
itself, the fishing harbour, the sunken city of Olous and the remains of a Byzantine
basilica.
The village of Elounda is beside the sea and has a view of peaceful Elounda Bay
and Spinalonga. The village has a number of restaurants and tavernas and many
quality hotels are near by.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
KALO CHORIO (Village) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
The village of Kalo Horio is 7km south of Agios Nikolaos, above Istro.
To the southeast of Kalo Horio in the place called Vrocastro 300 metres above
the sea and the remains of an old Minoan site from the Prepalatial Period (2200
B.C.).
KRITSA (Small town) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
The village of Kritsa is 8km southwest of Agios Nikolaos. The area
near the village of Kritsa has many attractions to offer. It combines a traditional
village setting with several Byzantine churches which rank among the best in the
island.
Kritsa is one of the most frequently visited villages in Crete due to its fame
as a movie set for several films and the availability of fine quality weavings,
but is still pleasant to visit. Behind Kritsa is a road that leads to the Dikte
Mountains and offers very interesting views of the landscape. The road reaches
the Katharo Plain at 1,100 metres height, and there is a path reaching the Lassithi
Plateau. In the spring there are many rare flowers here.
This extract is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
KROUSTAS (Village) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
The village of Kroustas is 11km southwest of Agios Nikolaos on the
Agios Nikolaos - Kritsa - Kroustas road. It is a more typical village than Kritsa
and contains the beautiful Byzantine church of Agios Ioannis Theologos.
LATO ETERA (Ancient city) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
The ancient city of Lato is 3km from the village of Kritsa. The Dorians
built the city in the seventh century B.C. The walls and buildings visible today,
however, date mainly from the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. Towers and two acropolis
fortified Lato. It was one of the strongest cities on Crete. Lato was destroyed
about 200 B.C. During the Roman times its port, Lato Etera at the side of Agios
Nikolaos, became an important city.
The main gate is to the west of the site where a stepped road leads to the agora,
or market. On the right were workshops and shops. On the left, the road leads
to a ground entrance leading to the main part of the city. The centre of the town
is at the top of the hill and from here the view down to Lato's ancient port,
Agios Nikolaos, is magnificent. The agora is a pentagonal building at the top
of the road between two hills. It was not only used for trade but for political
and cultural activities as well. Southwest of the agora are the remains of a large
temple and seats of a theatre. Near the temple is an altar where a fire burned
continuously as a sign of the continuity of the city with its past. The prytaneum
(administrative building) and the nobles' dining hall is behind the theatre area.
Lato is one of the best excavated Greek cities in the island. Although the variety
and extent of the ruins at Lato are impressive, the site is visited infrequently.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
OLOUS (Ancient city) ELOUNDA
From Elounda a causeway leads to the island of Spinalonga and the
sunken city of Olous. Olous was built on the neck of the land that joins Crete
with the peninsula of Spinalonga. Olous was an ancient Greek town in which the
statue of Vritomartis once stood. When the weather is calm the remains of Olous
can be seen on the sea bottom. Archaeologists have done very little excavating
here but an inscription from the second century B.C. was found referring to an
alliance between Olous, Lato, and Knossos indicating the importance of this ancient
city. Another inscription of the same era refers to a treaty of Olous with Rhodes.
Other finds in the area include rock tombs with funerary objects which are on
display in the Agios Nikolaos Museum.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
PLAKA (Settlement) ELOUNDA
The road from Elounda continues following the coastline to the north
to the small village at the end of the peninsula, Plaka. Plaka has good quality
fish restaurants near the sea and small hotels and tavernas. The beaches are small
but uncrowded and much more pleasant than those at Elounda. Plaka has the islet
of Spinalonga directly in front. There is a small pier here where fishermen are
willing to ferry you across to see the ruins. There are also organized boat trips
from Elounda and Agios Nikolaos.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains image.
SPINALONGA (Island) CRETE
The small islet of Spinalonga is a short boat trip from Elounda. It
is the site of one of the most important and best fortresses the Venetians built
on Crete and was constructed in 1579 to protect the harbour, entrance to the bay
and anchorage of Elounda.
Spinalonga remained Venetian for half a century after the Turkish conquest of
Crete and became a refuge for Christians fleeing from the Turks. Finally, in 1715,
the Venetians handed over the island to the Turks by a special treaty.
In 1903, the Cretan Republic made Spinalonga a colony for the lepers of Crete,
that subsequently closed in 1957.
This text is cited Feb 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
AGIOS NIKOLAOS (Municipality) LASSITHI
ISTROS (Ancient city) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
Istrus (Istros), a Cretan town which Artemidorus also called Istrona.
(Steph. B. s. v.) The latter form of the name is found in an inscription (ap.
Chishull, Antiq. Asiat. p. 110). The site is placed near Minoa: Among the ruined
edifices and columns of this ancient city are two immense marble blocks, half
buried in the earth, and measuring 54 by 15 feet. (Cornelius, Creta Sacra, vol.
i. p. 11; ap. Mus. Class. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 273 comp. Hock, Kreta, vol. i. pp.
17, 421.)
KADISTOS (Mountain) LASSITHI
Cadistus, a mountain of Crete, belonging to the ridge of the White
Mountains. Its position has been fixed by Hoeck (Kreta, vol. i. p. 380) at Cape
Spadha, the most northerly point of the whole island. In Ptolemy (iii. 17. § 8)
this promontory bears the name of Psakon akron; while Strabo (x. p. 484) calls
it Diktunnaion akroterion, and his remark that Melos lay at nearly the same distance
from it as from the Scyllaeanpromontory, shows that he indicated this as the most
northerly point of the island. The mass of mountain of which the cape was composed
bore the double name of Cadistus and Dictynnaeus. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 20; Solin.
16.) It would seem that Pliny and Solinus were in error when they described Cadistus
and Dictynnaeus as two separate peaks. Psakon akron and Cadistus were the original
and proper names of the promontory and mountain, while Diktunnaion akroterion
and oros were epithets afterwards given, and derived from the worship and temple
of Dictynna.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LATO KAMARA (Ancient city) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
Kamara: Eth. Kamaraios. A city of Crete, situated to the E. of Olus (Ptol. iii.
17. § 5), at a distance of 15 stadia according to the Maritime Itinerary. Xenion,
a Cretan historian quoted by Steph. B. says that it was once called Lato.
NAXIA (Ancient city) ELOUNDA
or Naxus (Nachos, Suid. s. v.), a town of Crete, according to the
Scholiast (ad Pind. Isth. vi. 107) celebrated for its whetstones. Hock (Kreta,
vol. i. p. 417) considers the existence of this city very problematical. The islands
Crete and Naxos were famed for their whetstones (Plin. xxxvi. 22; comp. xviii.
28), and hence the confusion. In Mr. Pashley's map the site of Naxos is marked
near Spna Longa.
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
OLOUS (Ancient city) ELOUNDA
Olous, Oloulis, Eth. Oloutioi, Olouti. A town of Crete, the citizens
of which had entered into a treaty with those of Lato. (Bockh, Inscr. vol. ii.
No. 2554.) There was a temple to Britomartis in this city, a wooden statue of
whom was erected by Daedalus, the mythical ancestor of the Daedalidae, and father
of Cretan art. (Pausan. ix. 40. § 3.) Her effigy is represented on the coins of
Olus. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 316; Mionnet, Descr. vol. ii. p. 289; Combe, Mus. Hunter.)
There is considerable difficulty in making out the position of this town; but
the site may probably be represented by Aliedha near Spina Longa, where there
are ruins. Mr. Pashley's map erroneously identifies these with Naxos.
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
AGIOS NIKOLAOS (Town) LASSITHI
LATO ETERA (Ancient city) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
About 11 km south of Ayios Nikolaos is Kritsa, a hillside village, and 5 km further south lies Lato, a town founded in the Greek Archaic period. This Doric seventh century B.C. village was built on a series of four terraces, all that remains is an agora, in which is located a small rectangular temple, probably dedicated to the vegetation goddess, Lato, who gave her name to the city. The prytaneion on the north side of the agora is Hellenistic. Lato has a spectacular view of the Gulf of Mirabello.
ELINIKA (Settlement) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
A village on the W side of the Gulf of Mirabello, N coast of Crete;
in a coastal valley S of Elounda and N of Ag. Nikolaos, just S of the ridge which
formed the ancient frontier between the territories of Olous and Lato (q.v.).
Near the village lies a double Sanctuary of Ares and Aphrodite, excavated
in 1937-38. The temple consists of two rooms of equal size, adjoining but not
intercommunicating, dedicated to Ares and Aphrodite. They are built of rough blocks
of local limestone; the walls are plastered, and form a rough square (12 x 12
m). Both rooms contain a bench-altar at the rear, and on the E side open on to
a common vestibule (described as a pastas in the inscription found on the site
which describes the work on the building). Below the level of the vestibule the
plan and remains of a low altar can be made out, similar to that at Dreros; this
belonged to an earlier temple of the Geometric period, clearly the Old Aphrodision
mentioned as lying close to the frontier in inscriptions relating to the frontier
dispute between Lato and Olous. When the dispute was finally settled Latian possession
of the site was confirmed (ca. 113 B.C.); inscriptions found at the site have
added much new information about the dispute. The temple was built after the settlement,
replacing the separate temples of Aphrodite and Ares.
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.
LATO ETERA (Ancient city) AGIOS NIKOLAOS
The city is situated on the Gulf of Mirabello in E Crete. It was bounded
to the N by the Oxa mountain chain, marking the frontier with Olonte, to the W
by the foothills of the Lasithi mountains and to the S by the territories of Arkades,
Malla, and Hierapytna. Lato had a port, Lato pros Kamara (mod. Haghios Nikolaos)
and a number of inland plains suitable for agriculture, the largest of which however
is no more than a few km square.
The name appears on several Mycenaean tablets at Knossos. But up to
the present time only a few objects and sherds of Late Minoan III have been found
on the site, and then always at the surface. The earliest structures to be excavated
date from the 7th c.
Excavations in 1899-1900 yielded an abundance of terracottas showing
oriental influence: female figures, sphinxes, Daidalian heads. Digging carried
out in 1968 near the great temple revealed a pottery dating from the same period.
Objects found in these digs are now divided between the Heraklion,
Mallia, and Haghios Nikalaos museums.
Lato's ruins are situated ca. 8 km from the sea. Scattered over the
whole site can be seen the remains of several terrace walls and walls of houses.
The latter are designed on an interesting plan: built lengthwise, they sometimes
have a courtyard with a cistern, a large room with a hearth and one or more secondary
rooms. Although not all the houses have been explored, the masonry of the walls
shows that they date from different, and in some cases quite early, periods. The
plan of the city was governed by the nature of the site, which is hilly. The presence
of large numbers of cisterns can be explained by the shortage of water.
During excavations carried out in 1899 and 1900, then again from 1967
to 1971, the city agora was uncovered on the W pass as well as some civic and
religious buildings nearby and a section containing fortified houses between the
agora and the W city gate.
1. Agora and prytanaion: Along the E side of the agora is a terrace
wall, the earliest stage of which may go back to the 7th c. In the center of it
is a small ruined temple that may date from the archaic period. The square is
lined to the W by a portico and to the S by an exedra. On the N side is a flight
of steps leading to the prytanaion. Lato's principal civic building is made up
of two sections: a peristyle court to the E, and to the W the area where the cosmes
(council of city magistrates) took their meals together. The steps leading to
the prytanaion apparently served as a meeting place for an enlarged assembly.
Indeed, the manner in which they are laid out--three flights of steps 30-40 cm
high separated by two series of lower stairways--resembles the plan of theaters
in mainland Greece. E and W of the steps are two massive structures, rectangular
in plan, whose appearance is reminiscent of military rather than civic architecture.
They were designed to support the platform on which the prytanaion stood. Between
the steps and the W bastion is a gap of a few m, now occupied by a peasant's hut,
which in antiquity may have held two rooms of still indeterminate purpose.
Recent studies have shown that the main city buildings date at the
earliest from the second half of the 4th or 3d c. B.C. Only then, apparently,
was a vast building plan carried out in the city center.
2. Sanctuary and theater S of the agora: The city's principal religious
monument (10.1 x 6.5 m) stands on a terrace connected to the agora by a winding
road. Rectangular in plan, it consists of a pronaos and a cella. It is not known
to what deity the temple was consecrated.
The temple terrace is supported by a fine wall of polygonal masonry
with bosses ca. 40 m long. The 1968-69 excavations uncovered an interesting complex
at the foot of this terrace consisting of straight tiers of steps and a rectangular
carefully built exedra. The tiers and the exedra make up the cavea of a sort of
rustic theater, the stage being formed by a platform ca. 8 x 30 m. What kind of
ceremony, religious or civic, this complex was designed for we do not know.
3. Fortified houses: The first excavations revealed a street that
climbs gradually from the W fortified gate to the agora. To the S it is lined
with a series of stalls and workshops backed against a late rampart. Traces of
various kinds of crafts: pottery, iron-working, dyeing have been found here. To
the N, at the end of the rows of terraces spread out over the sides of the acropolis,
are some sturdy walls with one gate per terrace cut in them. The resultant passageways
open onto either a house or a pathway leading to the N quarter. Study of these
individual fortifications, set side by side yet separate from each other, shows
that the methods used in them are more and more complex. Certain houses, the latest
ones, are veritable towers with zigzag entrances. When the S rampart was put up
the complex lost its usefulness.
In the 2d c. B.C. the inhabitants of Lato seem to have abandoned the
high city and settled by the sea, at Lato pros Kamara. Numerous inscriptions dating
from this period found at Haghios Nikolaos show that the city enjoyed renewed
activity at this time.
P. Ducrey & O. Picard, 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 22 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
OLOUS (Ancient city) ELOUNDA
On the W side of the Gulf of Mirabello, just N of Ag. Nikolnos, N
coast of Crete. The remains of the ancient city lie on both sides of the isthmus
which joins the peninsula of Spinalonga to the mainland; the area of the site
is known as Poros.
Ancient literary sources merely locate the site. In late sources (e.g.
Notitiae) the name has been corrupted to Alyngos. Most of our knowledge of the
city's history is derived from inscriptions of the Hellenistic period. In one
of post 260 B.C. Olous appears as a subordinate ally of Knossos. A number of 3d
and 2d c. inscriptions show the city's close relations with Rhodes; in particular,
parts of a treaty between Rhodes and Olous dating from 201-200 have been discovered
in recent years, by which Rhodes secured a great measure of control over Olous
and her ports and anchorages, as she did over those of Hierapytna in the same
year. Ptolemaic admirals had been honored at Olous at about the time of the Chremonidean
war in the 260s. Olous does not appear among the cities of the Cretan koinon in
the treaty with Eumenes II in 183, either because she was then subject to her
neighbor Lato or because of her links with Egypt. A boundary dispute between Olous
and Lato was referred to the Knossians for arbitration (117-116/116-115 B.C.);
continuing wrangles led to Roman intervention and confirmation by the Senate of
the Knossians' decision on the boundary line (ca. 113; see Sta Lenika).
Coins of ca. 330-280 B.C. are known, depicting in particular the heads
of Britomartis and Zeus Tallaios. The latter was clearly the chief deity of Olous,
in whose temple many inscriptions were displayed; for the same reason the cult
of Asklepios must also have been important. Pausanias (9.40.3) mentions a statue
of Britomartis by Daidalos at Olous. None of their temples at Olous has been found.
There is clear evidence that the site has been submerged by at least
2 m since antiquity, probably mainly as a result of land movements: by the actual
isthmus some remains of houses are visible in shallow water. The channel at the
isthmus was dug for the local fishermen by French sailors who occupied the area
in 1897; their finds included the large stele now in the Louvre. The only ruins
still clearly visible E of the isthmus are those of an Early Christian basilica
with a mosaic in the nave.
Few remains of the archaic and Classical periods have been found,
but part of the massive E wall of the city still stood 6 courses high in the 19th
c. Graeco-Roman sherds have been found at Kolokythia Bay on the E side of the
peninsula, and at the N end of Spinalonga is an islet fortified by the Venetians;
no earlier remains are visible. There are many rock inscriptions around the peninsula.
West of the isthmus a few walls have been found, but the area served
mainly as a cemetery. Graves with coffins or pithoi of the LM IIIB period have
been found, and the Hellenistic necropolis with funerary inscriptions. Just to
the N lies a significant Middle Minoan settlement, and a few Early Minoan pots
have been found.
Just within the territory of Olous, to the SW, a prominent hilltop
bears remains of a fort of uncertain (ancient) date (Mt. Oxa). Farther N another
fort at Stis Pines guarded the road to Dreros. Just S of Mt. Oxa lies the site
of Sta Lenika in Latian territory.
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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