Listed 16 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SITIA Town LASSITHI" .
CHAMEZI (Village) SITIA
The Minoan site of Hamezi is 10km west of Sitia. The archaeological
site is southwest of the village.
EXO MOULIANA (Village) SITIA
The village of Exo Mouliana is 13km west of Sitia on the Sitia - Agios
Nikolaos road. The fourteenth century Byzantine church of Afentis Christos (Metamorphosis)
is here.
PANO EPISKOPI (Settlement) SITIA
The village of Epano Episkopi is 12km south of Sitia, on the Sitia
- Piskokefalo - Epano Episkopi road. In Epano Episkopi is the Byzantine church
of Panagia, Agios Georgios, and Agios Ioannis.
PISKOKEFALO (Village) SITIA
Piskokefalo is 4km south from Sitia. The wider area includes the villages
of Kato Episkopi and Zou, in which there are Byzantine churches and minor Minoan
sites. Before the village, on the west side of the road, there is a Minoan villa.
SITIA (Town) LASSITHI
In Sitia there was a Neolithic and a Minoan site. In the location
Petras, near the town, excavations that started in 1985 under the Greek archaeologist,
Tsipopoulou, have so far revealed a major Minoan settlement with Palatial-style
buildings, fortification walls, and many artefacts including a Linear A tablet.
The site was destroyed by an earthquake, abandoned in the New Palace Period, and
reoccupied later.
In Greek times, Itia was the harbour of Praisos. References to the city in the
third century B.C. refer to its citizens as Setians. When Praisos was destroyed
by Ierapytna, Itia became the capital of the Praisian state.
There were fortifying walls around the city of Sitia from the Byzantine period.
These fortifications were restored by the Genoese and by the Venetians but were
never very strong. In 1539, the pirate Barbarosa conquered the city and levelled
the forts and the town. When the Turks invaded the island the Venetians destroyed
the fort so that it would not fall into the hands of Turks. The ruins of a Venetian
castle are still visible today. A tower of three storeys has survived. North of
the fort there is a little chapel built from the ruins of a Venetian monastery
destroyed by the Turks.
This extract is cited Mar 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
ETIS (Ancient city) SITIA
Eteia (Eteia), a town of Crete. Pliny (iv. 20) places a town of this
name (some of the MSS. and the old text have Elea or Eleae), between Phalasarna
and Cisamus.
PRESSOS (Ancient city) SITIA
Prasus (Praisos; in the MSS. of Strabo Prasos, but in inscriptions
Praisos, Bockh, Inscr. vol. ii. p. 1102: Eth. Praisios, more rarely Praisieus,
Steph. B. s. v.). A town in Crete, belonging to the Eteocretes, and containing
the temple of the Dictaean Zeus, for Mt. Dicte was in the territory of Praesus.
(Strab. x. pp. 475, 478.) There is a difficulty in the passage of Strabo, describing
the position of this town. He first says that Praesus bordered upon the territory
of Leben, and was distant 70 stadia from the sea, and 180 from Gortyn; and he
next speaks of Praesus as lying between the promontories Samonium and Chersonesus,
at the distance of 60 stadia from the sea. It is evident that these are two different
places, as a town, whose territory was contiguous to that of Leben, must have
been situated in the southern part of the island; while the other town, between
the promontories of Samonium and Chersonesus, must have been at the eastern end.
The latter is the town of the Eteocretes, possessing the temple of the Dictaean
Zeus, and the Praesus usually known in history : the former is supposed by Mr.
Pashley (Crete, vol. i. p. 289, seq.) to be a false reading for Priansus, a town
mentioned in coins and inscriptions, which he accordingly places on the southern
coast between Bienna and Leben. In this he is followed by Kiepert. But Bockh thinks
(Inscr. vol. ii. p. 405) that Pransos, or Priansos was the primitive form of the
name, from which Praisos, or Priaisos (a form in Steph. B. s. v.), and subsequently
Prasos, were derived, just as in the Aeolic dialect pansa became paisa, and in
the Attic dialect pasa. Kramer (ad Strab. l. c.) adopts the opinion of Bockh.
Upon the whole we must leave uncertain what town was intended by Strabo in the
former of the above-mentioned passages. The territory of Praesus extended across
the island to either sea. (Scylax, p. 18, Huds.) It is said to have been the only
place in Crete, with the exception of Polichna, that did not take part in the
expedition against Camicus in Sicily, in order to avenge the death of Minos (Herod.
vii. 170). It was destroyed by the inhabitants of Hierapytna. (Strab. x. p. 479.)
Agathocles, the Babylonian, related that the Praesii were accustomed to sacrifice
swine before marriage. (Athen. ix. p. 376.) The ruins of Praesus are still called
Praesus. (Pashley, Crete, vol. i. p. 290, seq.; Hock, Kreta, vol. i. p. 413, seq.)
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
PRESSOS (Ancient city) SITIA
The name Eteokretes--"true" or "native" Cretans--shows
that they were commonly recognized as the original population of the island, like
the Sicani and Siculi in Sicily. In historical times they are found in the eastern
end of Crete, near Mount Dicte, the seat of the primitive worship of the Dictaean
Zeus. Their city was Praesus (Prasos in Strabo, x. 4. 6, but Praisos on the inscriptions).
From an inscription discovered at Praesus some years ago it appears that they
retained their ancient non-Hellenic language down to a comparatively late period.
(...)Minos, it is said, went to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search
for Daedalus, and perished there by a violent death. Presently all the Cretans
except the men of Polichne and Praesus were bidden by a god to go with a great
host to Sicania (Herodotus 7.170.1)
Commentary: Praisos. High on the central plateau near the east end of Crete. Two
'Eteocretan' inscriptions have been found there in recent excavations. That these
two cities (Praisos and Polichne) took no part in the expedition is no historical
tradition, though it may have been derived, like the notice of the newer colonists,
from Praesus, but merely an inference from the fact that their inhabitants belonged
to the pre-Hellenic 'Minoan' race (Hom. Od. xix. 176; Strabo 475, 478), and therefore
presumably had not been affected by the migration preceding or following the death
of Minos. The words stoloi megaloi imply a large migration which left Crete empty;
this hypothesis explained the disappearance of the 'Minoan' people, and the existence
as early as Homer of Achaeans, Pelasgians, and Dorians in Crete.
ETIS (Ancient city) SITIA
City on the N coast of E Crete. The ancient site is probably under
the modern town, which goes back certainly to the Venetian period. Another site
nearby has been suggested (Petras), but the only good harbor, then as now, is
on the W side of the bay, sheltered from the N wind.
Little is known of its history. One of the Seven Sages, Myson, was
born at Eteia or Etis, probably to be identified with Seteia. No coins are known,
and it may never have been a fully independent city in antiquity, but a dependency
of inland Praisos, serving as its port on the N coast: an early 3d c. inscription
of Praisos refers to the Setaetai making overseas voyages on behalf of Praisos.
When that city was destroyed (145-140) the Praisians may have continued to hold
Seteia; later it was a bishop's see.
Objects belonging to the EM, MM, and LM, Archaic, Classical, Roman
and Byzantine periods have been found at the modern town site, but few remains
of buildings: only some Roman walls at the river mouth on the S side, and a Classical
wall on the SW side. Part of the ancient site may now be submerged, owing to local
subsidence. On the coast at Petras, 3 km E-SE of the town, are remains of a major
Minoan site, with EM, MM, and LM finds but hardly a trace of post-Minoan settlement,
so that it is unlikely to be Seteia. On the E side of a headland just E of Petras,
called Karavopetra or Trypeti, is a rock cutting--a "shipshed" for a
guardship, probably for protection against piracy.
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.
PRESSOS (Ancient city) SITIA
Hellenistic city a little over 10 km S of Sitia. The two hills occupied
by the Hellenistic city have yielded no traces of earlier occupation, although
S of the city a third hill was the site of a sanctuary from the 8th to the 5th
c. B.C., and S of this sanctuary two Late Bronze Age tholoi have been discovered.
The Late Bronze Age settlement may have been another km to the S, where remains
of well-built houses have been observed.
The Hellenistic city was founded in the 4th c. and destroyed about
the middle of the 2d c. B.C. by Hierapetra. The Hellenistic city was situated
on two hills and a low saddle between them, the whole area being flanked on E
and W by streams and their respective valleys. Traces of the defense wall have
been recognized, mainly on the E and S sides, and they, together with the general
spread of debris, suggest that the walled city occupied an area of more than 10
hectares. Within this area, the higher of the two hills seems to have been fortified
as a citadel and to have formed the center of the city as a whole. On the peak
of this hill, remains of a major temple have been recognized.
On the slopes of both hills terrace walls can be traced, and on the
S side of the lower hill rectangular cuttings in the rock are thought to represent
the remains of houses cut back into the slope here. Narrow, stepped streets ran
up the slopes and were flanked by built houses, only one of which was ever extensively
excavated. This proved to be a fine house of ashlar, with six or seven downstairs
rooms and traces of stairs leading to an upper floor. The whole building had a
tiled roof, and was occupied from the 3d c. until the mid 2d B.C. The saddle between
the two hills is thought to have been the site of the agora, and from it were
recovered several architectural fragments, including part of a Doric frieze and
a fragment from an Ionic capital. A paved road led from this area up toward the
summit of the lower hill.
The third hill, beyond the city walls to the S, was found to have
first been used as a sanctuary in the Geometric period. To it belonged a thick
deposit of soil containing many votive terracottas and miniature bronze pieces
of armor. At the close of the 5th c. the whole hill summit was enclosed by a temenos
wall, except where the hillside was particularly steep. An entrance in the SE
corner of this wall led into an enclosure where there was an altar, a long building
probably used as a repository for gifts, and probably a temple. No trace of the
temple was found on the summit, but a leveled rectangular area of rock, 13 x 9
m, probably indicates its situation. From the fields immediately below the cliff
traces of ashlar blocks and columns may well belong to this temple, presumably
completely destroyed in the mid 2d c. B.C.
The city was supplied with water from a source more than 3 km to the
S, where a small temple stood above the spring. Cemeteries were situated on the
E, S, and probably W of the city, while some 400 m NW of the lower hill quarries
used during the building of the city are still visible.
K. Branigan, 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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