Agia Fotia
One of the largest cemeteries of the prehistoric Aegean. It extends in a coastal location near Sitia and dates back to the Proto-Minoan period (3000 - 2300 BC). Most of the tombs were carved into the rock, in the shape of the primitive chamber tomb. The findings reveal strong relationships and influences from the Cyclades and less from Asia Minor. The most important Proto-Minoan styles of Crete are represented in the pottery.
Agios Nikolaos / Lato to Kamara
Port of Latos of Etera. Hellenistic and Roman cemeteries. Remains of buildings from the same era in the center of the modern city. Inside the modern city, the cave of Trypa Xirokampos was a center of worship from Geometric to Roman times. Ancient architectural elements scattered on the shores of Lake Voulismenis. Archaeological Museum.
Adromylos
At the site of Agios Antonios, near the village of Lithines, clusters of vaulted and other masonry protogeometric (10th - 9th century BC) tombs.
Anavlochos
On the Anavlochos mountain near the village of Vrachaki, analemmas, a tank, and vaulted tombs have been found that testify to a settlement of the 9th - 6th centuries BC.
Vasiliki
Town-planningly organized settlement of the Proto-Minoan II era (2600 - 2300 BC) on the isthmus of Ierapetra. At the top of the hill, a large two-story building ("red house"), oriented to the four points of the horizon, like the buildings of the East. The large number of rectangular rooms, the elongated corridors, the storage areas, the red mortar on the surface of the walls and the paved courtyard make the building a forerunner of the Minoan palaces. To the east of the hill stretched a settlement of the Middle Minoan era. The findings are exhibited at the Agios Nikolaos Museum.
At the top of Vasiliki hill, sanctuary 11th - 10th c. BC Roman settlement with which a bridge and an aqueduct are associated. On Kefala hill, settlement and temple complex 12th - 10th c BC.
Brokastro
Naturally fortified settlement that was inhabited during the Middle Minoan period (2200 - 1550 BC) and mainly during the last Minoan period (1200 - 1100 BC). Protogeometric vaulted tombs with a rectangular chamber. Remains of crowded building complexes, a paved road, as well as a sewer are dated to the geometric times.
Gavdopoula
A Minoan settlement has been identified at the location of Keramos.
C(k)avdos
Evidence of habitation on the island since prehistoric times. Aqueduct and fortification of Hellenistic and Roman times. Female headless statue of Roman times, known as the "daughter of Gavdus", today in the British
Gournia
The best preserved city of Minoan Crete, amphitheatrically built on a low hill that controls the isthmus of Ierapetra and the sea. The city flourished during the Late Minoan period (1550 - 1400 BC), but was inhabited until the end of the Minoan period (1100 BC), when it was destroyed by fire. The town has a system of vertically intersecting cobbled streets, into which the stepped entrances of the two-story houses open. The storage, craft and laboratory areas of the houses show the organization and daily life in the settlement. At the top of the hill was the "palace" with a central hall, storerooms, a large courtyard with a stepped staircase and a stone cairn for offerings. Further north, a sanctuary was excavated with a multitude of cult objects. The finds are exhibited in the Museums of Agios Nikolaos and Heraklion.
Driros
The archaeological site is accessible from Neapolis Lasithiou. It has two hills - citadels. In the gap between them is located the market of the city already formed in the 8th century BC with a retaining polygonal wall and steps. In the SW. the temple of Delphini Apollo (8th century BC, today completed with modern masonry). Hellenistic reservoir, rectory and numerous manors where the houses of the city were built.
Diocese of Ierapetra
Seat of the diocese of Ierapydni since the 6th century. A.D. Remains of an early Christian basilica integrated into the current church.
Ermoupoli / Itanos
At a distance of 2 km from the Vai palm forest. The coastal city was a station of the Ptolemaic fleet in the 3rd - 2nd century BC. It has two citadels E. and W. Residential remains and burial monuments of the Hellenistic period.
The city still exists during the early Byzantine period. Three early Christian basilicas are known. One (early 6th century), SW. of the ancient acropolis, it is built on the site of an ancient temple, probably of Athena Poliadas, and its floor plan is reminiscent of the basilicas of Syria.
Ierapetra / Ierapytna Most
important city of Crete. Port facilities, little remains of two theatres. Remains of public buildings, and movable finds especially in the Viglia site to the west of the modern city, where the core of the ancient city. Archaeological Collection. In Ferma, near Ierapetra, Hellenistic-Roman fish farms have been identified.
Karfi
Precipitous, naturally fortified position at an altitude of 1200 m with excellent supervision of the entire NE. Crete. Here there was a summit sanctuary from the Middle Minoan era (2200 - 1550 BC). The settlement that developed between 1200 - 1100 BC. attributed to refugees who moved from the lowlands. Complexes of houses, a tripartite "mega-shaped" building with a hearth and a sanctuary with clay idols of the Minoan goddess with raised arms were excavated. The findings are exhibited in the Heraklion Museum. Possibly an archaic sanctuary near the Vijilovrysi spring.
Kavo Sidero
Akrotiri Salmonion or Samonion
Temple of Samonia or Minoid Athena, probably 4th c. BC, most of it submerged.
Kavoussi
Two small settlements at Kastro (higher) and Vronta (lower) sites, with a lifetime from the 12th to the 7th century BC the first (houses in Andhera and a place of worship), and from the 12th to the 11th century BC the second (Minoan sanctuary, contemporary cemetery with box-shaped tombs). In the 8th century BC a cremation cemetery was created on the site of the abandoned settlement in Vronta. Vaulted tombs 12th - 8th c. BC in the N. - NE region. of today's village of Kavousi. At the location of Tholos Kavousiou, remains of a Roman storage building.
Kalo Chorio / Istron
Ancient city known from historical tradition. A Roman pottery kiln was excavated. In Vryonissi, near the modern settlement of Istro, inscriptions of mercenaries carved into the rock, from the Hellenistic era.
Koufonisi / Lefki or Lefki
Desert and barren island facing the SE. coast of Crete, inhabited since the Minoan era, center of fishing and trade in purple with ruins from Hellenistic and Roman times. Ruins of theater and houses, reservoirs and aqueducts. At the southern end of the island on a hill are the ruins of a temple whose building material was used in the masonry of an adjacent newer lighthouse. Fragments of the colossal seated marble statue of the deity by country. Finds in the Museum of Sitia.
Krya Sitias
At the site of Orthi Petra or Tsachali, vaulted tombs of the end of the Minoan era and protogeometric times (10th - 9th centuries BC) at the foot of Monte Forte.
Lato is the Other
City that flourished in the Archaic to Hellenistic times, with highly developed political institutions. Organized archaeological site. Access to the ancient city was via a stepped road, surrounded to the north by a monumental wall with gates and towers. On the southern side of the street, shops and workshops. The street ends at the market (4th - 3rd century BC), where the Rector's complex. Further south, a Hellenistic temple with an altar and to its east, a small rectangular theater.
Milatos
Visible buildings of geometric, archaic and Hellenistic times.
Papoura Ag. Georgiou Lasithiou
Near Karfi, a geometric settlement and city of the archaic period, perhaps the ancient Datala, where the inhabitants of Karfi probably settled. Outdoor Sub-Minoan and Geometric sanctuary on the edge of the city.
Cave of Psychrou
Important cult center of Minoan Crete. It is probably identified with Diktaeon Andron, place of birth and upbringing of Zeus. According to another view, the Diktaeon Andron was located E. of Ierapytna (Ierapetra). The cult was practiced from the Proto-Minoan era (2800 - 2300 BC) until Roman times. Rectangular altar and irregular enclosure in the vestibule. In the great hall there is a small lake and an impressive stalactite, known as the "cloak of Zeus". Lots of devotee offerings, mostly figurines, weapons and double chisels. The finds in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Makrygialos
At the exit of the village, ruins of a Minoan and Roman mansion.
Mangasas
A two-part house was found, probably from the latest Neolithic period (5300 - 4500 BC), built near a rock roof. It is interpreted as a craftsman's residence or community storehouse, because a large number of chisels and other tools were found inside.
Meseleri / Oleros
South of Kalos Chori. Visible ancient buildings, among them perhaps the temple of Athena and cemeteries with burials in pithos of geometric times.
Monastery of Toplou (Monastery of Panagia Akrotiriani)
Between Sitia and Itano / Vai palm forest. In the courtyard of the monastery, on the outer wall of the church of Panagia, is an inscription from the end of the 2nd century. BC, with the text of the arbitration of the Magnetos of the Meander of Asia Minor in the dispute between Itanos and Ierapytna (Ierapetra) for the possession of lands.
Mochlos
The current islet in ancient times was a peninsula, where an extensive Minoan settlement with a port developed. Rich cemetery of rectangular tombs in the shape and dimensions of rooms, from the Proto-Minoan era (2600 - 2100 BC), with gifts of exceptional art, which show the rising leadership class of Minoan Crete and reveal influences from the Sumerians of Mesopotamia. The findings are exhibited at the Agios Nikolaos Museum.
Roman settlement 2nd - 4th c. AD, today not visible, on the island, and fish farms of the same years on the opposite coast.
Myrtos
Coastal settlement of the Proto-Minoan period (2600 - 2300 BC) near Ierapetra, where the earliest evidence of the use of a ceramic wheel in the Aegean was found.
Roman buildings below the modern village and possibly a thermal building on the beach to its west. At the site of Pyrgos, sanctuary of Ermou and Aphrodite 2nd - 1st c. BC, above a Minoan farmhouse.
Myrsini
Important cemetery of the late Minoan times (14th - 12th century BC). The findings, mainly vases, are exhibited in the Agios Nikolaos Museum.
Palekastro
One of the largest Minoan cities, in a key geographical position. It was already inhabited from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. and gradually (1550 - 1200 BC) it developed into a city occupying an area of more than 50,000 sq.m. A central street and smaller perpendicular streets divide the city into nine districts, to which an even sewer network branches. The two-story stately houses along the main street have "mansions", baths, skylights, courtyards, kitchens, wells, storage and craft spaces. The findings are exhibited in the Museum of Sitia. During historical times there was a federal sanctuary of the Eteokrites in operation from the 8th century. A.D. until Roman times, dedicated to the worship of Diktaeus Zeus. The sanctuary is partially built on top of the Minoan settlement. At Ellinika, at the foot of Kastri hill, there are relics of Hellenistic and Roman buildings (perhaps ancient Dikta).
Petsofas
Peak sanctuary of the Middle Minoan era (2000 - 1600 BC), one of the most important in Crete. Among the numerous votive offerings stand out the double "consecration horns", figurines of worshipers with broth, rich clothing and elaborate hairstyles. The finds in the Agios Nikolaos Museum.
Petras
Paralios organized Minoan settlement that was inhabited continuously from 2600 - 2300 BC. to 1450 BC The city occupied a hill fortified by a Cyclopean wall with towers and had paved streets. At the top, a palatial building with two periods of prosperity (2000 - 1650 BC and 1600 - 1450 BC), included a central courtyard, cult spaces and storerooms connected to the central courtyard on a monumental scale. To the west, a garden separated the main building from the workshops. In the period 1600 - 1450 BC they own two houses with laboratory areas for wine production and wool processing.
Piscokepsalo
Clay relief tiles (7th century BC) and protogeometric (10th - 9th century BC) tomb in a cave.
Praisos
City of the Eteocretans, i.e. the oldest Dorian inhabitants of Crete. Ruins of the fortified archaic - Hellenistic city with three hills - citadels near the village of Nea Praisos (Baveli). The sanctuary of Zeus Diktaeus in Palekastro also belonged here. Large Hellenistic house between the first and second acropolis. At the top of the first acropolis, foundations of a temple from the classical and Hellenistic times. Vaulted tombs in use from the Minoan to the Hellenistic period in the area. Her port in the Cretan sea was Hetia (Siteia?). Near the village of Nea Praisos (Vaveli) sanctuaries of archaic and hellenistic times.
Prinias
Middle Minoan summit sanctuary (2000 - 1600 BC) with an important collection of votive offerings.
Sitia
At the Customs House of the modern city, carvings for circular fish tanks from Roman times. Unidentified sanctuary in the modern city (Minoa cinema).
At Trypito, 2 km E. of Sitia, a small Hellenistic town was excavated on a peninsula with houses, a fortified enclosure and a neosoiko. Perhaps it is about the ancient city of Sitia, Hetia (?). In the Russian Church, SE. of Sitia, in the position of Anoixi, near the church of the Holy Cross, an archaic sanctuary.
In Xirokampos Zirou, a walled city of Hellenistic and Roman times, probably identified with the ancient Ampelo. Salts of the same years. Archaeological Museum in Sitia. Near the waterfront of the port, at Timios Stavros, remains of a large early Christian basilica are visible, most of which is under modern buildings (late 5th - early 6th century).
Psira
A small islet in the bay of Mirabellos, where a Minoan settlement developed (1700 - 1450 BC). Dense house complexes with a square and a sanctuary have been excavated.
Hamaizi
House of the Middle Minoan era (2200 - 1550 BC), unique in terms of its shape, on a conical hill with excellent supervision of the area. The house is elliptical in shape, has two entrances, a staircase to the floor and an outdoor courtyard with a well. One of the rooms was interpreted as a sanctuary.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou