Amnisus

Remains of the sanctuary of Zeus Thenatas in the former Amnisos

Amnisos ( ancient Greek Άμνισός ), also Amnissos , was a Minoan port city on Crete . The place is about seven kilometers east of Heraklion . It is believed that it was one of the two ports of Knossos . Amissus is mentioned several times in Greek sagas, so Theseus is said to have landed here, and Odysseus stopped here to return to Ithaca . The place appears to be a-mi-ni-so ( ???? ) on tablets of Linear B . On a list from the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. Amnisos is listed as ʿa-m-ni-ša (jʿ-mni-š3) .

In ancient times, the river Karteros, which flows west of the excavation site, was called the port city. After the river, the coastal plain was known as the "Plain of Amnisos". A cult cave in the interior of Crete near Arkalochori could be reached via the river valley near the source , in which one could recover rich finds from the Minoan period during excavations in the 20th century, including the inscribed ax of Arkalochori .

Wall painting from the Villa of the Lilies

Excavations in Amnisos were mainly carried out by Spyridon Marinatos in the years 1929 to 1938. Excellent Minoan wall paintings were found in the so-called Villa of the Lilies . Also nearby are the Eileithyia Caves, which have been a sacred site since Neolithic times. According to Homer , it is said to be the birthplace of Hera . Callimachus of Cyrene and his pupil Apollonios of Rhodes connect the Amnisos river with a cult of Artemis . In this context, Apollonios speaks in his Argonautica of nymphs "who gather from the Amnisian source themselves".

literature

David J. Blackman: Karteros, (“Amnisos”) Pediada, Crete . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
Gustav Hirschfeld : Amnisos 1) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Sp. 1871.
Holger Sonnabend : Amnisos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 603-603.

Web links

Commons : Amnisos - collection of images, videos and audio files

Amnisus . minoancrete.com (English)

Individual evidence

↑ a-mi-ni-so. minoan.deaditerranean.com, accessed February 13, 2015 .
↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies'. A Minoan building near Amnisos in Crete . Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , Amnisos, p. 2–3 ( digitized version [accessed November 5, 2015]).
↑ Ivana Petrovic: From the gates of Hades to the halls of Olympus. Artemis cult with Theocrit and Callimachus . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15154-3 , The Amnisian Nymphs at Apollonios Rhodios, p. 259 ( books.google.de ).
↑ Ivana Petrovic: From the gates of Hades to the halls of Olympus. Artemis cult with Theocrit and Callimachus . Brill, Leiden, Boston 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15154-3 , The Amnisian Nymphs at Apollonios Rhodios, p. 257 ( books.google.de ).

35.330833333333 25.206111111111Coordinates: 35 ° 19 ′ 51 ″ N , 25 ° 12 ′ 22 ″ E

[1] a-mi-ni-so. minoan.deaditerranean.com, accessed February 13, 2015 .

[2] Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies'. A Minoan building near Amnisos in Crete . Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , Amnisos, p. 2–3 ( digitized version [accessed November 5, 2015]).

[3] Ivana Petrovic: From the gates of Hades to the halls of Olympus. Artemis cult with Theocrit and Callimachus . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15154-3 , The Amnisian Nymphs at Apollonios Rhodios, p. 259 ( books.google.de ).

[4] Ivana Petrovic: From the gates of Hades to the halls of Olympus. Artemis cult with Theocrit and Callimachus . Brill, Leiden, Boston 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15154-3 , The Amnisian Nymphs at Apollonios Rhodios, p. 257 ( books.google.de ).