Hierapytna
Hierapytna was an ancient Greek city in Crete , today's Ierapetra . In ancient times it was one of the most important cities in Crete.
The city is located on the south coast of Crete, in the eastern half of the island. There is hardly any evidence of prehistoric settlement in the city. The ancient city is said to have been a Doric foundation. Many of the residents probably had an Eeteocetean background. A certain Kyrbas from Rhodes is named as the founder. The oldest archaeological find from the city is a red-figure amphora from the fifth century BC. From the fourth century BC. The city minted its own coins. From the Hellenistic period , some treaties have been preserved in which the city is named. At that time, Hierapytna seems to have had a democratic constitution. The main gods of the city were Apollo Dekataphoros , Athena Polias and various manifestations of Zeus .
In the war of 204–201 BC BC, in which numerous Cretan cities were involved, attacked the fleet of the city of Kos and Kalymnos . Shortly afterwards (201–200 BC) the city changed sides and supported Rhodes . Between the years 145 and 140 BC BC Hierapytna conquered the eastern neighboring city of Praisos . The following years also saw a conflict with the city of Itanos .
During the Roman conquest of Crete by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus , Hierapytna was the last city to be built in 66 BC. BC could be conquered. It flourished in Roman times and was one of the largest cities in Crete. A copy of Diocletian's highest price edict comes from late antiquity . The city was the seat of a bishop.
Not much of the ancient city has survived today. Travelers from the 15th to 19th centuries saw two theaters, a larger and a smaller one, an amphitheater , a bath and an aqueduct . Remains of a city wall are documented. On the basis of modern rescue excavations it can be assumed that the city stretched around 1.45 km along the coast and occupied an area of around 150 hectares. Based on these excavations it can be assumed that it had a checkerboard map. Various houses came to light during the excavations, one of which contained a large mosaic .
See also
literature
- Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places . Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-33302-8 , pp. 268-269.
- Holger Sonnabend : Hierapytna. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Sp. 534 f.
- Scott Charles Gallimore: An Island Economy. Ierapetra and Crete in the Roman Empire Dissertation State University of New York at Buffalo, 2011 ( full text ).
Web links
Coordinates: 35 ° 0 ′ 20 ″ N , 25 ° 44 ′ 0 ″ E