Prinias (Sitia)

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Prinias ( Greek Μπρινιάς Brinias ) refers to a former Minoan summit shrine in the municipality of Sitia in the northeast of the Greek island of Crete . It was located at an altitude of 768 meters 5.4 kilometers south of the bay of Sitia (Όρμος Σητείας) on the north coast of Crete on the Aegean Sea . The sanctuary , discovered by Paul Faure in 1965 and examined by Costis Davaras in 1972 , was used in the Middle Minoan phases MM I to III (about 2100–1700 BC) and belonged to the hinterland of the Palace of Petras, 5.3 kilometers away .

Bull's head rhyton from Prinias

The summit sanctuary is not located on the highest point of the 803 meter high mountain Prinias (Brinias) , but rather the more striking, nearer the plain, the summit Gallou to Skopeli (Γάλλου το Σκόπελη). It consisted of three natural terraces with lots of large rocks. A flat one of these rocks could have been an altar, and a depression in it may have served to catch sacrificial blood. Prinias was one of the most important Minoan summit sanctuaries, but was almost completely robbed in the past. Among the still numerous votive offerings was an outstanding large rhyton in the form of a dung or rhinoceros beetle . In addition, more rhytons, male and female, and animal found terracotta - statuettes and clay models of various human body parts that have a healing cult.

literature

  • Krzysztof Nowicki: East Cretan Peak Sanctuaries Revisted . In: Eleni Mantzourani, Philip P. Betancourt (eds.): Philistor. Studies in Honor of Costis Davaras (=  Prehistory Monographs . Volume 36 ). INSTAP Academic Press, Philadelphia 2012, ISBN 978-1-931534-65-9 , pp. 139–154 (English, excerpt ).
  • Gernot Heinrich: Minoan height sanctuaries . In: Melissa Vetters (ed.): The Minoan Crete (Crete excursion May 01, 2017– May 12, 2017, part 1) . University of Salzburg, Salzburg 2017, Prinias, p. 76 ( digitized version [PDF; 7.6 MB ]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Zacher: Possible Minoan Crete Proto-Palatial Communications Infrastructure of Palaces and Peak Sanctuaries with Gavdos and Malaxa. Peak Sanctuaries (Elevation - Meters), No. 32.minoer.net, February 3, 2012, accessed January 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Stefan Hiller : The Minoan Crete after the excavations of the last decade (=  meeting reports of the philosophical-historical class . Volume 330 ). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1977, ISBN 978-3-7001-0176-5 , p. 169 .

Web links

  • Prinias. In: Digital Crete: Archaeological Atlas of Crete. Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Institute for Mediterranean Studies(English).;
  • Christine Morris: East Cretan peak sanctuary project. Day of Archeology, July 26, 2013, accessed January 12, 2018 .

Coordinates: 35 ° 9 ′ 0.8 ″  N , 26 ° 7 ′ 33.8 ″  E