Rhizenia
Rhizenia ( Greek Ῥιζηνία ) was an ancient place on Crete , about halfway between Knossos and Gortyn , near the modern village of Prinias about 35 km southwest of Heraklion .
Rhizenia's heyday was in archaic times , when it was an independent city-state . From the fifth century onwards, the city became dependent on Gortyn and lost its importance.
Excavations took place here mainly from 1906 to 1908 under Italian direction. The discovery of some archaic temples dating back to the 7th century BC was remarkable. Could be dated. Temple A may have been dedicated to Rhea . There were relief friezes depicting riders, stags, panthers and two figures of seated deities. The works are now in the Museum of Heraklion . In the 3rd century a fortress was built near the city, in which many archaic tombstones were used as spolia . There were cemeteries with Tholos graves .
Web links
- Pictures of the sculptures and reliefs found on the website of the University of Erlangen
- Antonella Pautasso: Scavi di Priniàs . Article about the excavations in Italian on the IBAM website (Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali)
- Dario Palermo: Diario minimo d'archeologia. La Missione dell'Università di Catania a Creta . Report in Italian about the excavation campaign of the Università di Catania on their website
- Website Rizinia.com about the ancient Rhizina in Greek
Coordinates: 35 ° 9 ′ N , 24 ° 59 ′ E