Cydonia, Crete
Kydonia or Cydonia (; grc, Κυδωνία; lat, Cydonia) was an ancient city-state on the northwest coast of the island of Crete. It is at the site of the modern-day Greek city of Chania. In legend Cydonia was founded by King Cydon (), a son of Hermes or Apollo and of Akakallis, the daughter of King Minos. According to Pausanias he was son of king Tegeates. Diodorus Siculus mentions that the city was founded by King Minos. The editors of the ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' suggest that the city also bore the name Apollonia ( grc, Ἀπολλωνία). Prehistoric period The name of the city is first mentioned in Linear B tablets from Knossos (ku-do-ni-ja). At Kastelli hill, which is the citadel of Chania's harbor, archaeological excavations have discovered ceramic sherds, which date back to Neolithic era. Scarce finds such as walls and ground floors confirm that the systematic habitation of the hill began during Early Minoan (EM) II period. A Minoan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Minoan Ruins In Chania, Crete 001
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC until it ended around 1100BC, during the early Greek Dark Ages, part of a wider bronze age collapse around the Mediterranean. It represents the first advanced civilization in Europe, leaving behind a number of massive building complexes, sophisticated art, and writing systems. Its economy benefited from a network of trade around much of the Mediterranean. The civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. The name "Minoan" derives from the mythical King Minos and was coined by Evans, who identified the site at Knossos with the labyrinth of the Minotaur. The Minoan civilization has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, and historian Will Duran ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', the poem is divided into 24 books. It follows the Greek hero cult, Greek hero Odysseus, king of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca, and his journey home after the Trojan War. After the war, which lasted ten years, his journey lasted for ten additional years, during which time he encountered many perils and all his crew mates were killed. In his absence, Odysseus was assumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus had to contend with a Suitors of Penelope, group of unruly suitors who were competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The ''Odyssey'' was originally composed in Homeric Greek in around the 8th or 7th century BCE and, by the mid-6th century BCE, had become part of the Greek literary canon. In Classic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Aptera, Greece
Aptera ( or ) or Apteron was an ancient city, now an archaeological site in western Crete, a kilometre inland from the southern shore of Souda Bay, about 13 km east of Chania in the municipality of Akrotiri. History It is mentioned (A-pa-ta-wa) in Linear B tablets from the 14th-13th centuries BC. With its highly fortunate geographical situation, the city-state was powerful from Minoan through Hellenistic times, when it gradually declined. However, the Minoan settlement of the Bronze Age was located about 1.5 km away from Aptera, at the place of the modern Stylos settlement. In Greek mythology, Aptera was the site of the legendary contest between the Sirens and the Muses, when after the victory of the Muses, the Sirens lost the feathers of their wings from their shoulders, and having thus become white, cast themselves into the sea. The name of the city literally means "without wings", and the neighbouring islands Leucae means "white". In the third century BC, Apt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Angelos Chaniotis
Angelos Chaniotis ( el, Άγγελος Χανιώτης; born November 8, 1959) is a Greek historian and Classics scholar, known for original and wide-ranging research in the cultural, religious, legal and economic history of the Hellenistic period and the Roman East. His research interests also include the history of Crete and Greek epigraphy. Chaniotis is a Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is a member of the German Archaeological Institute and was a member of the Editorial Board of the Classical Studies journal ''Mnemosyne''. Education and career Chaniotis got his B.A. at the University of Athens in 1982. He got his Ph.D. at Heidelberg University in 1984 and received habilitation at that same institution in 1992. He was a visiting professor at New York University in 1993–1998. He was a visiting professor at Oxford University from 2010 to 2013 and senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hellenistic Period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year. The Ancient Greek word ''Hellas'' (, ''Hellás'') was gradually recognized as the name for Greece, from which the word ''Hellenistic'' was derived. "Hellenistic" is distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the latter refers to Greece itself, while the former encompasses all ancient territories under Greek influence, in particular the East after the conquests of Alexander the Great. After the Macedonian invasion of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC and its disintegration shortly after, the Hellenistic kingdoms were established throughout south-west Asia ( Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Pergamon), north-east Africa ( Ptolemaic Kingdom) and South Asia ( Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lyttus
Lyctus or Lyttos (Greek language, Greek: or ), was one of the most considerable cities in ancient Crete, which appears in the Homeric Catalog of ships, catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of Minoa Pediada. Lyctus in mythology According to Hesiod, ''Theogony''477-484, Rhea (mythology), Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Lyctus and hid him in a cave of Mount Aegaeon. The inhabitants of this ancient Dorians, Doric city called themselves colonists of Sparta, and the worship of Apollo appears to have prevailed there. History According to Polybius, Lyctus was the oldest city on Crete. In the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III (1391–1353 BC), there is a list of Aegean place names; Lyctus is mentioned under the name ''Rikata''. According to some scholars, the name was mentioned in Linear B texts as ''ru-ki-to''. In 344 BC, Phalaikos, Phalaecus the Phocis assisted the Knossos, Knossians against their neighbors the Lyctians, and took the city of Lyctus, from which he was dri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Phalaikos
Phalaikos ( grc, Φάλαικος) was the ruler of Phocis in Greece during the Third Sacred War before he was ousted. After he was ousted he became the leader of a group of Ancient Greek mercenaries, mercenaries, whose services were sought by Knossos in Crete. Once in Crete. The leaders of Knossos ordered him to attack their enemy, the city of Lyttus. The Lyttians appealed to the Spartans who came to Crete with an army under their king Archidamus III. As Phalaikos was siege, besieging Lyttus, the Spartans arrived and relieved the siege. Later in 343 BC Phalaikos attacked and laid siege to Kydonia, (C.M. Hogan, 2008) where he was routed and he lost his life. Sources * Theocharis Detorakis, (1994). A History of Crete. Heraklion: Heraklion. . * C. Michael Hogan, ''Cydonia'', The Modern Antiquarian, Jan. 23, 200 4th-century BC Greek people 343 BC deaths Ancient Phocian generals Dorian Crete Ancient Greek mercenaries Year of birth unknown {{AncientGreece-bio-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Gortyna
Gortyna ( grc, Γόρτυνα; also known as Gortyn (Γορτύν)) was a town of ancient Crete which appears in the Homeric poems under the form of Γορτύν; but afterwards became usually Gortyna (Γόρτυνα). According to Stephanus of Byzantium it was originally called Larissa (Λάρισσα) and Cremnia or Kremnia (Κρήμνια). History This important city was next to Cnossus in importance and splendour; in early times these two great towns had entered into a league which enabled them to reduce the whole of Crete under their power; in after-times when dissensions arose among them they were engaged in continual hostilities. It was originally of very considerable size, since Strabo reckons its circuit at 50 stadia; but when he wrote it was very much diminished. He adds that Ptolemy Philopator had begun to enclose it with fresh walls; but the work was not carried on for more than 8 stadia. In the Peloponnesian War, Gortyna seems to have had relations with Athens. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Classical Athens
The city of Athens ( grc, Ἀθῆναι, ''Athênai'' .tʰɛ̂ː.nai̯ Modern Greek: Αθήναι, ''Athine'' or, more commonly and in singular, Αθήνα, ''Athina'' .'θi.na during the classical period of ancient Greece (480–323 BC) was the major urban centre of the notable ''polis'' (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (aftermath of Lamian War). The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles. In the classical period, Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Ari ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet built with Persian subsidies finally defeated Athens and started a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who launched several invasions of Attica with the full hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta. However, the Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' alliance) raided the Peloponnesian coast to trigger rebellions within Sparta. The precarious Peace of Nicias was si ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Aegina
Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. Administration Municipality The municipality of Aegina consists of the island of Aegina and a few offshore islets. It is part of the Islands (regional unit), Islands regional unit, Attica (region), Attica region. The municipality is subdivided into the following five communities (population in 2011 in parentheses ): * Kypseli (2124) * Mesagros (1361) * Perdika (823) * Vathy (1495) The regional capital is the town of Aegina, situated at the northwestern end of the island. Due to its proximity to Athens, it is a popular vacation place during the summer months, with quite a few Athenians owning second houses on the island. Province The province of Aegina ( el, Επαρχία Αίγινας) was one of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cretans
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete rests about south of the Greek mainland, and about southwest of Anatolia. Crete has an area of and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi). It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, with the Sea of Crete (or North Cretan Sea) to the north and the Libyan Sea (or South Cretan Sea) to the south. Crete and a number of islands and islets that surround it constitute the Region of Crete ( el, Περιφέρεια Κρήτης, links=no), which is the southernmost of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece, and the fifth most populous of Greece's regions. Its capital and largest city is Heraklion, on the north shore of the island. , the region had a population of 636,504. The Dodecanese are located to the nort ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |