Mirabello Bay (also ''Bay/Gulf of Mirabello/Mirabella'') is an embayment of the

Sea of Crete 300px, Map of the Sea of Crete The Sea of Crete (, ''Kritiko Pelagos''), or Cretan Sea, is a sea, part of the Aegean Sea, located in its southern extremity, with a total surface area of . The sea stretches to the north of the island of Crete, eas ...

on the eastern part of

Crete 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 ...

in present-day

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It is the largest bay of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

islands and the fifth largest in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. The

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

town Agios Nikolaos overlooks the bay. This locale was important in prehistoric settlement of the island of Crete.

In ancient times

The coast of the Bay of Mirabello was noted for its role in

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

development in the period circa 3000 BC. In the

Late Minoan The Minoan chronology dating system is a measure of the phases of the Minoan civilization. Initially established as a relative dating system by English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans between 1900 and 1903 based on his analysis of Minoan pottery du ...

period, cities on high ground overlooking the Bay of Mirabello were founded as

cities of refuge The cities of refuge ( ''‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ'') were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Maimonides, invoking talmudic lit ...

, including

Karphi Karfi (also Karphi, el, Καρφί) is an archaeological site high up in the Dikti Mountains in eastern Crete, Greece. The ancient name of the site is unknown; "Karfi" ("the nail") is a local toponym for the prominent knob of limestone that mar ...

. Later in the Dorian Invasion,

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

occurred of other hilltop cities overlooking the Bay of Mirabello; an example of this phase of settlement was the city of

Lato Lato ( grc, Λατώ, Latṓ) was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa. History The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay betwee ...

.C. M. Hogan, 2008 Kreta Mirabello Psira

Line notes

References

* Philip P. Betancourt (2007) ''The Chrysokamino Metallurgy Workshop and Its Territory'', ASCSA, 462 pages *

Robert Drews Robert Drews (born March 26, 1936) is an American historian who is Professor of Classical Studies Emeritus at Vanderbilt University. He received his B. A. from Northwestern College, his M. A. from University of Missouri and his Ph.D. from Johns Ho ...

(1993) ''The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C.'', Princeton University Press, 252 pages * C.Michael Hogan, ''Lato Fieldnotes'', The Modern Antiquarian, January 10, 200

{{Coord, 35.1747, N, 25.7858, E, source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title Bays of Greece Gulfs of the Mediterranean Landforms of Lasithi