Earliest Eteocretan inscription from Praisos

Praesus or Praisos ( grc, Πραῖσος), also Prasus or Prasos (Πρᾶσος), was a

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 ...

city in

ancient Crete The history of Crete goes back to the 7th millennium BC, preceding the ancient Minoan civilization by more than four millennia. The palace-based Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe. After the Minoan civilization was devastat ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

reports that it belonged to the

Eteocretes Eteocretan ( from grc-gre, Ἐτεόκρητες, Eteókrētes, lit. "true Cretans", itself composed from ἐτεός ''eteós'' "true" and Κρής ''Krḗs'' "Cretan") is the pre-Greek language attested in a few alphabetic inscriptions of anc ...

, and contained the temple of the Dictaean Zeus, for Mount Dicte was in the territory of Praesus. Strabo reports that Praesus was located between as lying between the promontories Samonium and

Chersonesus Chersonesus ( grc, Χερσόνησος, Khersónēsos; la, Chersonesus; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, ''Khersones''; also rendered as ''Chersonese'', ''Chersonesos'', contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson Χερσών; ...

, at the distance of 60

stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadi ...

from the sea, and close to Mount Dicte. However, Strabo confuses Praesus with

Priansus Priansus or Priansos ( grc, Πρίανσος), also Pransus or Pransos (Πράνσος), was a town and ''polis'' (city-state) in ancient Crete. It is mentioned in a list of Cretan cities cited in a decree of Cnossus of about 259–233 BCE, as ...

, when he says it bordered upon the territory of Leben, and was distant 70 stadia from the sea, and 180 from

Gortyn Gortyn, Gortys or Gortyna ( el, Γόρτυν, , or , ) is a municipality, and an archaeological site, on the Mediterranean island of Crete away from the island's capital, Heraklion. The seat of the municipality is the village Agioi Deka. Gortyn ...

. The site was populated in

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

times, and remnants of

Minoan 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 1450B ...

and Mycenaean settlements have also been found. The inhabitants of Praesus believed that the Kouretes were children of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

and

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...

. The city was razed by the inhabitants of

Hierapytna Hierapytna ( grc, Ἱεράπυτνα or Ἱερὰ Πύτνα), also Hierapydna (Ἱεράπυδνα), Hierapydnes (Ἱερά Πύδνης), or Hiera, was a town of ancient Crete. Strabo says that it stood in the narrowest part of the island, opp ...

in 140 BCE, in a war that pitted Gortyn and Hierapytna against Cnossus and its allies. Praesus was mentioned by

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...

in ''On Love'': Leucocomas, the beloved of Euxinthetus, gives his lover the task of bringing his dog back from Praesus to Gortyn. The territory of Praesus extended across the island to either sea. It is said to have been the only place in Crete, with the exception of Polichna, that did not take part in the expedition against Camicus in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, in order to avenge the death of

Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...

. Agathocles the Babylonian, related that the Praesii were accustomed to sacrifice swine before marriage. The site of Praesus is located north of the modern village of Nea Praisos (formerly Vaveli), which is located in the east of the island on the peninsula of

Sitia Sitia ( el, Σητεία) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 9,912 inhabitants (2011) and the municipality has 18,318 (2011). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos and northeast of Ierapetra. Sitia port is on the ...

. The remains of the city are distributed over three hills and include a partially preserved wall.

References

Populated places in ancient Crete Former populated places in Greece Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Crete {{AncientCrete-geo-stub