Roussolakkos is the site of a
Minoan city, located near
Palekastro
Palaikastro or Palekastro ( el, Παλαίκαστρο, officially el, Παλαίκαστρον), with the Godart and Olivier abbreviation PK, is a thriving town, geographic heir to a long line of settlements extending back into prehistoric ti ...
,
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, Cypru ...
.
The Bronze Age town was occupied from
Early Minoan IIA to
Late Minoan IIIB, and its remains are relatively well preserved. A later Greek temple to Diktaian Zeus was built at the nearby
Elaea promontory.
In
Greek mythology, the site was regarded as the birthplace of ''Diktaian
Zeus''. and the location where
Jason and the
Argonauts
The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'' ...
confronted
Talos
In Greek mythology, Talos — also spelled Talus (; el, Τάλως, ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; el, Τάλων, ''Tálōn'') — was a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's s ...
, the man of bronze, a generation before the
Trojan War.
Bronze age settlement
The earliest written records documenting the worship of Diktaian Zeus at Roussolakkos come from the Mycenaean Greek
Linear B archives at
Knossos and date to the close of the Cretan Bronze Age (ca. 1300 BC), however, sacred art and architecture dating from all periods have been found, suggesting that the site was hallowed throughout its history. Among the most beautiful artifacts attesting the worship of Diktaian Zeus is a unique gold and ivory statuette of the god made ca. 1500 BC. See this and more finds at the museum in
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 t ...
.
Archaeology
Roussolakkos was first excavated from 1902-6 by
Robert Carr Bosanquet
Robert Carr Bosanquet (1871–1935) was a British archaeologist, operating in the Aegean and Britain and teaching at the University of Liverpool from 1906 to 1920 as the first holder of the Chair of Classical Archaeology there.
Life and work
Bo ...
and
Richard MacGillivray Dawkins
Richard MacGillivray Dawkins FBA (24 October 1871 – 4 May 1955) was a British archaeologist. He was associated with the British School at Athens, of which he was Director between 1906 and 1913.
Early life
He was the son of Rear-Admiral Rich ...
of the
British School at Athens
, image = Image-Bsa athens library.jpg
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, caption = The library of the BSA
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, motto=
, founder = The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, called the foundation meeti ...
. Work was continued by L. H. Sackett and M. R. Popham in 1962-3, and is currently directed by J. A. MacGillivray, L. H. Sackett and J. M. Driessen since 1983.
Just south of Roussolakkos is Mt
Petsophas, a
peak sanctuary
Minoan peak sanctuaries are widespread throughout the island of Crete (Greece). Most scholars agree that peak sanctuaries were used for religious rites. In all peak sanctuaries human and animal clay figurines have been found. Clay body parts, als ...
likely to have been linked with the town.
Linear A inscriptions on offering tables from
Petsophas are designated as PK for Palaikastro by Godart and Olivier.
The
Palaikastro Kouros
The Palaikastro Kouros is a chryselephantine statuette of a male youth (''kouros'') excavated in stages in the modern-day town of Palaikastro on the Greek island of Crete. It has been dated to the Late Minoan 1B period in the mid-15th century B ...
was found at Roussolakkos, purposefully desecrated by burning and smashing
during an ancient invasion of the site.
Endangered site
While the ravages of later periods and recent tourism development have obscured similar sites elsewhere in Crete, so far they have spared Roussolakkos with an area of 50,000 square metres. Today, however, a private developer has been granted permission to build a large tourist complex at Cape Plako, an area which includes the Minoan quarries and outlying sites. An access road to reach the resort area is planned through the ancient city. In addition to development pressures, Palekastro's harbor and coastal buildings are also threatened by a rise in sea level due to local
tectonic activity.
References
{{Commons cat, Roussolakkos
Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC
1902 archaeological discoveries
Lasithi
Minoan sites in Crete
Populated places in ancient Greece
Former populated places in Greece
Jason