A mountain in north-central

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, ...

, Mount Juktas ( el, Γιούχτας - ''Giouchtas''), also spelled Iuktas, Iouktas, or Ioukhtas, was an important religious site for the

Minoan civilization 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 1450 ...

. Located a few kilometers from the palaces of

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

and Fourni and the megaron at Vathypetro, Mount Juktas was the site of an important peak sanctuary in the Minoan world. At the base of Juktas, at Anemospilia, is a site that has suggested to some that the Minoans practiced human sacrifice, but the evidence is currently somewhat in question.

Peak Sanctuary

Mount Juktas is the site of one of the most important peak sanctuaries in the Minoan world, and probably the first of them.

Archaeologial importance

Archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

s have studied the site over an extensive period, examining fragments of pottery, remains of walls, and some unique kinds of stone that must have been hauled up the mountain because they do not otherwise occur there.

Religious importance

The mountain remains important in the religious life of the people of the area to this day – a

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

chapel is located about a kilometer south of the sanctuary along the ridge of the mountain. Every year, people from towns down in the plains below Mount Juktas bring flowers in procession to the chapel.

Archaeology

Juktas was first excavated in 1909 by

Sir Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on ...

. It can be regarded as an adjunct archaeological site to the important

site a few kilometres distant.C. Michael Hogan, 2007)] Among the finds at the Juktas Minoan peak sanctuary were clay human and animal figurines, stone horns of consecration, horns, stone altars, bronze double axes, and both bowls and tables with

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civi ...

inscriptions. See references for a more comprehensive inventory. Pottery sherds from the site date back as far as Middle Minoan IA.

References

* Anna Simandiraki, ''Middle Minoan III Pottery from Building B of the Peak Sanctuary of Mount Juktas, Crete, and a general re-assessment of the Middle Minoan III Period'', PhD Thesis, University of Bristol, 2002, British Library catalogue * C. Michael Hogan (2007
''Knossos fieldnotes'', The Modern Antiquarian
* Donald W. Jones (1999) ''Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete''

Line notes

External links

*Younger, Joh

Landforms of Heraklion (regional unit) Peak sanctuaries Geography of ancient Crete Mountains of Greece Mountains of Crete {{Crete-geo-stub