Axus or Axos ( grc, Ἄξος), also Oaxus or Oaxos (Ὄαξος) and Waxus or Waxos (Ϝάξος), was a city and ''

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'' (city-state) of ancient Crete. According to

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, it was situated on a river; which, according to

Vibius Sequester Vibius Sequester (active in the 4th or 5th century AD) is the Latin author of lists of geographical names. Work ''De fluminibus, fontibus, lacubus, nemoribus, gentibus, quorum apud poëtas mentio fit'' is made up of seven alphabetical lists of ...

, gave its name to Axus. According to the

Cyrenaean Cyrene ( ) or Kyrene ( ; grc, Κυρήνη, Kyrḗnē, arb, شحات, Shaḥāt), was an ancient Greek and later Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities, known as the pentapolei ...

traditions, the Theraean Battus, their founder, was the son of a damsel named Phronimne, the daughter of Etearchus, king of this city. The town must be quite ancient as its name appears in Mycenaean Linear B tablets in the form e-ko-so. It was an inland town and its harbour was at Astale. The site of Axus is located near modern Axos, near Mount Ida. In the 19th century, remains belonging to the so-called Cyclopean walls were found, and in the church a piece of white marble with a sepulchral inscription in the ancient Doric Greek language of the island. On another inscription was a decree of a "common assembly of the Cretans," an instance of the well known Syncretism, as it was called. The coins of Axus present types of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, as might be expected in a city situated on the slopes of Mt. Ida, and the foundation of which was, by one of the legends, ascribed to a son of Apollo. The situation answers to one of the etymologies of the name: it was called Axus because the place is precipitous, that word being used by the Cretans in the same sense that the other Greeks assigned to ἀγμός, a crag.

References

Populated places in ancient Crete Former populated places in Greece Cretan city-states Locations in Greek mythology Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece Archaeological sites in Crete {{AncientCrete-geo-stub