Charakas () is a village and a community in the municipal unit of
Asterousia
Asterousia () is a former municipality in the Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archanes-Asterousia, of which it is a municipal unit. The munici ...
on
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
with about 800 inhabitants. It is about 45 km south from
Heraklion
Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...
, which is the largest city of Crete. The village lies on the foothills of the
Asterousia Mountains
The Asterousia Mountains are a range in southern Crete separating the Messara Plain from the Libyan Sea. Evidence of ancient Cretan cultures have been found in excavations performed within sites contained in this range; moreover, one of the mo ...
, 15 km from the south coast of Crete, behind the mountain
Libyan Sea
The Libyan Sea (; ; ) is the portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of the North Africa, African coast of Ancient Libya, ancient ''Libya'', i.e. Cyrenaica, and Marmarica (the coast of what is now Butnan District, eastern Libya and Matrouh Gov ...
.
Charakas has a great rock (charaki), 35m high, with a temple and a castle. Also in the front of Haraki is the Heroon, a monument of warriors and a church of
Saint Panteleimon
Saint Pantaleon (), counted in Western Christianity as among the Fourteen Holy Helpers of the Late Middle Ages, and in Eastern Christianity as one of the Holy Unmercenary Healers, was a martyr of Nicomedia in Bithynia during the Diocletianic ...
with a great campanile.
History
During the period of Venice domination the name of village was San Giovanni, but renamed in Harakas, because there is a great rock in the west side, 35 meters high and about 60m in the width with the name (''haraki'').On the rock is built a castle and a church The rock is accessed only from the east and it is a monolithic barrow.
Community of Charakas
The community of Charakas (Δημοτική Κοινότητα Χάρακος) consists of the village Charakas and the smaller villages Agia Fotia (Αγιά Φωτιά) (pop. 22, at elevation 275 m, 2 km to the West from Charakas) and Doraki (Δωράκι) (pop. 24, at elevation 310 m, 1.5 km to the East from Charakas).
References
External links
Villages of Municipality Asterousion Harakas Asterousioncultural club Harakas
Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit)
Archanes-Asterousia
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