Lyctus or Lyttos (

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 ...

: or ), was one of the most considerable cities in ancient

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, ...

, which appears in the

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

ic catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of

Minoa Pediada Minoa Pediada ( el, Μινώα Πεδιάδα, "Minoan Plain") is a municipality in Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on th ...

Lyctus in mythology

According to

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

, ''Theogony''
477-484
, Rhea gave birth to

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 reli ...

in Lyctus and hid him in a cave of Mount Aegaeon. The inhabitants of this ancient Doric city called themselves colonists of

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

, and the worship of

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 ...

appears to have prevailed there.

History

According to Polybius, Lyctus was the oldest city on Crete. In the

Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III The Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, also known as Kom el-Hettân, was built by the main architect Amenhotep, son of Hapu, for Pharaoh Amenhotep III during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. The mortuary temple is located on the Western bank ...

(1391–1353 BC), there is a list of Aegean place names; Lyctus is mentioned under the name ''Rikata''. According to some scholars, the name was mentioned in Linear B texts as ''ru-ki-to''. In 344 BC, Phalaecus the

Phocis Phocis ( el, Φωκίδα ; grc, Φωκίς) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Var ...

assisted the Knossians against their neighbors the Lyctians, and took the city of Lyctus, from which he was driven out by Archidamus, king of

. The Lyctians, at a still later period, were engaged in frequent hostilities with Knossos, and succeeded in creating a formidable party in the island against that city. During the

Lyttian War The Lyttian War was an internal conflict fought from around 220 BC to about 216 BC between two coalitions of Cretan city-states, led by Cnossus and Polyrrhenia respectively. The events of the war are recorded by the historian Polybius. It is c ...

in 220 BC the Knossians, taking advantage of their absence on a distant expedition, surprised Lyctus, and utterly destroyed it. The citizens, on their return, abandoned it, and found refuge at Lappa. Polybius, on this occasion, bears testimony to the high character of the Lyctians, as compared with their countrymen. They afterwards recovered their city by the aid of the Gortynians, who gave them a place called Diatonium, which they had taken from the Knossians. Lyctus was sacked by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

general

Metellus The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. ...

, but was existing in the time of Strabo at a distance of 80

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 ...

(15 km) from the

Libyan Sea The Libyan Sea ( Greek , Latin ''Libycum Mare'', Arabic البحر الليبي) is the portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of the African coast of ancient ''Libya'', i.e. Cyrenaica, and Marmarica (the coast of what is now eastern Libya ...

. The site still bears the name of ''Lytto'', where ancient remains are now found. In the 16th century, Venetian manuscripts describe the walls of the ancient city, with circular bastions, and other fortifications, as existing upon a lofty mountain, nearly in the centre of the island. Numerous vestiges of ancient structures, tombs, and broken marbles, are seen, as well as an immense arch of an aqueduct, by which the water was carried across a deep valley by means of a large marble channel. The harbor of

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

served as the port for Lyctus trade. The town of ''Arsinoe'' belonged to Lyctos during the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, according to Stephanus of Byzantium, although its location is far from certain. Some scholars locate this

Arsinoe (Crete) Arsinoe ( Greek: ) was a city of ancient Crete controlled by Lyctus according to the Stephanus of Byzantium. This town is believed to belong to the Hellenistic period. According to some scholars, it was adjacent to (and perhaps overlaying) the olde ...

at the site of the older city of

Rhithymna Rhithymna or Rithymna ( grc, Ῥίθυμνα) or Rhithymnia (Ῥιθυμνία), was a town of ancient Crete, Greece, which is mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder as the first town on the north coast to the east of Amphimalla, and is spoken o ...

(although it is rather far from Lyctos). Others place it near the village of Malia, at

above, or elsewhere in the territory of Lyctos. The decoration of the coins issued at Lyctus is usually an eagle flying, with the inscription "ΛΥΤΤΙΩΝ" ("of the Lyttians").

Modern history

Before unearthing Knossos,

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 ...

intended to excavate Lyttos but did not succeed in obtaining the necessary permits. As of 2022, only a small part of the site has been systematically excavated. A new five-year research program commenced in 2021, whose first year yielded significant findings the most important of which was a headless marble statue of Hadrian.Ένας μήνας ανασκαφών έδωσε πληροφορίες για… 17 αιώνες!
Πατρίς onLine, 3 Αυγούστου 2021

References

* {{Authority control Cretan city-states Former populated places in Greece Spartan colonies Apollo Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit)