Arcades or Arkades (), also Arcadia or Arkadia (Ἀρκαδία), was a town and ''

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

'' (city-state) of

ancient Crete The history of Crete goes back to the 7th millennium BC, preceding the ancient Minoan civilization by more than four millennia. The Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe. During the Iron Age, Crete developed an Ancient Greece-i ...

. It disputed the claims of

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida' ...

to be the birthplace of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

collects a fragment of

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

in which he says that in Crete there was a city called Arcadia where the springs and lakes dried up because they stopped cultivating the land after the destruction of the city. As a consequence, the terrain became harder and therefore it did not give way to the rains. He adds that they later re-cultivated the land and the waters returned. 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 Knossos and Polyrrhenia respectively. The events of the war are recorded by the historian Polybius. It is con ...

about 220 BCE, at first all the Cretans were fighting against Lyctus, but then disagreements arose among the Cretans and some, like the people of Arcades, together with the inhabitants of

Polyrrhenia Polyrrhenia or Polyrrenia (; modern ), Polyrrhen or Polyrren (Πολύρρην) or Polyren (Πολύρην), or Pollyrrhenia or Pollyrrenia (Πολλύρρηνα),'' Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'', p. 18 or Polyrrenion (Πολυρρήνιον) or Pol ...

, Ceraea, Orus and Lappa allied with Lyctus. Arcades is mentioned in the list of Cretan cities that signed an alliance with

Eumenes II Eumenes II Soter (; ; ruled 197–159 BC) was a ruler of Pergamon, and a son of Attalus I Soter and queen Apollonis and a member of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon. Biography The eldest son of king Attalus I and queen Apollonis, Eumenes was pr ...

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

in the year 183 BCE, and also appears in the list of 22 cities of Crete by the Byzantine geographer of the 6th century Hierocles. Arcades minted coins from approximately 330-280/70 BCE where the inscription «ΑΡΚΑΔΩΝ» appears. There is also epigraphic evidence that

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

was worshiped in the city. The site of Arcades is located near modern

Kefalas Kefalas () is a over 800 years old village on the island of Crete, Greece, 360 m above sea level.https://www.wysokosc.mapa.info.pl/ It is in the Vamos municipal unit in the Apokoronas municipality. The community consists of the villages Kefalas ...

, Inion.

References

Populated places in ancient Crete Former populated places in Greece Places in Greek mythology Cretan city-states {{AncientCrete-geo-stub