The Geropotamos ( or Ιερός Ποταμός) is a watercourse in southern

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 ...

. Its drainage area is . It rises on the north slope 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 ...

, near the village Sternes. It flows west through the

Messara Plain The Messara Plain or simply Messara () is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruins of Phaistos and ...

and discharges into the

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 ...

near

Tympaki Tympaki () is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reforms it is part of the municipality of Faistos, of which it is a municipal unit, the unit has an area of . The town i ...

. This river was a source of

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

for the ancient

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

Phaistos Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...

. The Ieropotamos was heavily drawn upon by the Minoans because of the intensity of farming, even in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

at Phaistos. Scientists have determined that the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

basin may have been overdrafted some time in the

, being a contributing factor to the mysterious depopulation of Phaistos.Yuri Gorokhovich, ''Abandonment of Minoan palaces on Crete in relation to the earthquake induced changes in groundwater supply'', Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 32, Issue 2, February 2005, Pages 217-222

References

Rivers of Greece Rivers of Crete European drainage basins of the Mediterranean Sea {{Greece-river-stub