Matala (

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

: Μάταλα) is a village located 75 km south-west of

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 ...

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. Matala is part of the community of Pitsidia within the municipal unit of

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 ...

Faistos Faistos () is a municipality in Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Moires. It is named after the ancient city Phaistos, located in the municipality. The municipality has an area of . Municipality T ...

municipality, Heraklion regional unit.

History

The

artificial caves Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring nature, naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Co ...

in the cliff of the Matala bay were created in the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

. Matala was the port of

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 ...

during the

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 ...

period. In the year 220 BC, Matala was occupied by the Gortynians, and during the Roman period, Matala became the port of

Gortys Gortyna (; also known as Gortyn (Γορτύν)) was a town of ancient Crete which appears in the Homeric poems under the form of Γορτύν; but afterwards became usually Gortyna (Γόρτυνα). According to Stephanus of Byzantium it was or ...

. It has been suggested that the caves were once used as tombs, but it is more likely that they were used as living spaces, given their volume (corpses do not need that much room to walk around). One of the caves is called "Brutospeliana" because according to the legend it was frequented 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

general

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

. Matala was then a fishing village. In the 1960s, the caves were occupied by

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

s who were later driven out by the church and the military junta. Matala is now a popular tourist destination relying on coach tours and summer visitors. There are many gift shops and bars. Matala's hippie history is celebrated during the three-day Matala Beach Festival, held every June since 2011.

Mythology

When

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 ...

in the form of a white bull seduced the princess

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...

, he crossed the sea and brought her to the beach of Matala. There he changed into an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

and flew her to Gortys where he had sex with her.

Climate

Matala has a hot-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Csa''). Matala experiences hot, very dry summers and very mild, wet winters.

In popular culture

*In '' Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour'', the USS ''Reagan'', along with the carrier support group docked in Matala and the naval base on the island, is destroyed by GLA forces . *In Simon Scarrow's historical adventure novel, '' The Gladiator'', the protagonists beach their damaged ship just outside Matala after it is damaged by a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

. *Canadian singer and musician

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

's experiences with the Matala hippies were immortalised in her songs " Carey" and "

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

", on her 1971 album "

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

". She spent several weeks living in Matala during early 1970.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Matala
Stories about Matala in the sixties and seventies
Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit) Faistos Port settlements in ancient Crete Places in Greek mythology Populated places in ancient Crete