Matala (

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 ...

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

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban ...

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, Cypru ...

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

Tympaki Tympaki ( el, Τυμπάκι) 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 ...

Faistos Faistos ( el, Φαιστός) 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 o ...

municipality, Heraklion regional unit.

History

The artificial caves in the cliff of the Matala bay were created in the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

. Matala was the port of

Phaistos Phaistos ( el, Φαιστός, ; Ancient Greek: , , Minoan: PA-I-TO?http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/11991/4031&ved=2ahUKEwjor62y3bHoAhUEqYsKHZaZArAQFjASegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1MwIv3ekgX-SxkJrbORipd ), also transliterated as Phaestos ...

during the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...

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

Gortys Gortyna ( grc, Γόρτυνα; 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 ...

. 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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

general

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, 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 Ser ...

. 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, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s who were later driven out by the church and the military junta. Matala is now a heavily built tourist destination relying on coach tours and summer visitors. There are many gift shops and bars. Matala's hippie history relives during the 3 days Matala Beach Festival, every June (since 2011).

Mythology

When

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 religion, ...

seduced the princess

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * 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 Cliff ...

in the form of a white bull, he crossed the sea and brought her to the beach of Matala. There he changed into an

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

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 temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

: ''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 ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) 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 other underwater exp ...

. *Canadian singer and musician Joni Mitchell's experiences with the Matala hippies were immortalised in her songs " Carey" and "

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

", on her 1971 album "

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

". She spent several weeks living in the Matala caves during the summer of 1969.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Matala Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit) Port settlements in ancient Crete Locations in Greek mythology Populated places in ancient Crete