Hersonissos (, meaning “peninsula”, ''Chersónisos'', ), also transliterated as ''Chersonissos'' and ''Hersónisos'', is a town and a local government unit in the north of

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 ...

, bordering the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. The town is about 25 kilometers east 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 ...

and west of Agios Nikolaos. What is usually called Hersonissos is in fact its peninsula and harbour. It is part of the

regional unit. It is situated 25 km from the

airport and 27 km from the

port. The seat of the local government unit is the village of Gournes.

Geography

The seaside resort of Hersonissos is officially the Port of Hersonissos (, ''Liménas Chersónissou'') in distinction to the village of Upper Hersonissos (, ''Ano Chersónissos'') further inland. Through tourism, the port town developed from the small harbour which served the original village, now known as Old Hersonissos.

History

The ancient town of

Chersonasus Chersonasus or Chersonasos (), later Chersonesus or Chersonesos (Χερσόνησος), was a town and ''polis'' (city-state) on the north coast of ancient Crete. It functioned as the harbour of Lyktos, and had a temple of Britomartis, According t ...

was important enough in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Creta et Cyrenaica Crete and Cyrenaica (, ) was a senatorial province of the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire, established in 67 BC, which included the island of Crete and the region of Cyrenaica in modern-day Libya. These areas were settled by Greek colon ...

early to become a Christian

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

Gortyna 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 ...

. The names of some of its bishops appear in extant documents: Anderius took part in the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

in 431; Longinus in the

Robber Council The Second Council of Ephesus was a Christological church synod in 449 convened by Emperor Theodosius II under the presidency of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria. It was intended to be an ecumenical council, and it is accepted by the miaphysite ...

of 449; Euphratas was a signatory of the letter sent by the bishops of the province to the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Leo I the Thracian Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" (; ), was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace. He is sometimes surnamed with the epithet "the Great" (; ), probably to ...

in 458 after the killing of

Proterius of Alexandria Pope Proterius of Alexandria (died 457) was Patriarch of Alexandria from 451 to 457. He had been appointed by the Council of Chalcedon to replace the deposed Dioscorus. He regarded as hieromartyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic ...

; Sisinnius was at the

Trullan Council The Quinisext Council (; , literally meaning, ''Fifth-Sixth Meeting''), i.e., the Fifth-Sixth Council, often called the Council ''in Trullo'', Trullan Council, or the Penthekte Synod, was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Ju ...

in 692; and another Sisinnius at the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...

in 787.

Latin bishopric

After the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetians might refer to: * Masters of Venetian painting in 15th-16th centuries * ...

conquest of Crete in 1212, the existing dioceses, such as Chersonesus, were administered by

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

bishops. The line of residential Latin bishops of Chersonesus ended with the conquest of Crete by the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

in 1669.

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Chersonnesus in Creta is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

,''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 868 as such nominally restored in 1787 under the name ‘Chersonesus’, changed in 1933 to Chersonesus in Creta, avoiding confusing with other Latin sees called Chersonesus. It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank: * Karel Otčenášek (1950.03.30 – 1989.12.21) (later Archbishop)* * Titular Bishop: Bishop Antonio Cardona Riera (later Archbishop) (1928.03.10 – 1950.02.02) * Titular Bishop: Bishop Rafael Balanzá y Navarro (1923.08.13 – 1928.03.02) * Titular Bishop: Bishop Marc Chatagnon (沙), M.E.P. (1887.01.25 – 1920.11.26) * Titular Bishop: Bishop Johann Theodor Laurent (1839.09.17 – 1884.02.20) * Titular Bishop: Bishop Viktor Franz Anton von Glutz-Ruchti (1820.05.29 – 1824.10.09) * Titular Bishop: Bishop Ambrosi de Magistris (1818.10.02 – ?) * Titular Bishop: Bishop

Johann Casimir von Häffelin Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

(later Cardinal)* (1787.09.28 – 1818.04.06)

Municipality of Hersonissos

The municipality of Hersonissos was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units. These were Episkopi, Gouves, Hersonissos and Malia. The municipality has an area of , the municipal unit .

Ancient remains

Roman fountain in Limi Hersonisos seaside street

At the modern settlement of Hersonissos is the site of the ancient town of ''Chersonesos'', an important seaport from

Classical Greece Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Mar ...

through

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times that served the city of

Lyttos Lyktos (Greek: or ) was a city in ancient Crete. During the Classical and Roman periods, it was one of the major settlements on the island. Its ruins are located near the modern-day village of Lyttos in the municipality of Minoa Pediada, He ...

. The contemporaneous pleasure port is built over the remains of 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 ...

port. Some traces of those remains, most of them submerged, are still visible in some places. On the seaside street there is a pyramidal

fountain with mosaics of fishing scenes. On the top of the rocky hill behind the port stand the ruins of an early Christian

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

with floor mosaics. The vicinity of Hersonissos is noted for its prehistoric

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

finds. On the coast approximately one kilometer to the east of Hersonissos was an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess

Britomartis Britomartis (;) was a Greek goddess of mountains, nets, and hunting who was primarily worshipped on the island of Crete. She was sometimes described as a nymph, but she was more commonly conflated or syncretized with the goddesses Artemis, Athena ...

. William Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography states: The episcopal see associated with this town is now a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

(“Chersonesus in Creta”) of the

Tourism

Hersonissos is a resort area in Crete, which also hosts the only golf club on the island. Tourist sites include; the Hersonissos Aquarium, Labyrinth Theme Park, and the Dinosauria Park in Gournes. There are several beaches in Hersonissos, some with blue flag status. These include Potamos (blue flag) Karteros, Tobruk, Arina (municipal beach), Vathianos Kampos, Kokkini Hani, Gournes, Gouves, Apolselemis, Analipsi, Anissara (blue flag), Sarantaris (municipal beach), Hersonissos, Stalida, Klotsani, Malia and Potamos (municipal beach and blue flag).

Gallery

File:Window view in Hersonissos, Crete in 2012 view towards Thymarmi.jpg, Window view towards Thymarmi

Line notes

Sources and external links

*
GCatholic.org
{{Authority control Municipalities of Crete Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit) Hersonissos