Syia or Suia ( grc, Συῒά), also Syba (Σύβα),''

Stadiasmus Maris Magni The ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'' ( grc, Σταδιασμός ήτοι περίπλους της μεγάλης θαλάσσης) is an ancient Roman periplus or guidebook detailing the ports sailors encounter on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. ...

'' §§ 321-322. was a maritime town 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 palace-based Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe. After the Minoan civilization was devast ...

. It was located on the south coast of Crete and functioned as the harbour of Elyrus. According to the ''

'', written during Roman times, the town was located 50 stadia to the west of Poecilassus, situated on a plain. It probably existed as late as the time of Hierocles (6th century), though now entirely uninhabited. It is located in Sougia village, 70 km south of

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The mun ...

Archaeology

Robert Pashley Robert Pashley (4 September 1805 – 29 May 1859) was a 19th-century English traveller, lawyer and economist. Pashley was born in York and he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. Distinguished in mathematics and Classics, in 1830 he was elected ...

, visiting in the 19th century, found remains of the city walls as well as other public buildings, but not more ancient than the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

. Several tombs were found, as was an aqueduct.

, ''Travels'', vol. ii. p. 100. Syia flourished in the Roman and the 1st Byzantine period. There are Roman ruins and three large Palaiochristian Basilicas. Syia had set up monetary union with Yrtakina, Elyrus, Lissus, and Tarrha. The city also participated in the

Koinon ''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...

of the Oreians. It seems that the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia P ...

s destroyed the city.

References

Sougia Basilika Ruins.jpg, Sougia - 01.jpg, Modern day Sougia Sougia - 02.jpg, Modern day Sougia Populated places in ancient Crete Former populated places in Greece Port settlements in ancient Crete Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece Archaeological sites in Crete {{AncientCrete-geo-stub