Loures () is a village on the island 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 ...
in
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 ...
, located in the municipality of
Gortyn
Gortyn, Gortys or Gortyna (, , or , ) is a municipality, and an archaeological site, on the Mediterranean island of Crete away from the island's capital, Heraklion. The seat of the municipality is the village Agioi Deka. Gortyn was the Roman c ...
(until 2011 in the municipality of
Kofinas
Kofinas () is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Gortyn, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . Population 4,076 ...
) of
Heraklion regional unit, at the northern edge of 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 ...
. It is by road south 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 ...
city.
The people of Loures are involved in the cultivation of
olive trees
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of subtropical evergreen tree in the family Oleaceae. Originating in Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean Basin, with wild subspecies in Africa ...
and
vineyards
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
and the raising of
livestock
Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...
. The indigenous
Messara horse
The Messara (also known as ''Cretan horse''Jasper Nissen: ''Enzyklopädie der Pferderassen''. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 2003, (German)) is a light riding and draft horse found on the island of Crete off the coast of Greece ...
is extensively bred there.
History
The settlement appears in the Venetian censuses of the 16th century under the name Lures; 109 inhabitants are recorded in
Pietro Castrofilaca Pietro Castrofilaca () was a Venetian notaryΠανοπούλου, Αγγελική (έκδ.). ''Πέτρος Καστροφύλακας, Νοτάριος Χάνδακα: Πράξεις 1558-1559'', ΕΙΕ 2015, and accountant, His name in Greek la ...
's 1583 census.
Pietro Castrofilaca Pietro Castrofilaca () was a Venetian notaryΠανοπούλου, Αγγελική (έκδ.). ''Πέτρος Καστροφύλακας, Νοτάριος Χάνδακα: Πράξεις 1558-1559'', ΕΙΕ 2015, and accountant, His name in Greek la ...
, Κ 99, 1583
References
{{Gortyna div
Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit)
Gortyn