TARRHA
Greece.
City in the Sphakia district
on the S coast of W Crete, near modern Ag. Roumeli,
at the mouth of the Samaria Gorge. It is first mentioned
by Theophrastos (
Hist.Pl. 2.2.2). In the early 3d c. B.C.
it had a coinage alliance with neighboring Lisos, Elyros,
and Hyrtakina, and may have been a member of the
league of Oreioi; it was certainly in the Cretan League
in the early 2d c. It was best known as the legendary
home of the seer Karmanor (Plaus. 2.7.7; 2.30.3; 10.7.2;
10.16.5) and for its oracle and Sanctuary of Apollo
Tarrhaios (Steph. Byz. s.v. Tarrha). It is mentioned by
Ptolemy (3.15.3: wrongly listed W of Poikilasion) and
the
Stadiasmus (329-30: a small city with an anchorage).
Ancient remains attest occupation from the 5th c. B.C.
to the 4th or 5th c. A.D. Tarrha was then apparently
abandoned, probably because of pirate raids and consequent decline in communications by sea. The remains
were described in the 15th c. and identified in the 19th,
though epigraphic confirmation is not available. Remains
W of the river bed include architectural members from
a temple (probably that of Apollo Tarnhaios) reused in
a later building over whose ruins now stands the chapel
of the Panagia; below the building is a 1st c. B.C. mosaic,
perhaps connected with the sanctuary. Farther W lay a
cemetery. To the E of the riven are remains of Roman
fortification walls and buildings, a few still standing to
some height on the hill below the cliffs in back of the
site. Excavation of some of these buildings revealed
Greek walls at a considerable depth below them, and
some tombs of the 5th-4th c. B.C. and of the Roman period.
The factory indicated by abundant glass fragments has
not been found, but it remains likely that one existed
here or nearby. The coast appears to have been lifted
some 3.6 m since ancient times, so that the bay is now
open and exposed, but the harbor may once have been
better. Minoan occupation of the site is possible, if only
for export of cypresses from the White Mountains; no
certain Minoan finds are known, but some LM III vases
may come from here rather than from near Sphakia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Pashley,
Travels in Crete II (1837;
repr. 1970) 263-64
I; T.A.B. Spratt,
Travels and Researches in Crete II (1865) 247-49; G. De Sanctis,
MonAnt 11 (1901) 515-17; M. Deffner,
Odoiporikai entiposeis apo tin Dhitikin Kritin (n.d.) 179-89; Fiehn, “Tarra (2),”
RE IV, A2 (1932) 2395; M. Guarducci,
ICr II (1939) 305-9; E. Kirsten in F. Matz (ed.),
Forschungen
auf Kreta (1951) 130-31; G. D. Weinberg, “Excavations
at Tarrha, 1959,”
Hesperia 29 (1960) 90-108; T. S.
Buechner, ibid. 109-17; R. F. Willetts,
Cretan Cults and
Festivals (1962) 270-71; S. G. Spanakis,
Kriti II (n.d.)
32-34, 371-73;
Deltion 25 (1970)
Chronika 2, 473.
D. J. BLACKMAN
