GORTYN
Kainourgiou, Crete.
The most important Graeco-Roman city of Crete stood on the N edge
of the plain of Mesara, 15 km E of the great Bronze
Age palatial site at Phaistos. Prehistoric remains at the
site are scarce, although some evidence of Neolithic and
Minoan occupation was found nearby at Mitropolis, and
a little Late Minoan material has been found at Gortyn
itself. References to the city in the
Iliad (2.646) and
Odyssey (3.294) suggest that there was probably a Late
Bronze Age settlement somewhere in the vicinity of the
Graeco-Roman city. The foundation of the city is variously ascribed to Lakonians (Konon,
History 36), Tegeans (
Paus. 8.53) and to Minos (
Strab. 10.476-7), but
the beginnings of the Graeco-Roman city can best be
ascribed to the Geometric or early archaic period. The
earliest inscriptions from the site date from the later
7th c., and the oldest of the temples was either a Geometric or archaic foundation. By the 3d c. B.C. it had
become one of the major cities of Crete, and had conquered Phaistos and taken over its harbor at Matala. In
221 B.C., however, civil war broke out in the city between those who favored an alliance with Knossos and
those who preferred alliance with Lyttos. The result of
the war is uncertain, but there followed a long period of
intermittent hostilities with Knossos, which were really
ended only by the Roman conquest of Crete in 68 B.C.
Gortyn allied with Rome, and while Knossos was destroyed, Gortyn became the capital of the new province
of Crete and Cyrene. The city was finally destroyed by
the Saracens in A.D. 824.
The city was built on either side of the Lethaios River,
but there are few surviving remains to be seen to the W
of the river. Immediately W of the river, however, is the
acropolis with traces of its ancient wall and with the
early temple mentioned above. This was a slightly oblong
building with a cella, toward the back of which was a
bothros flanked by two repositories. The building was
restored in Classical, Hellenistic, and early Roman
times. At the foot of the acropolis, by the river, are the
remains of a theater.
Immediately opposite the theater, on the E bank, is
the odeion, which was built in the late 1st c. B.C. and,
after being damaged by an earthquake, was restored by
Trajan. Behind the brick-floored stage was a facade with
three portals and four built niches, while on the N side,
incorporated into the foundations, were the 12 stone
blocks carrying the famous law code. These had been
built into an earlier, Hellenistic building which may well
have been a law court, but the inscription was first cut in
the first half of the 5th c. B.C. The code itself undoubtedly contains much that is archaic and indeed Minoan.
To the S of the odeion lay the agora and the Temple of
Asklepios, about both of which little is known, although
the cult statue from the temple is preserved in the Herakleion Museum. South of the agora, and close to the
modern road, is the Church of Haghios Titus. It was
probably built in the 6th c. A.D., but much of what survives certainly belongs to later repairs and additions.
Originally there appear to have been transeptal apses
and flanking chapels on either side of the great central
apse and altar.
To the S of the modern road are several other important public buildings. Close together stand the Temple of Apollo Pythios and the Temple of Isis. The former is said to have stood at the center of the city and
to have been its most important temple. Its foundation
date is uncertain but it was restored and enlarged during
the Hellenistic period, when a pronaos was added, with
six half-columns of the Doric order. Between the columns were placed inscribed blocks carrying the treaties
made between Gortyn and other Cretan cities during the
2d c. B.C. In the cella two rows of four Corinthian
columns, the bases of which are still in situ, divided the
interior into three aisles. Other subsequent additions
included the great stepped altar which stood before the
pronaos and was built during the Roman period. The
Temple of Isis, just N of the Temple of Apollo, is known
from an inscription to have been dedicated in fact to
Isis, Serapis, and various Egyptian deities. The altar
stand on the E wall, opposite the entrance, was in fact
divided into three and took statues of Isis, Serapis, and
Anubis. Niches for further statues were situated in the
other walls and a number of inscriptions were recovered
from the site.
East of the Temple of Apollo was a small nymphaion
built at the end of the 2d c. A.D., and subsequently (6th-7th c. A.D.) made into a reservoir and fountain. A similar fate befell a second nymphaion, built perhaps a little
earlier, and situated some distance S of the first. Immediately S of the N nymphaion is the building known
as the Praetorium, and identified as the residence of the
governor of the province. It was originally built at the
beginning of the 2d c. B.C. during the reign of Trajan and
may then have been a domestic residence for the governor and little more. Rebuilding following earthquake
damage in the 4th c., however, saw the construction of
the great basilican hall, which signifies that the building
was now, if not before, used as an administrative center.
To the W, and close to the Temple of Apollo is a
small brick-built theater of the Roman period. Some
distance S of it are the remains of a substantial building
of the Roman period which is almost certainly the main
public baths. East of the baths is the brick and masonry
amphitheater, another of the buildings erected early in
the 2d c. A.D. The oval cavea is partially taken up by a
built stage for theatrical performances, while on the
outside wall of the building built niches were originally
embellished with statues, one of which (of Antoninus
Pius) is still preserved—the trunk on the site and the
head in the Heraklion Museum. Fragments of other
sculptured pieces survive in the vicinity of the amphitheater. South of it some of the supporting arches of
the great circus or stadium can be seen.
During the Roman period water was supplied to the
city by a built aqueduct which ran from a source somewhere along the line of the Lethaios river.
Finds from the site are on display in the Heraklion
Archaeological Museum, and in the small museum on
the W outskirts of the village of Haghia Deka where a
number of statues and inscriptions are displayed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hom.
Od. 3.294;
Il. 2.646;
Strab.
10.476; F. Halbherr, “Relazione Sugli Scavi del Tempio
di Apollo Pythio in Gortina,”
MonAnt 1 (1892) 9-76;
D. Comparetti, “Nuovi Frammenti d'Iscrizioni Arcaiche
Trovati nel Pythion,”
MonAnt 1 (1892) 77-120; S. Ricci, “Il Pretorio di Gortyna, Secundo un Disegno a
Penna e Manoscritti Inediti del Secolo XVI,”
MonAnt
2 (1892) 317-34; L. Savignoni et al., “Nuovi Studii e
Scoperte in Gortyna,”
MonAnt 18 (1907) 177-384
I; L.
Pernier & L. Banti,
Guida degli Scavi Italiano in Creta
(1947)
MI; D. Levi, “Atti Della Scuola,”
Annuario NS
19-20 (1958) 389-94; R. F. Willetts,
The Law Code of
Gortyn (1967)
I; G. Rizza & V. Santa Maria Scrinari,
Il Santuaria Sull' Acropoli di Gortina (1968)
PI.
K. BRANIGAN
