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Visit Heraklion, Greece
Heraklion City in Crete, Greece
Heraklion (Greek: Ηράκλειο) is the largest city in Greece on the island of Crete and the capital of Crete and the state of Heraklion, with a population of 137,711 (2001).
Heraklion was the largest population center in Crete during the Minoan civilization, the fifth largest city in Greece, and the capital of Crete. It is said that the palace of King Minos in ancient Greek mythology, the Labyrinth of Minos was built here. The ruins of the palace of Knossos, discovered and excavated by Arthur Evans, are nearby. From this, it can be inferred that there should have been a port here around 2000 BC, but this inference has not been confirmed by archaeological evidence.
The ancient city of Heraklion in Egypt has a beautiful and mysterious legend. It was once a prosperous seaport city and sank to the bottom of the sea 1500 years ago. The Greek historian Herodotus once praised Heraklion as a city in the 5th century BC. Magnificent city.
Herodotus also tells the story of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world at the time, who traveled to Heraklion with his lover Paris before the Trojan War.
But until 2001, no archaeological evidence was found to confirm the site where Heraklion sank, and finally French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio stumbled upon some remains, thus confirming that this is the greatest archaeological discovery of the 21st century. .
In the later period, Gordio and the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology and the Egyptian Department of Antiquities discovered a large number of artifacts. At the initial stage, archaeologists faced a difficult task – how to reassemble the large number of stone fragments on the seabed.
They discovered a number of giant statues, including the Egyptian goddess Isis, the god Hapi, and an unidentified statue of an Egyptian pharaoh, which were in excellent condition and were completely wrapped in mud.
The importance of the ancient city of Heraklion is further confirmed with the discovery of 64 ships, the largest number of ancient ships ever found at a single location, along with more than 700 anchors. Other discoveries demonstrate the importance of the ancient city of Heraklion to the ancient economy, with the discovery of large quantities of gold coins, lead, copper and stone weights from Athens, confirming that Heraklion was once the most important trading port in the Mediterranean.
Modern Heraklion was founded by the Saracens in 824 and named it “?andaq”. They dug a moat around the city and allowed pirates to use it as a safe haven.
In 961, the Byzantine Empire captured Heraklion, slaughtered the Saracens, burned the city and held it in control for 243 years after it was rebuilt.
In 1203, the Fourth Crusade supported the deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II to regain the throne. As part of this political deal, the Republic of Venice, which had assisted the Crusaders, took control of Heraklion the following year. The Venetians improved and fortified the city’s fortifications and renamed it “Candia” in Italian, which is still used to call Crete today.
In 1647, the Ottoman Empire launched a 22-year siege of Heraklion in a bloody war that killed 30,000 Cretans and 120,000 Turks. The Venetians finally surrendered in 1669, and the Ottoman Empire captured the city and renamed it and the entire island of Crete “Kania”. Later, the port of Heraklion gradually silted up, and the Ottomans moved most of their business to Chania in the western part of the island.
In 1898, the Ottomans evacuated and Heraklion gained independence. In 1913, the city became a member of the Kingdom of Greece and changed its name to its current name, which means City of Heracles.
