Part 2 – Minoans of Phaistos and Gortyn
The two most important attractions for me, as a writer and student of languages, are the mysteries of the Phaistos disk, and the Great Law Code of Gortyn. There are many other attractions on Crete, but when we were planning our return trip, these two locations were my priority.
Phaistos Disk (Heraklion Museum)
Both Phaistos and Gortyn were located close together, less than an hours drive from Heraklion, so I decided rather than drive myself, we would again hire someone to drive us there, and possibly guide us around. As it turned out, a qualified guide was far too expensive for our budget, and as they do not let anyone into or close to these sites to wander around, we decided to only hire a taxi for the day. We finally found one in Matala who was willing to pick us up in Heraklion at our hotel, drive us to both Phaistos and Gortyn for a quick visit at each location, with a stop at the little seaside village of Matala. We were travelling with another couple at that point, so it was good to share the cost.
The “Cretan Taxi”, showed up, right on time, and Ioannis Fragkiskos was driving. He (Yanni) owns the business with his father .
Phaistos Disk symbols
Throughout Crete, remains of the Minoan civilization dominate the landscape with these “New Palaces” as the archaeologists call them. “New”, because they were built after the earlier ones were destroyed, either by fire, earthquakes or war. The largest was Knossos, which I discussed in Part 1, built near Heraklion. Phaistos Palace was the second largest, built in the typical north-south orientation, followed by Malia and Galatas here in central Crete. In the western part of the island is Zakros and Petras. These ‘palaces’, as explained earlier, were the ruling administration centres, places to store or display the huge wealth of the ruling class. They also incorporated shrines for the performance of religious ceremonies. I have always been impressed by the ‘grand staircase’ in this palace at Phaistos.
Grand Staircase
These stairs, a dozen steps about 14 metres wide leads to the west court, an area that archaeologists are still debating what it was used for. When I look at a staircase like this, or any other large structure, I always wonder how far down it goes, how deep was the foundation, and how much stone was used just to get to ground level? Excavation and study continues to this day, with many rooms found as workshops, artisan studios, bronze and gold smelting and jewelry craftsmanship.
Closer to Grand Staircase
I mentioned before that Minoans were great sailors, ruling the seas throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. The Egyptians referred to them as ‘Keftiu’,and the were portrayed in Egyptian tombs as bearers of gifts to the Pharoah.
Room where the Phaistos Disk was found
It was very hot on the day we visited the site, more than 30 degrees, and we could tell as the cicadas were sounding off, very loud. (I think Cicadas do not start their soundings until it is at least 30 degrees, and when it gets really hot many of them sound of together – very loud, as much as 100 to 120 decibels! That’s almost chainsaw noise!)
When we arrived at the site, our taxi driver dropped us off at the entrance to a parklike setup. To buy our entrance tickets, we had to walk several hundred metres up a long slope to the main administration office. From here, we could look down at the main palace site, a great view of the grand staircase.
Staircase from above
By this time, we were already hot and tired, and suddenly lost interest in touring the site, a site covered by hot hard stone, which added to the discomfort of the day.
A big attraction of the Phaistos site is that it s normally very accessible, with smaller tourist crowds than Knossos.. Where Knossos has most of its areas roped off, not available to the public, Phaistos is open to visit, up close and personal. Unfortunately, we gave up early, to hot, too tired and too old to deal with this. So we gave up and decided to have a drink and carry on to the next one. We all decided that cooler weather in late fall or winter would be a good time to visit these sites.
Before continuing to Gortyn, we decided to have lunch at Matala, a little tourist-trap/former fishing village. Matala is a popular spot for Greeks and foreigners alike, situated on the beach on the south side of Crete. Close enough to Heraklion for a summer break or weekend at the beach. Formerly a small fishing village, it became popular when the ‘hippies’ discovered it in the sixties, and they descended on the place by the hundreds from all over the world. Even Joni Mitchell stayed here, as many others did in the so-called hippie caves, Neolithic caves carved into the sandstone on one side of the little bay. One remark was that it was the cheapest hotel in town, of course there was no hotels in town. These caves were used back in the Stone Age to house lepers, then used as burial crypts by the Romans.
‘Hippie caves’ of Matala
On to Gortyn. After a great lunch overlooking the little bay, we met our Yanni with his taxi to take us to Gortyn. We had invited him to lunch, but as he lived right there, he decided to go home for lunch with his wife and young son. Within minutes, we were at the Gortyn site, another hot hike through a ‘stone oven’, with very few signs or clues to indicate where I should go.
A hot ‘oven’ to visit
The big attraction for me here was the “Great Inscription of the Law Code of Gortyn”, from the period of Roman occupation of Crete, discovered more than 130 years ago, by Italian scholar Frederico Halbherr who arrived in Crete in 1884. It was originally called “The Queen of Inscriptions”. It consists of 12 columns of ashlar slabs (type of stone), a total of 1.5 metres high by 9 metres wide. Each column contains 53 to 66 lines, a total of over 600 lines of text. These lines were written in what is called ‘boustrophedon’ style, which means they read from left to right on the first line, then right to left on the next line, and so on. This is called ‘plowing the field’ style, as that is the way a farmer plows a field. They figure the same person inscribed all of the text except perhaps the last column. Carving 600 lines of text, forward and backwards sounds like a difficult, boring job. (no auto-correct here)
A section of the stone inscription
These slabs were taken apart from their original location in 1889 and placed in a vaulted brick shelter where is is today, and you have to view it through an iron fence.
Text of portion of Gortyn Law Code
The content of these “Laws” is fascinating to read, not only for their content, but the personal, family and legal implications they represent. A great reference source to have so you know how to handle your slaves, or if you have an affair with one of them.. For instance, here is a brief look at some of the main headings the columns contained:
“Definition of the personal situation of a free citizen or a slave”, “Matters of rape and adultery”, “Matters of property in case of divorce”, “Rights of a female slave after divorce”
“Purchase of a slave abroad and his liberation by paying a ransom.” or “Children born by free citizen and slave” or “Purchase of a slave and responsibility of the buyer.”
These are just the main headings, the details inscribed in the laws are even more fascinating considering today’s society.
Gortyn’s history reaches back thousands of years. Homer’s Iliad mentioned that Gortyn had walls, confirmed later by excavations. During the first millennium BC, Gortyn was one of the most powerful cities with Knossos and others. In 67 BC, after the Roman occupation, Gortyn became the capital of Crete, a status it retained until the Arab conquest in 828 AD.
Further notes on the 7000 year history of the Minoans will be covered briefly in the following ‘travel tales’, as we head up on Zeus’ birthplace mountain on a safari, then head across Crete to the eastern end and another ‘palace’ at Zakros. We both were smitten by the Gods, ending up in hospital and narrowly missed a huge thunderstorm and flood, (caused no doubt by Zeus!)
As they used to say, stay tuned!
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