Heraklion,Herakleion (/hɪˈrækliən/hih-RAK-lee-ən;Greek:Ηράκλειο,Iráklio,pronounced[iˈrakli.o],[4] not to be mistaken withHeracleion, Egypt) orIraklion, is the largest city and the administrativecapital of the island ofCrete and capital ofHeraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city inGreece, and the largest city in the Greek islands, with a municipal population of 179,302 (2021)[2] and 211,370 in its wider metropolitan area,[5] according to the 2011 census.The greater area of Heraklion has been continuously inhabited since at least 7000 BCE, making it one of the oldest inhabited regions in Europe. It is also home to the ancientKnossos Palace, a major center of theMinoan civilization dating back to approximately 2000-1350 BCE, often considered Europe's oldest city. The palace is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Greece, second only to theParthenon in terms of visitor numbers.
Heraklion was Europe's fastest growing tourism destination for 2017, according to Euromonitor, with an 11.2% growth in international arrivals.[6] According to the ranking, Heraklion was ranked as the 20th most visited region in Europe, as the 66th area on the planet and as the 2nd in Greece for the year 2017, with 3.2 million visitors[7] and the 19th in Europe for 2018, with 3.4 million visitors.[8]
The name Herakleion (Ηράκλειον) is derived from an ancient port ofHeracleium that served as the harbour forKnossos.[9][10] The port, bearing the same name, was named in honour of the heroHeracles (Hercules).[11] In antiquity, it was located about 20 stadia (approximately 3.7 kilometers) from Knossos.[12]Strabo also confirms the connection between the two.[13]
The site of the ancient port falls within the boundaries of the modern city, near today’s port area. Although ecclesiastical records do not list it as a bishopric, a bishop named Theodoros of Heracleopolis is mentioned at theSecond Council of Nicaea.[14]
The name was revived in the 19th century and was in use by locals as early as 1867.[15]
1.In antiquity: The area that would later become the city of Heraklion served as the port for the ancient city ofKnossos, one of the centers of the Minoan civilization. This strategic location facilitated trade and communication across the Mediterranean. Over time, as Knossos declined, the port area grew in significance, eventually becoming a prominent urban center.
2.Rabḍ al-ḫandaq (ربض الخندق): In 824 CE, Arab exiles fromal-Andalus (Iberia) who conquered Crete and founded theEmirate of Crete moved the island's capital fromGortyna to a new castle they calledrabḍ al-ḫandaq ("Castle of the Moat").[16]
3.Chándax (Χάνδαξ) /Chándakas (Χάνδακας): The Arabic namerabḍ al-ḫandaq was Hellenized to Χάνδαξ (Chándax) or Χάνδακας (Chándakas).
4.Candia: This name, derived fromChándax, was Latinized asCandia and adopted into other European languages: inItalian andLatin asCandia, inSpanish asCandía, in French asCandie, and in English asCandy. These names could refer to the island of Crete as a whole as well as to the city alone; theOttoman name for the city wasKandiye.[17]
5.Megalo Kastro (Μεγάλο Κάστρο): After theByzantine reconquest of Crete, the city was locally known asMegalo Kastro (Μεγάλο Κάστρο, 'Big Castle' inGreek) and its inhabitants were calledKastrinoi (Καστρινοί, "castle-dwellers").[18]
Heraklion is home to the ruins of the palace ofKnossos, located in the southern periphery of the city and part of the Heraklion municipality. InMinoan times, Knossos was the largest centre of population onCrete and is considered by many to be the oldest city in Europe.[20]
Knossos itself had a port at the site of Heraklion (in the modern area of Poros-Katsambas[21] neighborhood) from the beginning of theEarly Minoan period (3500 to 2100 BC).
After the fall of the Minoans, Heraklion, as well as the rest of Crete in general, fared poorly, with very little development in the area. Only with the arrival of the Romans did some construction in the area begin, yet especially early intoByzantine times the area abounded with pirates and bandits.[22]
In 960,Byzantine forces under the command ofNikephoros Phokas, later to become Emperor, landed in Crete and attacked the city. After aprolonged siege, the city fell in March 961. The Saracen inhabitants were slaughtered, the city looted and burned to the ground.[citation needed] Soon rebuilt, the town remained underByzantine control for the next 243 years.[citation needed]
In 1204, the city was bought by theRepublic of Venice as part of a complicated political deal which involved, among other things, the Crusaders of theFourth Crusade restoring the deposed Eastern Roman EmperorIsaac II Angelus to his throne. The Venetians improved on the ditch of the city by building enormous fortifications, most of which are still in place, including a giant wall, in places up to 40 metres (130 ft) thick, with seven bastions, and a fortress in the harbour. Chandax was renamedCandia and became the seat of theDuke of Candia, and the Venetian administrative district of Crete became known as "Regno di Candia" (Kingdom of Candia). The city retained the name of Candia for centuries and the same name was often used to refer to the wholeisland of Crete as well. To secure their rule, the Venetians began in 1212 to settle families fromVenice on Crete. The coexistence of two different cultures and the stimulus of theItalian Renaissance led to a flourishing of letters and the arts in Candia and Crete in general, that is today known as theCretan Renaissance.
During theCretan War (1645–1669), the Ottomansbesieged the city for 21 years, from 1648 to 1669, the longest siege in history up until that time. In its final phase, which lasted for 22 months, 70,000 Turks, 38,000 Cretans and slaves and 29,088 of the city's Christian defenders perished.[23] The Ottoman army under anAlbaniangrand vizier,Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha conquered the city in 1669.
Under the Ottomans,Kandiye (Ottoman Turkish قنديه) was the capital of Crete (Girit Eyâleti) until 1849, whenChania (Hanya) became the capital, and Kandiye became asancak.[24] In Greek, it was commonly calledMegalo Castro (Μεγάλο Κάστρο 'Big Castle').
During the Ottoman period, theharbour silted up, so most shipping shifted toChania in the west of the island.
Anearthquake located off the northern coast of Crete on October 12, 1856, destroyed most of the over 3,600 homes in the city. Only 18 homes were left intact. The disaster claimed 538 victims in Heraklion.[25]
In 1898, the autonomousCretan State was created, under Ottomansuzerainty, with Prince George of Greece as its High Commissioner and under international supervision. During the period of direct occupation of the island by the Great Powers (1898–1908), Candia was part of theBritish zone. At this time the ancient name of "Heraklion" was revived.
In 1913, with the rest ofCrete, Heraklion was incorporated into theKingdom of Greece. Heraklion was severely damaged in the bombing campaign in May 1941 during the German invasion in theBattle of Crete. The city remained under German rule until 1945. Heraklion again became capital of Crete in 1971, replacing Chania. The city, and Crete generally, became a major tourist destination from the 1980s onwards.[26]
The oldest monument of architecture is the palace inKnossos on the outskirts of the city.
Two largest medieval churches in the city were the Dominican church of St. Peter (built between 1248 and 1253) and the San Salvatore, belonging to theAugustinian Friars. The latter one stood in Kornaros Square, but was demolished in 1970.[27]
Other monuments of architecture from Venetian times include theSaint Mark's Basilica and the Renaissance loggia next toLions Square (1626–28).
Many fountains of the Venetian era are preserved, such as theBembo fountain, thePriuli fountain,Palmeti fountain,Sagredo fountain andMorosini fountain inLions Square (1628).
Architecture from the 19th century is represented by theSt Titus Cathedral, built in 1869 as the Yeni Cami ("New Mosque"), and theAgios Minas Cathedral (1862–95).
An example of modern architecture in Heraklion is theHeraklion Archaeological Museum built between 1937 and 1940 by architect Patroklos Karantinos.
The Saint Peter of Dominicans, one of the oldest monuments of architecture of the Cistercian monks in the 12th century.
The municipality Heraklion was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:[28]
Heraklion International Airport, or Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is located about 5 kilometres (3 miles) east of the city. The airport is named after Heraklion nativeNikos Kazantzakis, a writer and a philosopher. It is the second busiest airport of Greece afterAthens International Airport, first in charter flights and the 59th busiest in Europe, because of Crete being a major holiday destination with 8,066,000 passengers in 2022 (List of the busiest airports in Europe).
The airfield is shared with the 126th Combat Group of theHellenic Air Force.
From 1922 to 1937, a working industrial railway connected the Koules in Heraklion to Xiropotamos for the construction of the harbor.[34]
In the summer of 2007, at the Congress of Cretan emigrants held in Heraklion, two engineers, George Nathenas and Vassilis Economopoulos, recommended the development of a railway line in Crete, linking Chania, Rethymno, and Heraklion. No official plans exist for implementing this idea.[35]
Heraklion has a hot-summerMediterranean climate (Csa in theKöppen climate classification). Summers are warm to hot and dry with clear skies. Dry hot days are often relieved by seasonal breezes. Winters are mild with moderate rain. Because Heraklion is further south thanAthens, it has a warmer climate during winter but cooler during summer because of theAegean Sea. The maximum temperature during the summer period is usually not more than 28 - 30 °C (Athens normal maximum temperature is about 5 °C higher). The minimum temperature record is -0.8 °C in the airport while in the port it has never dropped below 0 °C. Snowfalls are rare with the last significant snowfall with a measurable amount on the ground occurring in February 2004.[36] Heraklion falls in 11ahardiness zone.[37]
Climate data for Heraklion Port 10 m a.s.l. (2007-2024)
Heraklion has been the home town of some of Greece's most significant people, including the novelistNikos Kazantzakis (best known forZorba the Greek), the poet and Nobel Prize winnerOdysseas Elytis and the world-famous painter Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco).
^Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, s.v. "Iḳrīṭish".
^Sezen, Tahir (2017).Osmanlı Yer Adları [Ottoman Place Names] (in Turkish). Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü. p. 410.ISBN978-975-19-3945-6.
^Greene, Molly (2000).A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Princeton University Press. p. 41.ISBN978-0-691-00898-1.
^Whitelaw, Todd (2000). "Beyond the palace: A century of investigation at Europe's oldest city". Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies: 223, 226.
^Dimopoulou, N.; Wilson, D.E.; Day, P.M. (2007). "The Earlier Prepalatial Settlement of Poros-Katsambas: craft production and exchange at the harbour town of Knossos". In Day, P.M.; Doonan, R. (eds.).Metallurgy in the Early Bronze Age Aegean. Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology. Oxbow Books. pp. 84–97.Archived from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved2019-01-31.
^Tahir Sezen,Osmanlı Yer Adları, Ankara 2017, T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü Yayın No: 26s.v., p. 410Archived 2023-03-05 at theWayback Machine
^Tzikas, Polykarpos; Konstantinos, Mamalakis; Tertipis, Dimitrios; Charitopoulos, Evangelos. «Μέσα σταθερής τροχιάς στην Κρήτη: Δίκτυα βιομηχανικών σιδηροδρόμων κατά το πρώτο μισό του 20ου αιώνα». Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies.
^Lathrop C. Harper (1886).Catalogue / Harper (Lathrop C.) inc., New York, Issue 232. Lathrop C. Harper, Inc. p. 36.OCLC11558801.Calliachius (1645–1707) was born on Crete and went to Italy at an early age, where he soon became one of the outstanding teachers of Greek and Latin.
^Rose, Hugh James; Rose, Henry John; Wright, Thomas (1857).A new general biographical dictionary, Volume 5. T. Fellowes. p. 425.OCLC309809847.CALLIACHI, (Nicholas,) a native of Candia, where he was born in 1645. He studied at Rome for ten years, at the end of which time he was made doctor of philosophy and theology. In 1666 he was invited to Venice, to take the chair of professor of the Greek and Latin languages, and of the Aristotelic philosophy; and in 1677 he was appointed professor of belles-lettres at Padua, where he died in 1707. His works on antiquities are valuable, and have been published by the marquis Poloni in the third volume of his Supplement to the Thesaurus Antiquitatum.
^Convegno internazionale nuove idee e nuova arte nell '700 italiano, Roma, 19–23 maggio 1975. Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. 1977. p. 429.OCLC4666566.Nicolò Duodo riuniva alcuni pensatori ai quali Andrea Musalo, oriundo greco, professore di matematica e dilettante di architettura chiariva le nuove idée nella storia dell'arte.
^Carlo Capra; Franco Della Peruta; Fernando Mazzocca (2002).Napoleone e la repubblica italiana: 1802–1805. Skira. p. 200.ISBN978-88-8491-415-6.Simone Stratico, nato a Zara nel 1733 da famiglia originaria di Creta (abbandonata a seguito della conquista turca del 1669)
^I︠A︡roslav Dmytrovych Isai︠e︡vych (2006).Voluntary brotherhood: confraternities of laymen in early modern Ukraine. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. p. 47.ISBN1-894865-03-0.…the Greek merchants Constantine Korniakt and Manolis Arphanes Marinetos are added. This second redaction appeared no earlier than 1589, as wealthy Greeks began to join the confraternity at a later date, once it had expanded its activities. Korniakt was actually the wealthiest man in Lviv: he traded in Eastern, Western, and local goods, collected customs duty on behalf of the king, and owned a number of villages.
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
