Eleutherna 1998 Overview

Eleutherna on Crete
The Geometric Necropolis at Orthi Petra
A1/K1: The Chamber Tomb
Nicolas Charles Stampolidis

Ancient Eleutherna is situated 25km south-east of Rethymnon, 400m above the sea level, on the foothills of the highest mountain (approx. H. 2.SOO m) on Crete, Ida (see map of Crete, Fig. 1). It is built on a very well protected hill, the Prines hill, which resembles the relief of a boat; it is flanked by two torrents, from East and West, which flow together on the north. Surveys and systematic excavations prove that the city, and the surroundings of the Prines hill, were inhabited during the periods of increasing development (settlements, sanctuaries, cemeteries, quarries etc.)

Owing to its location, approximately in the middle between the west and central Crete, between Cydonia and Cnosos, and in the centre from the north shores of the island to its most significant sanctuary on the top of Ida, the Idaion Andron (cave), it was an essential centre controlling the terrestrial root on the axis of communication between east-west and north-south. The importance of the location and its richness in agriculture, forests, cattle-breading, as well as trade which was controlled on the its ports (Stavromenos and Panormos) made it a rich and powerful centre on the island from the Minoan to the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Roman and even the Early Byzantine periods.
This city, with its long history throughout the centuries, was mentioned by travellers of the 19th and the 20th century, but it was not studied until 1928. It was only then that the then Director of the British School of Archaeology, H. Payne, excavated a very small part of the site and published the results of his research in the BSA 29, 1927/8, pp. 224-298. Since then we had only scattered information from finds found by chance in the fields of the Prines hill, but in 1984 the University of Crete decided to undertake the project to excavate the site systematically (Fig. 2 & 3).

The present application concerns the study and the publication of the material found in a rock-cut Chamber Tomb in the Necropolis of the Orthi Petra ("Standing Stone"), dug almost 7 years ago. It consists of almost five hundred cinerary urns full of cremated bones and grave goods (pottery, metal objects, jewellery, idols, etc., Figs. 4-20). The whole material is very important for the study of the early Iron Age Crete, Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus, Syria, Levant, Israel, Egypt).