#Gortyn

[whencyclopedia]

Gortyn

Gortyn is located on the Mesara plain of central Crete and was an important settlement throughout antiquity from the Minoan to Hellenistic periods. In Roman times the city went on to gain even more importance as the capital of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrene. The site today is particularly noted for the Gortyn Law Code, a lengthy wall inscription created in the 5th century BCE which is the earliest such example in Europe.

Learn more about Gortyn

[coffeenewstom]

Kretisches Kaffeetagebuch: Matala - Shopping mit Hippie-Vibes

Als John Bowman 1962 hier aufschlug, gab es noch kein Hippies. “Ein weiterer lohnender Ausflug von Festos ist der Besuch des kleinen Badeörtchens Matala, des antiken Metallon, das neben Levin einst Hafen von Gortis war. Von der Festos Hügelkuppe bei einer kleinen Tafel “Matala” nach links ab. (…) Durch flachgewelltes einsames Land fällt das Strässchen langsam gegen das Meer und führt in einer…

[a-mythologynerd]

I MADE A DINOSAUR ARCHAEOLOGIST AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. HIS NAME IS GORTYN. The pattern is by “Crocheted by Bogusia” on Etsy and comes with the plinth hat, the scarf, the vest, magnifying glass, and backpack (and Dino himself!)! I freehanded the holdable trowel, the tiny tool/small pickaxe, the munsel book, the pottery shed which are in his bag for easy access on the dig! I love him so much

[mass-effect-galaxy]

Some random photos from my winter trip to Crete

[hedgewitchgarden]

Minotaur and Labyrinth coin

Minted in Gortyn, Crete, c. 425-360 BCE.

Obverse: Minotaur in a kneeling-running stance to right, its head facing forward.

Reverse: Labyrinth, in the form of a swastika, five pellets in a floral pattern at the center, four sunken squares in the corners.⁣

Magick & Spiritual Art 

[deathlessathanasia]

"Athena's name may appear in the Linear B tablets and many believe that she began as a Bronze Age goddess, derived from the Minoan goddess with snakes (conventionally termed a household goddess'), and later became a goddess associated with the Mycenaean palaces. Her function as protectress of the polis may be seen as an extension of her Bronze Age function as protectress of the household. Bronze Age depictions of the household goddess with birds and snakes are paralleled in the historic period, when Athena is portrayed with owls and snakes. There is no evidence that she was armed in Minoan art but a case could be made for the existence of an armed goddess in the Mycenaean period. Some argue that she is an ancient, indigenous goddess, connected with weaving, whom the Indo-European Greek-speaking peoples encountered when they came into the Greek peninsula. It is unclear whether the city of Athens was named after the goddess, or if Athena took her name from the city, though the latter is more likely. In either case, her name must have come into prominence during the Mycenaean period in Athens. In Athena's Panhellenic image, her role as armed protectress of the city is paramount — clearly more important than other significant attributes, such as a goddess of crafts, technology, wisdom, and fertility of the olive. In myth, Athena is depicted as a virgin goddess, born from her father's head; she is generally perceived to be very masculine in her traits. In cult, however, the evidence from some sites, such as at Tegea and Gortyn on Crete, indicates she also was a fertility goddess and aMistress of Animals', and that she was especially important to her female worshippers. It is interesting to note that in Athens, Athena's masculine traits became increasingly emphasized over time; it is argued that such a male image of the goddess was deliberately expressed in the sculptural programme of the Parthenon, in order to justify having a female as Athens' paramount deity.

It is notable that some of the earliest temples known in the Greek world were dedicated to Hera on the island of Samos and at Perachora. In the Argolid, the most powerful region of Mycenaean Bronze Age culture, the cult of Hera is pre-eminent. Her functions here seem to involve agriculture, pastoral fecundity, marriage, adolescent transitions and war, as well as the annual renewal of her virginity; in the Homeric poems, as the jealous wife of Zeus and goddess of marriage, she is given a far more restricted role.

Like Hera, Artemis' name appears on the Linear B tablets and some believe that she was a descendant of the Minoan goddess often termed the `Mistress of Animals'. Most of her main sanctuaries do not, however, reveal particularly early evidence. At the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta the votives from the eighth century BC onwards reflect the deity's Panhellenic images as 'Mistress of Animals' and goddess of childbirth, but also indicate a role in fertility and marriage. The quantities of jewellery offered to her at all sites may underline her importance to women in the transitional rituals of marriage and childbirth. In myth she is portrayed as a virgin, but the archaeological evidence suggests she possessed a broader spectrum of traits, especially in the earliest phases at local cult sites.

Demeter does not appear to play a large role at Early Iron Age sanctuaries. Her most important sanctuary was at Eleusis, where excavation has revealed evidence of a Mycenaean building, followed by remains from the Geometric through to the Classical period, including the Telesterion, where the famous mysteries were performed. In mythology, she was portrayed as a fertility goddess of the earth, especially of corn. She may originally derive from a Bronze Age deity, though it is debated whether the Mycenaean building at Eleusis was religious or if cult began in the eighth century BC and incorporated the Bronze Age remains. Her cult in Arcadia, as discussed above, takes on different forms and may pre-date the Eleusinian cult."

- From Athena to Zeus: An A-Z Guide to the Origins of Greek Goddesses by Mary E. Voyatzis (in Ancient Goddesses: the Myths and the Evidence)

[dionysianfreak]

Are there any myths with both Apollo and kore/Persephone

hello friend ! off the top of my head, I couldn't think of much. though, I'm not the one to go to for mythology questions honestly, im not super knowledgeable in that area. i do know of two from Theoi.com, though ! they're not full myths, but moreso local legends or inspired writings

"[Apollon] obtained from the Moirai (Fates) a privilege for [King] Admetos, whereby, when it was time for him to die, he would be released from death if someone should volunteer to die in his place. When his day to die came . . . [his wife] Alkestis (Alcestis) died for him. Kore (Core) [Persephone], however sent her back, or, according to some, Herakles battled Haides and brought her back up to Admetos."

— Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 106 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)

"When plague seized Aonia [the land of Thebes in Boiotia] and many died, there were sent officers to consult Apollon's oracle at Gortyne. The god replied that they should make an appeal to the two gods of the underworld [Haides and Persephone]. He said that they would cease from their anger if two willing maidens were sacrificed to the two. Of course not one of the maidens in the city complied with the oracle until a servant-woman reported the answer to the daughters of Orion [the two Koronides]...As soon as they heard about this, they willingly accepted death on behalf of their fellow citizens...They cries out three times to the gods of the underworld saying that they were willing sacrifices...Persephone and Hades took pity on the maidens and made their bodies disappear, sending them instead up out of the earth as heavenly bodies. When they appeared, they were borne up into the sky. And men called them comets."

— Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 25 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)

hopefully this helps :)) if anyone else knows any please feel free to add on.

[snacking-on-art-2022]

Statue of Isis-Persephone holding a sistrum. Temple of the Egyptian gods, Gortyn. Roman period (180-190 C.E.)

[eclecticharmonytimemachine]

Georges Chevalier - Gortyne, Crète, Grèce. Entrée du temple d' Apollon. 1927

[fmpkingmidasandthethief]

Mazes research:

The Shining 1980: This maze has a complex but simplified design. It includes lots of different paths and directions that either lead you forward or to a dead end. It is also simplified because it is symmetrical in almost every way. This can be seen quite easily from the bird's eye view. In the movie, this Maze has a truly mysterious and scary atmosphere to it which pretty much sums up the film as a whole as well as my theme of Illusion.

Best Mazes in the world: This website includes several Mazes from across the globe that each have their own unique shaping and style. The two designs I liked in particular were probably the Dream Maze from China which had multiple mini mazes as well as a large one each with their own twist and feature like the part that has a deer carved into it. I also liked the Bago Vineyard Maze in Australia because it uses one simple shape to create something more. these are all spectacular Maze designs that I could try and implement into a design of my own.

Hercules Labyrinth: In this myth a brave man named Hercules is tasked with rescuing someone from this mystical Maze and killing the beast within which turned out to be a creature called a minotaur. This Beast was half-man, half-bull and had developed a taste for human flesh which is why it was contained in this labyrinth. Many still believe that this myth could have been real with the locals of Crete in Greece saying that it existed in the town of Gortyn. The Maze was a perfect circle with only one way in and one way out and obviously a minotaur. I like this design because of it's unique shaping for a maze that I don't think I will use as In my game as I have already made a grey box design for my game and this is shaped as a square.

[dropfromthesky]

3 new videos!

i forgot to post the links for these, oops--

[ID: a screenshot from YouTube of 3 YouTube videos. from left to right, their titles, durations, views, and days posted are:

"Phaistos Hills Synchronization | Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey," which is 56 seconds long, has 2 views, and was posted 15 hours ago (January 9th at 12pm PST);

"Gortyn Waterfall Synchronization | Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey," which is 36 seconds long, has 2 views, and was posted 1 day ago (January 8th at 12pm PST);

and "[TWITCH VOD] assassin's creed isn't assassin's creed-ing the odyssey so hades is played instead," which is 57 minutes and 49 seconds long, has 18 views, and was posted 2 days ago (January 7th at 12pm PST) /END ID]

i hope you'll enjoy them! :3c

[g0ddess0fthehunt]

Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 184 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

"Which of the Nymphai dost thou [Artemis] love above the rest . . . Beyond others thou lovest the Nymphe of Gortyn, Britomartis, slayer of stags, the goodly archer."

[coffeenewstom]

Kretisches Kaffeetagebuch: Palast von Phaistos

Die Götter sind uns wohl gewogen. So interpretierten wir jedenfalls den Halo rund um die Sonne – eine Art Regenbogen bei strahlendblauem Himmel – den wir bemerkten, als wir am Parkplatz vor dem Palast ausstiegen. Wir waren sehr neugierig, gilt doch Phaistos, auch Phaestos und neugriechisch Festos, als als Gegenentwurf zu Arthur Evans Rekonstruktionen in Knossos. Hier wurde nicht rekonstruiert.…

[whencyclopedfr]

Crète Antique

La Crète est une île de Méditerranée orientale qui, à l'âge du bronze, produisit l'influente civilisation minoenne avec son architecture et son art distinctifs. Membre important du monde grec à l'époque archaïque, la Crète perdit un peu en importance pendant la période classique, mais elle fut de nouveau un centre culturel majeur à l'époque romaine, alors qu'elle était une province de l'empire romain et centre du christianisme primitif. L'île compte aujourd'hui de nombreux sites archéologiques remarquables, dont Knossos, Phaistos et Gortyn, tous avec des vestiges architecturaux significatifs comme preuve convaincante de l'histoire longue et variée de la Crète.

Lire la suite...

[elladastinkardiamou]

Perhaps the most famous inscription written in the Cretan alphabet is the Law Code of Gortyn of the early 5th century BC, a section of which is shown above. This gives a good illustration of some of the Cretan alphabet’s features, which include some unexpected letter shapes (an iota shaped like a Roman S, a pi shaped like a Roman C, the use of san M where other alphabets used sigma Σ, etc).

If you want to try learning the Cretan alphabet, you can use our ‘Write your name in the Cretan alphabet’ sheet (download a pdf HERE). You can also compare with the ‘standard’ version of the Greek alphabet, the sort you find in text books today that was the result of a late 5th century BC writing reform in Athens.

You can also see if you look closely at the inscription above that the direction of the signs reverses in alternate lines – this is because the direction of reading alternates, in a pattern known as boustrophedon. Single-direction writing was also known (L>R or R>L), but boustrophedon was a popular choice, especially for long legal texts like the one above.

[deathlessathanasia]

“Normally in ancient Greece, inheritance went from father to son, especially as far as land and buildings were concerned. A secondary line of inheritance went through women by means of their dowries. What happened, then, if a family had no sons to inherit their property? In the absence of any children at all—a rare occurrence in Greece—a man’s estate was divided up among his closest relatives on his father’s side, keeping the patrimony within the paternal unit. It was far more common, however, that a couple had at least one daughter, and the patrimony would “travel” through her. There were different names for such a girl throughout Greece. In Athens she was an epikleros, meaning “attached to the family property.” In Sparta she was called a patroukhos; in Gortyn, a Doric community like Sparta, she was the patroiokos—“of the father’s house.” In all cases, the idea was to have the heiress marry her closest male relative on her father’s side. Her children, then, would inherit the paternal estate from the grandfather. The legal procedures regarding heiresses varied from city to city, with some of the harshest laws existing in Athens, as we know through the court cases of Isaios and Demosthenes. According to Athenian law, an epikleros was obliged to marry her closest male relative on her father’s side. The order of preferable spouses was firmly set: first paternal uncles, then first cousins who were sons of paternal uncles, then first cousins who were sons of paternal aunts. There was some room for maneuvering on the part of the potential grooms; if they did not wish to marry the epikleros, they could pass her on to the next relative, possibly being obliged to provide her with a dowry if the girl were poor.

The epikleros herself, however, had no say in the matter whatsoever, even if she was already married. That is to say, if a family lost its sons and was left with only a daughter who was already married, she was forcibly divorced from her husband and married to the appropriate paternal relative. Isaios (3.64) claimed in the fourth century: “many men who have already been living with their wives have been deprived of them thus.” As for the (new) husband, his role in the continuation of the paternal line was highly valued. Husbands of epikleroi were legally obliged to have sex with their wives at least three times a month, and they were released from military duties to fulfill their obligations. (In other words, a man could explain to the authorities that he could not be sent to war because he legally had to stay home to have sex with his first cousin.) The laws concerning heiresses in other parts of Greece were less severe, as we can determine from the Gortyn law code. Section vii.15 of this code relates: The heiress is to marry the oldest of her father’s living brothers. If her father has no living brothers but there are sons of the brothers, she is to marry the oldest brother’s son. . . . If the heiress is too young to marry, she is to have the house, if there is one, and the groom-elect is to have half of the revenue from everything. If he does not wish to marry her as prescribed by law, the heiress is to take all the property and marry the next one in succession, if there is one. If there is no one, she may marry whomever she wishes of those who ask her from the same phratry. If the heiress is of age and does not wish to marry the intended bridegroom, or the intended is too young and the heiress is unwilling to wait, she is to have the house, if there is one in the city, and whatever is in the house, and taking half of the remaining property she is to marry another of those from the phratry who ask her, but she is to give a share of the property to the [rejected] groom. If there are no kinsmen as defined for the heiress, she is to take all the property and marry from the phratry whomever she wishes. (Translation from Lefkowitz and Fant 1992, adapted) Although there was obviously some attempt here to have the heiress marry within the paternal family, this was not strictly enforced. The girl could “buy” out of her obligations by renouncing a percentage of her inheritance to a possible claimant rather than marrying him. And in other respects, she could marry “whomever she wishes,” indicating a fair amount of autonomy for girls from Gortyn. Something similar seems to have been practiced in Sparta. According to Herodotus, Spartan kings had the right to pick husbands for heiresses; or a father, knowing he was going to die, could “bequeath” his daughter(s) to a preferred groom. But by the Late Classical period, Spartan women were more or less able to decide for themselves whom they would marry. As women could own land and resources in Sparta, inheritance of the paternal estate through the female line was legitimate and uncomplicated (Pomeroy 2002, 84–86).”

 - The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, by Stephanie Lynn Budin