Gortys

Welcome to Gortys, or Gortyn, a site that served as the capital of Crete and Cyrenaica during the Roman period. While the Minoans at Knossos often capture the popular imagination, Gortys represents a different, perhaps more…

Standing before the ruins of the Basilica of Saint Titus, you are looking at one of the most significant early Christian monuments in the world. Built in the 6th century CE, this church was dedicated to the first bishop of Crete,…

We now come to what many consider the 'crown jewel' of Gortys: the Great Code. Inscribed on twelve columns of stone within the walls of a Roman Odeon, this 5th-century BCE inscription is the most complete surviving example of an…

The Roman Odeon, where we just viewed the Law Code, is itself a remarkable structure. Built during the reign of Trajan or Hadrian, this small, roofed theater was used for musical performances, poetry readings, and potentially for…

Moving to the southern part of the site, we enter the Praetorium, the administrative heart of Roman Crete. This was the residence and office of the Proconsul, the governor who ruled both Crete and the province of Cyrenaica in…

Before Gortys became a Roman capital or a Christian bishopric, it was a major Greek city-state with a deep religious devotion to Apollo. The Temple of Apollo Pythios was the primary sanctuary of the city during the Hellenistic…

According to local legend, Gortys is the site of one of the most famous encounters in Greek mythology. It is said that beneath an evergreen plane tree near the banks of the Lethaios River, Zeus, in the form of a white bull,…

Our journey through Gortys has taken us from the dawn of Greek legal thought to the heights of Roman administrative power and the early stirrings of the Christian faith. This city, more than any other on Crete, tells the story of…