Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

Karphi
One particular attraction is an enormous
rocky mass that rises above Lasithi to an
altitude of 1,100 metres, visible from far off.
The place came to be called Karphi (nail) for
its strange cylindrical shape. Below the
ragged peaks of the mountain there is
hidden a Late Minoan settlement completely
camouflaged amid the stone and inhabited
from 1150 to 1000 B.C. by the last groups of
Minoans - also known as Eteocretans (true
Cretans) - in flight from the Dorian invaders.
The city, which could hold up to 3500
inhabitants, was regular in plan like Gournia,
with the houses built one up against another
Because of its
particular shape,
this mountain is
called karphi,
meaning nail
and with steep streets and flights of steps
among the rocky terracing. Explored
between 1937 and 1939 by the
archaeologist J. D. S. Pendlebury, the site has
yielded numerous cult objects (female idols
with raised arms, bull horns, bird heads,
rhytons) which testify to the survival of
Minoan culture and religion even after the
fall of the palace kingdoms.
The Eteocretan city
was built on the
slope of the giant
"nail"
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