Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

C H A P T E R 3
The stones of history
Beyond the tiny hamlet of Riza there lies
the village of Achladia and venturing along
the little roads among olives groves,
orchards and vineyards, one can go in search
of a Minoan villa and a tholos tomb, wellhidden
by the trees. The perfectly preserved
tholos in all probability dates back to 1300
B.C., to the Mycenaean period. A long
dromos, a ramp faced with large dressed
stones, runs down towards a doorway
formed of great monolithic blocks which
leads into a dark chamber roofed with a
dome formed of horizontal courses of stone
[corbelling]. The burial chamber has a false
door which perhaps served to allow
communication between the world of the
dead and that of the living.
The tholos
tomb at
Achladia is the
best preserved
in eastern Crete
Rendered almost invisible by the olive
grove that grows above it, the Minoan villa
at Achladia is a large rural construction with
various rooms built around an expansive
courtyard with a kiln for producing ceramics.
Of the villa there remain only the foundations,
which do however give a good idea of how
Minoan country life was organised.
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