Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

C H A P T E R 4
Traces of the ancients
around Sitia
The double axe
symbol is found
engraved on
stone and clay
vessels
wherever the
Minoans
founded a
settlement
An inscription on a Minoan tablet bears
the word "se-to-i-ja", the most ancient name
given to the city of Sitia, used right up to our
own times. Its precise location is not known,
but some scholars believe that it may have
lain on the hill at Petras, where Minoan
constructions with enormous blocks of
dressed stone have been discovered. Petras
is also cited by Plato in the Protagoras where
he mentions it as the birthplace of Myson,
one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece.
Other Minoan ruins have been found at the
gates of Sitia, along the edge of the road
that leads towards the Libyan sea: they are
the remains of a Minoan villa dating from
1600 B.C. with a series of rooms arranged
across terraces, two well - preserved
stairways and a crypt.
Again near Sitia, to be found on a hill
overlooking the sea is Tripytos, a large
settlement with houses, workshops and
storerooms built on the sandstone slope:
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