Matala, Crete
village in Greece
Matala (Greek: Μάταλα) is a village located 75 km south-west of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, north of Cape Lithinon. Matala is part of the community of Pitsidia within the municipal unit of Tympaki, Faistos municipality, Heraklion regional unit.
History
The artificial caves in the cliff of the Matala bay were created in the Neolithic Age. Matala was the port of Phaistos during the Minoan period. In the year 220 BC, Matala was occupied by the Gortynians, and during the Roman period, Matala became the port of Gortys. It has been suggested that the caves were once used as tombs, but it is more likely that they were used as living spaces, given their volume (corpses do not need that much room to walk around). One of the caves is called "Brutospeliana" because according to the legend it was frequented by the Roman general Brutus.
Matala was then a fishing village. In the 1960s, the caves were occupied by hippies who were later driven out by the church and the military junta. Matala is now a popular tourist destination relying on coach tours and summer visitors.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Matala, Crete” is village in Greece. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Matala, Crete and village, not as a finished interpretation.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q955501. Authority coordinates are 34.993, 24.750. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Matala, Crete” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.