Hyrtacina
ancient city in Greece
Hyrtacina or Hyrtakina (Ancient Greek: Ὑρτακίνα), also written as Hyrsacina or Hyrsakina (Ὑρσακίνα), or Artacina or Artakina (Ἀρτάκινα), was a city of ancient Crete, which, little as we learn of its position from Ptolemy and Stephanus of Byzantium, yet we may safely infer from the former's words that it was situated to the southeast of Polyrrhenia, and to the west of Lappa. The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax teaches us more respecting its site; it places it on the south of the island, and to the south of the Dictynnean temple of Artemis and the Pergamian district. These indications agree well with the situation of the ruins discovered by Robert Pashley on Kastri hill between the existing villages Temenia and Papadiana.
History
Its history is related to the proximate settlement of Lissus, which is also situated in the Agia Eirini Gorge. It has characteristics of other Archaic Period hilltop forts such as Lato, where the founding was based upon achieving a site of safety or refuge.
The city was autonomous; it issued its own coins, one displaying the images of a Cretan wild goat and a bee named Tarra. Another coin depicted a dolphin and an eight-ray star. Elyrus, Lissus, Tarrha, and Hyrtacina had an established monetary union when they joined the Cretan League in the 3rd century BCE. Hyrtacina was one of the Cretan cities that allied with Eumenes II.
Archaeology
The area of the city was in Vlithia Valley towards the sea. In the 19th century, Pashley remarked that numerous vestiges of polygonal masonry on the north and west sides, and measuring little more than half a mile (0.8 km) in length, are still existing. On the other sides the city was precipitous.
The public source identifies “Hyrtacina” as ancient city in Greece. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hyrtacina, ancient and city.
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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 Oct 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q8059667. Authority coordinates are 35.280, 23.750. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hyrtacina” 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.