Amnisos

Amnisos, also Amnissos and Amnisus (Greek: Ἀμνισός or Ἀμνισσός; Linear B: 𐀀𐀖𐀛𐀰 A-mi-ni-so), is the current but unattested name given to a Bronze Age settlement on the north shore of Crete that was used as a port to the palace city of Knossos. It appears in Greek literature and mythology from the earliest times, but its origin is far earlier, in prehistory. The historic settlement belonged to a civilization now called Minoan. Excavations at Amnissos in 1932 uncovered a villa that included the "House of the Lilies", which was named for the lily theme that was depicted in a wall fresco.

Amnisos is 7 km east of Heraklion (Iraklio) on a beach used for recreation by the citizens of the modern city. The current sea level is three meters higher than the Bronze Age sea level. The walls of submerged houses are visible from the shore. The ancient settlement bears the same name as the river exiting there. Currently called the Karteros, from the iron-aged name of Caeratus, the river was the Amnisos during the Bronze Age. Across from its mouth is a very small island called Amnisos. The river begins on Mount Ida in central Crete and runs through Karteros Ravine. During the drier season, the river is reduced to a stream. In his hymn to Artemis, the ancient poet Callimachus names the nymphs of the river the Amnisiades, and makes them part of the retinue of the goddess. The Byzantine grammarian Stephanus of Byzantium mentions the existence of the river in his Ethnica and gives both Amnisiades and Amnisides as the names of the river's nymphs. There was no navigable stream to Knossos, today part of the port city. The road was lined with very ancient cult sites. One site is the cave of the goddess Eileithyia. It contained objects dating as far back as the Neolithic period. Such a cave is mentioned by Odysseus in the Odyssey, and the ancient Greek geographer Strabo also refers to there being a temple to Eileithyia there.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).