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1 The Land, the People, Identity The character of the landscape changes dramatically from west to east. The vast White Mountains dominate the western end of the island. On the north coast, the modern city of Khania was also an important Minoan city. East of Khania, the mountains turn into rolling hills before rising again to form Mt. Ida, Crete’s tallest peak (2,456 m), located at the center of the island. The lush Amari valley, with the Minoan sites of Monasteraki and Apodoulou, runs along the western slopes of Mt. Ida. The eastern slopes of Mt. Ida descend into the fertile wine-growing land around Archanes. Here the highest promontory, Mt. Iouktas, overlooks the modern city of Herakleion and the Minoan city of Knossos. Further to the south the Mesara plain, watered by the Ieropotomos River, has about two-thirds of the most arable soil on the island (ca. 40,485 ha) and once provided vast amounts of grain for export by the Roman administrators stationed in the Roman city of Gortyn.2 The rugged Asterousia Mountains separate the Mesara from the south coast. The Lasithi Mountains (Mt. Dikte) rise further to the east. Near the center of the range, at an elevation of ca. 850 m, is the Lasithi plateau, a large upland plain dotted with picturesque windmills. The coast to the north, near Malia, consists of long, flat beaches. East of the Lasithi Mountains the island narrows to only 12 km at the Isthmus of Hierapetra. The Thripti Mountains border the isthmus on the east and continue into the lower, barren mountains that extend to the east coast. Siteia is the main modern harbor in this part of the island. In the The Land Seventy million years ago, a slow-motion collision between the African and the European tectonic plates pushed a buckled ridge of land above the surface of the sea. Complex geological processes, including a nearly complete submergence, continued to shape the land for the next sixty-five million years. Three to four million years ago, in the middle Pliocene, the ridge reemerged as the largest island in the Aegean Sea (fig. 1.1).1 Like a miniature continent, Crete has the entire range of Mediterranean topography condensed into a land mass ca. 250 km long and less than 60 km wide: snow-capped mountains, long beaches, inhospitable dry lands, fertile plains, bustling cities and large expanses of nearly inaccessible wilderness. Crete shares much with the surrounding continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but it also has much that is unique: of the approximately 1,650 species of plants known on the island, for example, about 160 are endemic. A mountainous spine runs the length of the island. On the north the mountains give way to foothills, coastal plains, and large bays that provide deep harbors for modern ships. Historically most of the population has been concentrated along this coast. The large cities of Khania, Rethymnon, Herakleion, Haghios Nikolaos, and Siteia are here, along with most of the modern tourist developments. On the south the mountains descend so precipitously that habitation is limited to scattered coastal villages accessible mainly by boat. The single large town on the south coast is Hierapetra, located at the narrowest part of the island facing Africa. McEnroe_4524_BK.indd 3 McEnroe_4524_BK.indd 3 3/2/10 3:44:26 PM 3/2/10 3:44:26 PM A r c h i t e c t u r e o f M i n o a n C r e t e 4 newly independent island. The architecture included “Venetian galley houses” and “the Turkish Cemetery.” In the harbor were “plenty of boats, Austrian, Italian or coasting Greek steamers.”4 The people, in other words, were as diverse as the topography: African, Asian, and European. Homer also famously reported on the island’s diversity: Crete is an island that lies in the middle Of the wine-dark sea, a fine, rich land With ninety cities swarming with people Who speak many different languages. There are Achaeans there and native Cretans, Cydonians, Pelasgians, and three tribes of Dorians.5 A. Evans thought that the Minoans were the product of several waves of immigration, first from southern Anatolia , with later additions from Libya and the Nile Valley, along with people of “Mediterranean stock.” He associated nearly all the major cultural shifts in Minoan history with the arrival of peoples from outside the island.6 While Evans based his interpretation on the grounds...

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