KORION
(Melambes) Haghios Vasilios, Crete.
Fifteen km S of the small Greek city of Sybrita.
There is no evidence for either Minoan or Roman occupation of the same site, and the city seems to belong
only to the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Evidence
from the summit of the acropolis suggests that here, at
least, abandonment may have followed violent destruction by fire.
The focus of the settlement is a small, flat-topped
acropolis around which there are traces of walls, probably of a retaining nature rather than defensive. On the
top of the acropolis there are the remains of a building
which Hood suggests may have been the Temple of
Athena, whose presence is indicated by an inscription
found in the city below. The principal area of settlement
below the acropolis appears to have been to the E,
where house walls may be traced. The city's water supply, almost certainly the spring 100 m W of the acropolis, therefore seems likely to have lain outside the occupied area of the city.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
N. Platon “Chronika,”
Kretika Chronika 13 (1959) 391; M.S.F. Hood & P. Warren, “Ancient
Sites in the Province of Ayios Vasilios, Crete,”
BSA 61
(1966) 169-70.
K. BRANIGAN
