KYDONIA
(Khania) Crete.
On the gulf of
the same name in the W part of the island, it is one of
the three greatest and most famous cities of Crete. It is
mentioned in many ancient sources (Scylax 47;
Strab.
10.4.7-8, 11-13; Pompon. Mela 2.113; Plin.
HN 4.12.59;
Ptol. 3.15.5;
Stad. 343-44;
Tab. Peut. 8.5;
Rav. Cosm.
5.21). It had a good harbor and controlled a fertile
plain. Founded traditionally by Minos or Kydon (
Marmor
Parium 21f;
Diod. 5.78.2;
Paus. 8.53.4), it was the
principal site in the territory of the Kydones. Herodotos
(
3.59) tells of its foundation or refoundation in 524 by
Samian exiles, who built the temples visible in the 5th
c.; they were defeated and enslaved by Aeginetans (with
Cretan support), who then settled there (
Strab. 8.6.16）
and remained a significant part of the population. The
city was attacked unsuccessfully by an Athenian force in
answer to an appeal from its small neighbor Polichna
in 429 B.C. (
Thuc. 2.85) and by Phalaikos the Phokian
mercenary commander in 343 B.C. (
Diod. 16.63;
Paus.
10.2.7.).
It had good relations with Athens and probably with
Macedon in the later 4th and 3d c. It was allied with
Knossos in mid 3d c., but forced to abandon this alliance
in 220 by Polyrrhenia (Polyb. 4.55.4). Increasing prosperity from the 4th c. made Kydonia predominant in
W Crete by the 2d c.; it subjected Phalasarna, but was
forced by Ap. Claudius to restore its freedom (Polyb.
22.15) in 184 B.C. It stayed out of the Cretan League
and the alliance with Eumenes II (183 B.C.), but made
a separate alliance with him, invoked in 170 or 169 when
Gortyn threatened it, counterattacking in reprisal for
the city's atrocities against Apollonia (destroyed 171;
Polyb. 28.14-15;
Diod. 30.13). For long periods it controlled the Diktynnaion. It led Cretan resistance to Rome
in the 1st c. B.C., supported Octavian against Antony, and
was rewarded with freedom (30 B.C.; Dio Cass. 51.2). It
was prosperous under the Empire and one of the few
Cretan cities then issuing its own coinage, which had
begun in the early 5th c. B.C. The seat of a bishop, the
settlement continued until the Arab Conquest in the early
9th c.
Recent excavations on Kastelli Hill by the harbor have
revealed a very important Minoan settlement, mainly
MM-LM (esp. LM III), but with also EM and post-Minoan sherds (esp. Geometric). From the Bronze Age
onwards this was clearly the main settlement in the area;
theories that Kydonia or early Kydonia lay W or SW of
Khania must be rejected. Of the post-Minoan city very
little has been found, but it probably occupied Kastelli
Hill (presumably the acropolis) and the area below to
the S. Remains of buildings with mosaics of the Roman
period (mainly 2d c. A.D.) have been found just S of the
Cathedral (Metropolis; two rooms of bath complex and
part of hypocaust); by Venizelos Sq. S of the Market;
and in Nea Katastimata to the SW (mosaic depicting
Poseidon and Amymone). Tombs of MM, LM, archaic,
Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman date (the Minoan
mainly chamber tombs and the later mainly cist graves or
hypogaea) have been found in the E and SE of the city:
in the area of the Public Park, Stadium, Law Courts (Mazali), Bolaris and Khalepa. Minoan remains have also
been found to the SW. The ancient harbor (closable according to Skylax; with reefs at entrance according to the
Stad.) was below Kastelli to the N, the harbor used
later by the Venetians, whose mole along the reef probably covers an ancient mole. Belli saw remains of the
theater (being demolished in 1585 by the Venetians for
improvements to their fortifications), an aqueduct, and
a temple with a Doric portico. The Venetian walls clearly
contain much ancient material and provide the main reason for the lack of visible ancient remains.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Pashley,
Travels in Crete I (1837;
repr. 1970) 11-17
M; T.A.B. Spratt,
Travels and Researches in Crete II (1865) 137-42
I; J.-N. Svoronos,
Numismatique de la Créte ancienne (1890; repr. 1972)
96-119; L. Mariani,
MonAnt 6 (1895) 170, 201-7; Bürchner, “Kydonia (1),”
RE XI (1922) 2306-7; 5. Paraskevaidis,
Deltion 10 (1926), Parartima 44-48
P; M.
Guarducci,
ICr II (1939) 104-27; V. D. Theophanidis,
ArchEph 84-85 (1945-47) 37-46; id. 86-87 (1948-49),
Parartima 12-19
P; H. van Effenterre,
La Crète et le
monde grec de Platon à Polybe (1948); U. Jantzen, “Die
spätminoische Nekropole von Kydonia,” in F. Matz (ed.),
Forschungen auf Kreta, 1942 (1951) 72-81; id., “Protogeometrisches aus Westkreta,”
Festschr. E. von Mercklin
(1964) 60-62; N. Platon,
KretChron 13 (1959) 392;
R. F. Willetts,
Aristocratic Society in Ancient Crete
(1955); id.,
Cretan Cults and Festivals (1962); P. Faure,
Fonctions des cavernes créoises (1964); M.S.F. Hood,
BSA 60 (1965) 109-10; S. G. Spanakis,
Kriti II (n.d.)
231-36, 396-416 (in Greek) n.d.
M;
Deltion, 20ff (1965ff)
esp.
Chronika 21, 428; 22, 497-98; 25, 465-67;
BCH 94
(1970) 1156; 95 (1971) 1063, 1067; 96 (1972) 805; 97
(1973) 409ff;
AAA 3 (1970) 100-2; 4 (1971) 223-24; 5
(1972) 387-91; 6 (1973) 430-48.
D. J. BLACKMAN
