HIERAPYTNA
HIERAPYTNA (
Ἱεράπυτνα,
Strab. ix. p.440, x. pp. 472, 475;
Plin. Nat. 4.20;
Ἱερὰ Πύτνα,
Ptol. 3.17.4, where some MSS. have
Ἱερὰ Πέτρα; Steph. B. sub voce Inscrip. ap. Gruter, p. 595;
Ἱεράπυδνα,
D. C. 36.8; Hierocl.
Ἱερά Πύδνς, Stadiasm.; Hiera, Peut. Tab.), a town of Crete, of which Strabo (
l.c.) says that it stood in the narrowest part of the island, opposite Minoa. Hierapytna, according to the Coast-describer, was 180 stadia from Biennus, which agrees with the distance of 20 M. P. assigned to it by the Peutinger Table.
It was a town of great antiquity, and its foundation was ascribed to the Corybantes; it bore the successive names of Cyrba, Pytna, Camirus, and Hierapytna. (Strab. p. 472;
Steph. B. sub voce From an inscription preserved among the Oxford marbles, it appears that the Hierapytnians were at one time allied with the neighbouring city of Priansus. (Böckh,
Corp. Inscrip. Graec. n. 2556; Höck,
Kreta, vol. iii. p. 472.) Traces of this city have been found at the
Kastéle of
Hierápetra. (Pashley,
Trav. vol. i. p. 271.)
There are both autonomous and imperial coins belonging to Hierapytna; the symbol on the former is generally a palm tree. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 313.)
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| COIN OF HIERAPYTNA. |
[
E.B.J]
