Herakleion
The small town probably owed its name to a temple dedicated to Hercules. References to the name "Herakleion" are first encountered in the writings of geographers and travellers in Roman times.
Though Strabo never visited Crete, in his Geography (1st century BC) he mentions that "Knossos has Herakleion as its harbour". In the first century AD the Roman Scientist Pliny the Elder mentions "the small town of Herakleia", while the geographer Ptolemy gives geographical coordinates for "Herakleion".
Metope depicting Hercules and the Minotaur, 470 B.C. - 450 B.C. (Olympia Archaeological Museum)
900B.C.
800B.C.
688B.C.
600B.C.
481B.C.
450B.C.
350B.C.
336B.C.
330B.C.
323B.C.
62
250
296
304