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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0092
IV.] PALAEOKASTRON NOT THE SITE OF MINOA. 43
very remarkable cisterns, of one of which he measured
the dimensions12.
Domenico Negri, whose work on Geography was
published at Basle in the year 1557, and who mentions
the extent of the existing remains, appears to have been
the first person who, in a printed work, fixed on this
place as the site of Minoa. In this opinion he fol-
lowed Buondelmonti, whose then unpublished observa-
tions the Venetian geographer may perhaps have seen13.
Cornaro, who quotes Negri, merely observes that Minoa
was situated between Cydonia and Aptera, and thus
places the latter city to the east of these remains. Not
satisfied with establishing here the city of Minos, the
old Venetian geographer proceeds to make use of what
Strabo has said about Amnisos, which was on the north
shore near Cnossos, and infers that a port belonging to
Minos could not be far from the city Minoa, and that
the site of Amnisos is therefore at Picdrno, a place
near Kalyves.
Neither., of the early French travellers in Crete,
Thevet and Belon, mentions these remains; and Tourne-
13 Buondelmonti, in the Creta Sacra of Cornelius, Vol. r. p. 8.
" In capite portus Salinae existunt, prope quas per duo milliaria ad Austrum
civitas antiquissima Minoa in monte posita est, quae desolata tantum frag-
menta marmorum et cisternas aliquas habet, quarum una in longitudine
continet pedes xlv, in latitudine vero xviii." Again p. 92, in the more
detailed account of his Periplus, "Minoam antiquam in monte civitatem
videmus. Accedo per duo ad summum milliaria ubi totam prosternatum
inveni, ambulo in earn per segetes, et alta per medium marmorea saxa
revolvo : conspicio Templa, ac moenia enumerare fatigo; dumque ego per
inextricablies pergerem herbas, inscius in maximas cisternas pedes deve-
nerunt," &c. I need hardly observe, that in quoting Buondelmonti, I leave
his Latin just as I find it. On this author may be consulted Mazzu-
chelli, Scrittori d'ltalia, Tom. u. Parte iv. p. 2374. Tiraboschi,
Storia della Lett. Ital. Tom. vi. Parte i. p. 215. and Parte n. p. 788.
13 Dominicus Niger, in Comment. Europae, xi. p. 347- "Statim flec-
titur litus sinum efficiens Amphimalim quondam, nunc Sudam planitie
undique stratum. Ubi paulo a mari in collibus, qui campum ad occasum
terminant, urbs Minoa fuit, quod antiqui operis fragmenta late intuentibus
indicant, diciturque nunc locus Palaeocastrum, id est vetus castellum." As
to the question whether Negri availed himself of Buondelmonti's writings,
see Sinner,-on Bondelmontii Insulae Archipelagi, pp. 13 and 185.
very remarkable cisterns, of one of which he measured
the dimensions12.
Domenico Negri, whose work on Geography was
published at Basle in the year 1557, and who mentions
the extent of the existing remains, appears to have been
the first person who, in a printed work, fixed on this
place as the site of Minoa. In this opinion he fol-
lowed Buondelmonti, whose then unpublished observa-
tions the Venetian geographer may perhaps have seen13.
Cornaro, who quotes Negri, merely observes that Minoa
was situated between Cydonia and Aptera, and thus
places the latter city to the east of these remains. Not
satisfied with establishing here the city of Minos, the
old Venetian geographer proceeds to make use of what
Strabo has said about Amnisos, which was on the north
shore near Cnossos, and infers that a port belonging to
Minos could not be far from the city Minoa, and that
the site of Amnisos is therefore at Picdrno, a place
near Kalyves.
Neither., of the early French travellers in Crete,
Thevet and Belon, mentions these remains; and Tourne-
13 Buondelmonti, in the Creta Sacra of Cornelius, Vol. r. p. 8.
" In capite portus Salinae existunt, prope quas per duo milliaria ad Austrum
civitas antiquissima Minoa in monte posita est, quae desolata tantum frag-
menta marmorum et cisternas aliquas habet, quarum una in longitudine
continet pedes xlv, in latitudine vero xviii." Again p. 92, in the more
detailed account of his Periplus, "Minoam antiquam in monte civitatem
videmus. Accedo per duo ad summum milliaria ubi totam prosternatum
inveni, ambulo in earn per segetes, et alta per medium marmorea saxa
revolvo : conspicio Templa, ac moenia enumerare fatigo; dumque ego per
inextricablies pergerem herbas, inscius in maximas cisternas pedes deve-
nerunt," &c. I need hardly observe, that in quoting Buondelmonti, I leave
his Latin just as I find it. On this author may be consulted Mazzu-
chelli, Scrittori d'ltalia, Tom. u. Parte iv. p. 2374. Tiraboschi,
Storia della Lett. Ital. Tom. vi. Parte i. p. 215. and Parte n. p. 788.
13 Dominicus Niger, in Comment. Europae, xi. p. 347- "Statim flec-
titur litus sinum efficiens Amphimalim quondam, nunc Sudam planitie
undique stratum. Ubi paulo a mari in collibus, qui campum ad occasum
terminant, urbs Minoa fuit, quod antiqui operis fragmenta late intuentibus
indicant, diciturque nunc locus Palaeocastrum, id est vetus castellum." As
to the question whether Negri availed himself of Buondelmonti's writings,
see Sinner,-on Bondelmontii Insulae Archipelagi, pp. 13 and 185.