DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0136
XXIX.]
THE CITY KANTANOS.
117
ruins of an outer wall. Other portions of the continua-
tion of both these walls are discernible to the east of
the hill on the northern side of the cleft, and are per-
haps even better preserved than those which I have
described, and of which a specimen is engraved at the
head of this chapter.
To the east of these remains, which, in the whole,
run three or four hundred yards on the side of this hill,
the slope is more gradual than on the other sides; and
here also are discernible vestiges of four other walls,
meant no doubt to strengthen the side where the city
was, from the nature of the ground, most exposed to
attack. I also notice several tombs, cut out of the solid
rock, on the side of the hill to the east of the ancient
city, and on that side below some of the tombs are also
remains of a wall. Khadhros, the nearest village to
Haghia Irene, is about half a mile to the north.
We shall not find it difficult to fix, with certainty,
on the ancient city which existed here. There is a
district called Kantanos by the Cretans, just as we
have districts of Mesdghia, Ennea-khoria, and so forth,
the appellation being used to denote collectively a num-
ber of villages, and this little district is situated at the
inland extremity of the fine valley in which we now
are, a few miles to the north or north-west of these
remains. We see at Milata how the name of an ancient
city is sometimes transferred to a modern village, existing
not on its site but in its neighbourhood1; and thus we
may suppose that here the name of the ancient city has
been transferred to the small district, and therefore con-
sult the ancient authors with an expectation of finding
something to prove that the city of Kantanos existed
on this spot.
The Peutinger table gives us, as the distance from
the western Kisamos to Kantanos, twenty-four miles:
this agrees perfectly well with the distance between
1 See Vol. 1. p. 2(i9. not. 48. and compare Vol. i. p. 63. and above.
P-78.
THE CITY KANTANOS.
117
ruins of an outer wall. Other portions of the continua-
tion of both these walls are discernible to the east of
the hill on the northern side of the cleft, and are per-
haps even better preserved than those which I have
described, and of which a specimen is engraved at the
head of this chapter.
To the east of these remains, which, in the whole,
run three or four hundred yards on the side of this hill,
the slope is more gradual than on the other sides; and
here also are discernible vestiges of four other walls,
meant no doubt to strengthen the side where the city
was, from the nature of the ground, most exposed to
attack. I also notice several tombs, cut out of the solid
rock, on the side of the hill to the east of the ancient
city, and on that side below some of the tombs are also
remains of a wall. Khadhros, the nearest village to
Haghia Irene, is about half a mile to the north.
We shall not find it difficult to fix, with certainty,
on the ancient city which existed here. There is a
district called Kantanos by the Cretans, just as we
have districts of Mesdghia, Ennea-khoria, and so forth,
the appellation being used to denote collectively a num-
ber of villages, and this little district is situated at the
inland extremity of the fine valley in which we now
are, a few miles to the north or north-west of these
remains. We see at Milata how the name of an ancient
city is sometimes transferred to a modern village, existing
not on its site but in its neighbourhood1; and thus we
may suppose that here the name of the ancient city has
been transferred to the small district, and therefore con-
sult the ancient authors with an expectation of finding
something to prove that the city of Kantanos existed
on this spot.
The Peutinger table gives us, as the distance from
the western Kisamos to Kantanos, twenty-four miles:
this agrees perfectly well with the distance between
1 See Vol. 1. p. 2(i9. not. 48. and compare Vol. i. p. 63. and above.
P-78.