Gortyn, Crete
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues…are not all these who are speaking Galileans, how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites…and visitors from Rome…Cretans and Arabians”. Acts 2:4-11
“To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you…” Titus 1:4-5
We want to share a few photos from our visit to the archeological site of Gortyn, Crete in October. Gortyn isn’t mentioned in the Bible. But in the late Hellenistic and early Roman eras (era of the New Testament) Gortyn was the premiere city of Crete. It was even the capital of the province of Crete later, in the 4th century AD. Paul assigned Titus here to foster the Christian church on Crete, which undoubtedly began when Cretan Jews heard the good news of Jesus’s resurrection while in Jerusalem for Pentecost!
The Gortyn archeological site is massive. Only a portion is well developed and caters to visitors. The less developed area has been under excavation and study since the mid 1800’s but is still behind a fence. The last time we visited Gortyn, we didn’t even realize this area could be seen. There is a strong impulse to jump the fence - don’t do it! We didn’t do it! But the drone was the next best thing.
There is a rough path around the area and it’s well worth a little more difficult walk to see the site. There is no signage to explain what you are seeing unfortunately. The temple of Apollo of Pythios has been most extensively excavated. In the 1880’s numerous inscriptions were found here. The temple dates from the 800 - 600 BC archaic era, with layers of renovation and construction thru the Roman era, and evidence of being used as a Byzantine church finally. Nearby is an Odeion. Not the restored Odeion across the road with the Gortyn law code (we’ll do pictures of that next week and talk about the TItus connection) but an older Odeion. Also a bath complex, a nymphaeum, the Roman Praetorium, a temple to Egyptian gods and funerary remains.
Once again, a New Testament era city that vividly illustrates how early Christian missionaries were posing a complete sea-change in how to live, where to place faith, and what should be the focus of life.
Gortyn, Crete. Overhead view of the entire area south of the tourist / visitor site and main road. On the left are the Odeion and the Temple of Apollo.
