- Lato
Lato (
Ancient Greek : polytonic|Λατώ [Stephanus of Byzantium , Ethnikon, "s.v." Kamara] ) was an ancient city ofCrete , the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the small town ofKritsa . The city was built in a defensible position overlookingMirabello Bay between two peaks, both of which becameacropolis es to the city. Although the city probably predates the arrival of theDorians , the ruins date mainly from the Dorian period (fifth and fourth centuries BC). The city was destroyed ca.200 BCE , but its port (Lato Etera or Lato pros Kamara), located near Agios Nikolaos was in use during Roman rule. This has led to the confusion, repeated byStephanus of Byzantium quotingXenion , a Cretan historian, that Kamara and Lato were one and the same. Modern scholarship distinguishes the two.There is some suggestion that the city was named after the goddess
Leto (of which Lato is the usual Doric form) and may be mentioned inLinear B tablets as RA-TO [ [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21124a/e211xa05.html Greek Ministry of Culture] ] . Lato also minted coins in antiquity, [ [http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10847/lato.html#fieldnotes C.Michael Hogan, "Lato Fieldnotes", The Modern Antiquarian, Jan 10, 2008] ] bearing the likeness of the goddessEileithyia who appears to have been the one particularly worshipped at Lato. [ [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21124a/e211xa05.html Greek Ministry of Culture] ]Nearchus , admiral ofAlexander the Great , was born at Lato. [ [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21124a/e211xa05.html Greek Ministry of Culture] ]ee also
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Lato pros Kamara
*MagasaReferences
*SmithDGRG
*Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky, "Portrait of a Polis: Lato Pros Kamara (Crete) in the Late Second Century B. C.", "Hesperia", Vol. 58, No. 3 (July - September 1989), pp. 331-47
* [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21124a/e211xa05.html Greek Ministry of Culture]
* [http://www.crete.tournet.gr/Ancient_City_of_Lato-si-100-en.jsp Tourism website of the area]
* [http://www.travel-to-crete.com/place.php?place_id=37 Tourism website of the area]
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