WEATHER

Anogeia

Light Showers
11°C
Wind: 15 Southwest

Rethymno

16°C
Wind: 27 West

Spili

14°C
Wind: 06 West

Fragma Potamon

17°C
Wind: 13 West

Arkadi - Garazo

Eleftherna

Eleftherna

1. Windmill:

The Wind mill lies on the Eastern side of Pirgi hill and in the same straight line as the Reservoirs". A narrow tunnel of approximately 35 m was found here. The traverse, constructed on large rustic wall in which the tunnel ends, has the form of a frontage of a building with a fountain. The hole for the water flow continues as deep as at least 2.50 m. It is possible that, based on the hypsometric differences, it did not reach the large "Reservoirs". On the contrary, it must have been connected with one, undetected reservoir, for the collection of rainwater at some part of the flat ground.

2.Reservoirs:

At the upper part of the Western glacis of Pirgi hill, at Pigadaki site, two underground reservoirs were found. the area was 800 square meters and the capacity of the reservoir was 4500 cubic meters and it is possible that they were created by the extraction of rock. The quarrying of the material from the reservoirs could have taken place in three points in time of the history of the city: a) during the Pre-Archaic era, when at the acropolis of Prine, churches and public buildings were constructed, b) during the Late Classical-Hellenistic era, when due to the increase in population, the need for the erection of public buildings and ramparts was essential and c) during the Roman era, when the city was being rebuilt, thus both the public buildings, the public works as well as the residencies, required large quantities of rocks.

3. Kseniana:

This site is located in the western glacis of Eleftherna, near the western bank of the Chalopota stream. In 1988 architectural debris of buildings were found that looked as if they are built on embankments following the ascent of the ground. Pottery objects of the Late Geometric - Pre-archaic era were collected, whorls of clay, parts from copper pins or needles as well as a part of a plate made of clay with a figure of the 7th century B.C., with the representation of a trunk and hands of human form.

4. Orthi Petra:

At Orthi Petra a cemetery has been excavated, with graves dated back to the second quarter of the 9th century B.C. until the early 6th century B.C. At the cemetery three kinds of practices were noticed: a) burial in handmade large jars or amphoras, mainly for children, in holes or rectangular rock fences b) open burials and c) burnings, often successive. The gems of the tombs are impressive. Among others, copper vessels and metal weapons, tools and obelisks, jewelry from gold, crystal and delft have been found. Finally, in the cemetery over ground monuments and build yards are also found.

5.Pirgi

Pirgi hill lies on the northeastern part of today's settlement of Eleftherna. The gauntly and segmental architectural remains possibly belong to walls of buildings. The only exception to this, are the foundations of a large building block found on the central flat area. The time of its erection in the known Daedalic period, that is, during the 7th century B.C., comes from a series of findings on the ditch of its foundation and from a building on the south side. At Pirgi hill the only construction was this particular church during the Geometric Archaic period. Many debris of human and animal like figures and plates of clay with the presentation of a naked female goddess that were found in excavation layers under the peak of Agia Anna, indicate the presence of at least one worshipping place on the hill. The temple in the large flat ground must have been very significant for the operation of the city, as it comes up from its site and the large number of debris of scripts of the Archaic period in which there are provisions that are obviously related to the entire community. These indications of inhabitance during the Clasical period are limited, which means that the inhabitance of the acropolis stopped at some point in time. However, it remained a primary worshipping centre of the city, in which the construction of a monument continues, as it has been observed by the architecture members on the site. During the Hellenistic period, an important part of the city returns to the acropolis, where houses of bigger and smaller sizes are being constructed. These -some of which have water reservoirs, such as these at Nisi hill- take almost the entire area of Pirgi hill. The settlement of Pirgi continued to be inhabited during the Roman period, in a very restricted area in comparison with the area that was inhabited during the Hellenistic period. A very important constructional activity is observed on the hill again during the Pre-Byzantine years. The city gradually relocates to safer places. The need for security explains the erection of a fortification yard, part of which is the tower of the entrance from which the hill took its name. Already from the 7th century, the settlement decays, as well as the centre of the early Christianic city at Katsivelos site. During this period of decay, a new phase of inhabitance is noted in the largest part of the Eleftherna at the peak of the hill. Around a small single-naved basilica, which reuses the A arch as a temple, a settlement is created with simple one-storey rock build houses. The only building apart from the church that could be said that it was used for common operations is a small building with a waste pipe along the axis and paving in the half Α of its ground plan.