Eleutherna was one of the most important capitals in Crete. Systematic excavations carried out since 1985 by the University of Crete, with Director Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis, on the west and east slopes of Eleutherna hill, have brought to light important archaeological remains and thousands of finds, which are the incontrovertible testimonies of the history of the ancient city, spanning 4,500 years, from the third millennium BC to the fourteenth century AD, when it was destroyed by the Venetians to crush its rebellious inhabitants. The ancient city developed on the northwest lower slopes of Mount Ida (Psiloreitis), at an altitude of 380 metres, 25 kilometres southeast of the town of Rethymnon. Its main nuclei are on two heights, Prine hill (Archaia Eleftherna) and the terrace of the present village of Eleftherna. On the east side of the hill of Archaia Eleftherna, the Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine city is being brought to light. Three basilicas have been identified there: of Archangel Michael, of Saint Irene of God, and the so-called basilica of Saint Mark, which has been investigated systematically since 2018. The church was founded most probably on top of ancient buildings and architectural members, inscriptions and sculptures (spolia) from buildings of earlier phases of the city have been reused in its walls. Construction of the basilica is dated to the reign of Justinian (AD 500). The excavation has yielded notable finds, such as impressive epistyles from public buildings of the Hellenistic period, very important Archaic and later inscriptions, among them a particularly tender one about a couple who fell in love and got married, but also copious architectural carvings (closure-screen panels, relief and double-sided), curved panels and others from the ambo, engaged mullions, double-sided demi-columns, mullions, and pier-capitals and column capitals of excellent quality, bizone with eagles and rams’ heads. The ancient inscriptions with significant texts of legal and institutional content add to the corpus of renowned Cretan inscriptions (Inscriptiones Creticae). Alongside the excavations, study of the material and conservation of the antiquities progresses, so that with the completion of the excavation research and the preparation of the necessary studies, restoration work will be carried out on the church, so that together with the two other basilicas these monuments will constitute a unique palimpsest of the transition from Graeco-Roman paganism to Christianity, in the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire.
Image source: archive of Prof. N.Ch. Stampolidis
