The Gortyn code

In coming new year I'll be putting up for the forum archaeological sites which are not commonly known (having not attracted fringe interest), yet important for what they tell us about ancient life.

I started with the Temple of Anemospilia and the next is the Gortyn code.

The Great Code is written in the Dorian dialect and is one of a number of legal inscriptions found scattered across Crete, though curiously very few non-legal texts from ancient Crete survive. The Dorian language was the pervasive among Crete cities such as Knossos, Lyttos, Axos and various other areas of central Crete. The Code stands with a tradition of Cretan law which taken as a totality represents the only substantial corpus of Greek law from antiquity found outside Athens.

The carved code in situ



Close up of the writing



A translation of the code

General article on the site and the code

Nice find,Hanslune.

Found a better close up for the Gortyn code for you and others.



en.wikipedia.org...

excellent link and information OP, the timeline's interesting too, in recent light,
I think I may have some links to add here, I'll be back....

and

May I take this opportunity to say kdog, I owe you the most sincerest, humblest and most public of apologies,
I am truly sorry for my outburst of impatience born of frustration, I pointed it in absolutely the wrong direction.

Please forgive me

AmandaC

reply to post by AussieAmandaC

No need to apologize to me,this is a forum open for debate,water under the bridge.

Hanslune,looking forward to your new info.

Since hanslune has apparently abandoned his thread,forgive if I'm wrong,I will delve into Anemospilia.

The temple of Anemospilia is located at the northern end of Mount Iuktas, overlooking arable land and modern day Heraklion, with extensive views both to the east and the west. The site was excavated by J. Sakellarias in 1979, and given its small size, turned out to be one of the most significant excavations to have taken place in Crete.

The temple is unusual for a Minoan site in that it is more symmetrical and less labyrinthine than most Minoan remains. The simple design consists of three rectangular rooms in a row, and a corridor or antechamber running the length of the three rooms to the north of the building. There is no other example of such a building from the Minoan-Mycenean periods.

The temple was destroyed early in the 17th century BCE, as examples of MM II and MM IIIA pottery styles were found in the temple. It was almost certainly destroyed by earthquake, following which the lamps placed inside the shrine burnt whatever was flammable. Further evidence for an earthquake comes from the skeleton of a man found in the antechamber. He had been holding a vase, possibly containing blood as it resembled one to be seen on the Agia Triada sarcophagus into which the blood of a sacrficed bull is dripping. The position of the body suggests that the person was running from the building when it collapsed and killed him or her.

So,some poor guy was running with a vase full of blood to hopefully save the village,all in vain.

www.uk.digiserve.com...

Just like looters in New Orleans after Katrina, he was tryin to "save the plasma!"

Harte

It's interesting that they wrote their laws on the wall for all to see. I wonder, however, if these were symbolic -- the main parts of the law -- but that other codicils to the law were kept in another form.

The 'every other line reversed' format of the inscription is interesting. I had an amusing mental picture of someone reading the law by marching up the wall and then back down, reading things aloud as they went. I was also amused to find that most of the surviving texts are legal texts... one imagines a nation of nit-pickers or lawyers!

Originally posted by kdog1982
Since hanslune has apparently abandoned his thread,forgive if I'm wrong,I will delve into Anemospilia.

Howdy

Nah went off to visit a relative for the weekend who is a a fanatic technological luddite - has no connection to anything - looks like you posted this information in the wrong thread - may I suggest you re-post to Anemospilia thread, please

reply to post by Hanslune



Yes,I did post it in the wrong place.
Sorry,my luddite friend got me confused.