Ierapetra is the southernmost city in Europe (excluding Cyprus) and the fourth-largest city in Crete.

In ancient times, the city was called Hierapytna. The earliest remains of the city date back to the fifth century BC. It was an important Dorian city in eastern Crete. The city of Gortyn surpassed Hierapytna's importance as an independent state when Hierapytna was conquered by the Romans in 67 BC. The city was severely damaged during the Arab conquest in 824 but was subsequently rebuilt. It experienced a new period of prosperity during the Venetian period from the 13th to the 17th centuries.


The Archaeological Collection is housed in the building of an Ottoman School that was built in 1899.

Minoan Larnax

known as the Episkopi Larnax (named after the find spot).

It appears as though all the human figures are descendants of the Cyclopes. A chariot race is visible on the left, above the octopus. Shepherds appear at the bottom right and top left, and ibexes at the top right.

Detail: one of the one-eyed shepherds

13th c BC.

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The Odyssey, attributed to Homer, was first composed around the 8th or 7th century BC. It tells the story of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who was blinded by Odysseus.

They story (and many others) may be way older as parts of long oral traditions.