Hagia triada

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Agia Triada redirects here. For other uses, see Agia triada (disambiguation)

Hagia Triada (also Ayia Triada, Agia Triada, Agia Trias) is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement. Hagia Triada means "holy trinity" in Greek.

1 Geography
2 Archaealogy
3 External links
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Hagia Triada is in south central Crete, 30-40 meters above sea level. It lies 4 km west of Phaistos, situated at the western end of the Mesara Plain. The site was not one of the "palaces" of Minoan Crete, but rather a well-to-do town, and possibly a royal villa. After the catastrophe of 1450 BC, the town was rebuilt and remained inhabited until the 2nd century BC. Later, a Roman period villa was built at the site. Nearby are two chapels, Agia Triada and Agios Georgios, built during the Venetian period, as well as the deserted village of Agia Triada, destroyed by the Turks in 1897.

[edit] Archaealogy

Hagia Triada was originally excavated by Sir Arthur Evans from 1900 to 1908. With Evans was a group of Italians -- Halbherr, Pernier, Savignoni, Paribeni who unearthed a sarcophagus painted with illuminating scenes from Cretan life.

The site includes a town and a miniature "palace", an ancient drainage system servicing both, and Early Minoan tholos tombs. The settlement was in use, in various forms, from Early Minoan I until the fires of Late Minoan IB.

Hagia Triada has yielded the most Linear A tablets of all Minoan archaeological sites. Other extremely famous finds include the Chieftain's Cup, the Boxer Vase and the Harvest Vase. Found at the site also was the famous sarcophagus of Agia Triada, now at the Archaeological Museum in Iraklion.