Hagia Photia

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Hagia Photia (also Ayia Photia, Agia Photia) is an archaeological site of an ancient Minoan building on Crete.

[edit] Archaeology

The building at Hagia Photia has 37 rooms which open onto a central court, but do not necessarily connect to adjoining rooms. It was originally built in Middle Minoan IA and evidence indicates that the site was originally fortified. The fortifications are important to note, as so few Minoan settlements have evidence of city walls. Other fortified Minoan settlements are from the Pre-Palatial Period, but Hagia Photia is of the Old Palatial period.

The site was abandoned in Middle Minoan IA and circular structures were built over those ruins during Middle Minoan IIA. The structures might be tholos tombs.

Nearby, a Minoan cemetery has been excavated with over 250 Early Minoan I-Early Minoan II tombs.