Yrtakina

Yrtakina (Greek Υρτακίνα) was an ancient city in south-west Crete. The city was located between the existing villages Temenia and Papadiana, on Kastri hill, where the ruins of the city are situated.

Tthethox believes that Yrtakos was the capital city of the ancient Achaians, and was destroyed by the Dorians. The area of the city was in Vlithia Valley towards the sea. There were two cyclopic walls, parts of which can be seen today. They were integral to a city-castle, where watch and defense soldiers lived with their families.

The city was autonomous; it issued its own coins, one displaying the images of a Cretan wild goat and a bee named Tarra. Another coin depicted a dolphin and an eight-ray star. Elyros, Lissos, Tarra, and Yrtakina had an established monetary union when they joined the Cretan League in the 3rd century BC. Yrtakina was one of the Cretan cities that allied with Eumenes B’.

At the Acropolis there was found a headless marble statue of Pan; it has legs and feet of a goat, and wears mantle. The statue belongs to the roman period.

In 1939, Theophanidis excavated the Temple of Pan.