Roussolakkos
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Roussolakkos is the site of a Minoan city, located near Palekastro, Crete.{{cite book|author1=Eleanor Emlen Myers|author2=J. Wilson Myers|author3=Gerald Cadogan|title=The Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYftx1Y2s3UC&pg=PA222|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-07382-1|pages=222–}} The Bronze Age town was occupied from Early Minoan IIA to Late Minoan IIIB, and its remains are relatively well preserved. A later Greek temple to Diktaian Zeus was built at the nearby Elaea promontory.{{cn|date=March 2022}}
In Greek mythology, the site was regarded as the birthplace of Diktaian Zeus.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} and the location where Jason and the Argonauts confronted Talos, the man of bronze, a generation before the Trojan War.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}
Bronze age settlement
The earliest written records documenting the worship of Diktaian Zeus at Roussolakkos come from the Mycenaean Greek Linear B archives at Knossos and date to the close of the Cretan Bronze Age (ca. 1300 BC), however, sacred art and architecture dating from all periods have been found, suggesting that the site was hallowed throughout its history. Among the most beautiful artifacts attesting the worship of Diktaian Zeus is a unique gold and ivory statuette of the god made ca. 1500 BC. See this and more finds at the museum in Sitia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}
Archaeology
Roussolakkos was first excavated from 1902-6 by Robert Carr Bosanquet and Richard MacGillivray Dawkins of the British School at Athens. Work was continued by L. H. Sackett and M. R. Popham in 1962-3, and is currently directed by J. A. MacGillivray, L. H. Sackett and J. M. Driessen since 1983.
Just south of Roussolakkos is Mt Petsophas, a peak sanctuary likely to have been linked with the town. Linear A inscriptions on offering tables from Petsophas are designated as PK for Palaikastro by Godart and Olivier.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}
The Palaikastro Kouros was found at Roussolakkos, purposefully desecrated by burning and smashing{{cite web |url=https://youtube.com/0LZ6JzBcXjU?t=5216 |format=video |title=The Minotaur's Island |work=youtube |accessdate=2019-06-01 }} during an ancient invasion of the site. Four fragments of a stele containing the Hymn to Dictaean Zeus were also found.{{Cite web|first=Mark|last=Alonge|url=https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/alonge/120512.pdf#page=3|title=The Palaikastro Hymn and the modern myth of the Cretan Zeus|publisher=Stanford University|date=December 2005|page=2|access-date=2018-04-13|format=PDF, 167 KB}}
Endangered site
File:Paleokastro_Elasa_Grandes.jpg (on the left) and Grandes (on the right), can be seen in the distance, from Roussolakkos}}]]
While the ravages of later periods and recent tourism development have obscured similar sites elsewhere in Crete, so far they have spared Roussolakkos with an area of 50,000 square metres. Today, however, a private developer has been granted permission to build a large tourist complex at Cape Plako, an area which includes the Minoan quarries and outlying sites. An access road to reach the resort area is planned through the ancient city. In addition to development pressures, Palekastro's harbor and coastal buildings are also threatened by a rise in sea level due to local tectonic activity.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons cat|Roussolakkos}}
{{Minoan civilization}}
Category:Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC
Category:1902 archaeological discoveries
Category:Minoan sites in Crete
Category:Populated places in ancient Greece