Castle of Rokka, the oldest Byzantine Monument in Crete - Visiting Profitis Ilias [Part 2]

A few days ago I was writing about a very picturesque old village I visited, named Profitis Ilias. You can find my previous post here The photos and material was too much to fit in one post, so this is the second part.

Starting with remnants of an old castle. My friend called it the castle of Rokka (you will see alternative names and its story below). This may well be the oldest monument from the Byzantine era that is located in our island.

Video of the area: https://youtube.com/shorts/pDwNEfKnOzE

Crete is the largest Greek island and because of its strategic location, it played significant roles throughout history. In this post we will talk a bit about the Byzantines, who ruled Crete in two distinct periods.

The first spanned from the late antique period (3rd century) until another island’s conquest in the late 800s.

The second period began with the island’s reconquest in 961 by the Byzantine forces under the leadership of Nikiforos Fokas. During this second phase, Crete remained under Byzantine control until its capture by competing forces from Genoa and Venice in 1205.

In 961 AD, Nikiforos Fokas successfully liberated the island from Saracen occupation. He aimed to bring the city of Handaka (called Heraklion now) into the strategically located Byzantine castle of Temenos, which he built atop the hill near the village of Profitis Ilias. Unfortunately, this plan did not materialize.

(Statue of Nikiforos Fokas in the village and a detail of the space)

Video of visiting the area:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lUZFvWx5U8k

The castle, known as Kanli Kastelli in Turkish (meaning “blood-painted castle”), witnessed significant historical events, including a massacre of Turks by Venetians and Greeks in 1647.

Here you see how the area seems from above and below a few different shots from different angles

The Byzantine castle, associated with Nikiforos Fokas, stands atop Profitis Ilias, approximately 20 km south of Heraklion. This imposing fortress overlooks the island. Originally, it is called the fortress of Rokka and is still the most important Byzantine monument in Crete. My friend introduced it as Rokka Castle

Unfortunately I could not visit it this time, but maybe I will do it next time I will visit this awesome picturesque village

Now lets wander around the village

I could not help just taking photos at every little corner

This is the beautiful and very old church of the village, called Profitis Ilias (and celebrated in 3 days from now actually!)

This is the place where we wanted to stop, but unfortunately it was closed

A green door:

https://youtube.com/shorts/fCqdyQnMLJ0

And the below are my blue photos!

edited for uploading the videos

Does anyone have any idea why someone would build a wall in front of a door, especially in THAT way?

https://youtube.com/shorts/2l98Ml-h7U8

I hope you enjoyed my post and that you made a nice virtual trip with me :)

[//]:# (!worldmappin 35.20406 lat 25.10013 long d3scr)

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Sources and further info:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Crete
• https://visitheraklion.eu/en/the-castle-of-nikiforos-fokas/
• https://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/history-of-crete/archaeological-sites-in-crete/byzantine,-arab-and-venetian-eras
• https://www.bing.com & copilot

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