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.
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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.
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(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
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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
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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
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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)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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Crete looks very big
My dad has been to Greece before and he told me how amazing the place is
I wish to visit there someday
I really hope that you can do it:)
This place is a very fantastic one
It looks beautiful and has a great view
Greece must be very beautiful
Thank you! It is my country and I love it! Every country has it special things
One of my dream is to visit a Greek territory and have at thw historical places
I can see you had fun
I hope you can make it soon!
The history and views of Rokka Castle are truly captivating. Hope you get to visit next time dear
Thank you, hopefully we can all do all the things we have dreamt of
you're welcome dear.... hopefully
@tipu curate
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A very beautiful and quite interesting place and I saw that there were buildings that had good architecture in that place.![](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://images.ecency.com/DQmPumceaRfk4FCijaHSnvStutX4g9hqn49y3Zv1CPaVmkS/curators2.gif)
Thanks :)
True, there are some Venetian elements that you probably saw!