Gortyn

Gortyn is a major archaeological site in the Messara plain of southern Crete, Greece, first inhabited around 7000 BC. It became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Creta et Cyrenaica after 67 BC. The site is renowned for the Code of Gortyn, the most extensive monument of Greek law before the Hellenistic age, discovered by Italian archaeologists in 1884. Major ruins include the Praetorium (seat of the Roman governor, 1st century AD) and the 6th-century basilica of St. Titus, the first Bishop of Crete. The city was destroyed by Arab invaders around 828 AD.