Aulon (Ancient Greek: Ἀϝλόν), known later as Alonion (Άλονίων), was a town and poleis (city-state)[1] of ancient Crete.[2] It is mentioned in a decree of 480 BCE of Gortyna where a series of privileges are granted to a person perhaps of foreign origin among which were land and housing in Aulon. Of this decree it has been deduced that Aulon was a city that was fortified and was dependent on Gortyna but that probably had autonomy in some aspects. About this relationship between Aulon and Gortyna analogies have been noted with that between Halicarnassus and Salmacis.[3][4]
Its site is located near Agioi Deka ('Ten Saints'),[2][5] which refers to ten Christian martyrs killed at the amphitheatre of Alonion.
References
edit- ^ Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Crete". An inventory of archaic and classical poleis. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1152–1153. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
- ^ a b Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 60, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
- ^ Ins. Creticae IV.64.
- ^ Adrià Piñol Villanueva, Halicarnaso y Salmacis. Historia de una comunidad greco-caria [1], in Faventia Supplementa 2. Contacto de poblaciones y extranjería en el mundo griego antiguo, pp.175-176. (in Spanish)
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
35°03′30″N 24°57′39″E / 35.05828°N 24.960798°E
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