Heracleium or Herakleion (Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειον),[1] also known as Heracleia or Herakleia (Ἡράκλεια),[2] or Heracleopolis[3] was a town in ancient Crete, which Strabo calls the port of Knossos,[4] and was situated, according to the anonymous coast-describer (Stadiasmus), at a distance of 20 stadia from that city.[5] Stephanus of Byzantium simply mentions the town as the 17th of the 23 Heracleias he enumerates. Although the ecclesiastical notices make no mention of this place as a bishop's see, yet there is found among the subscriptions to the proceedings of the Second Council of Nicaea, along with other Cretan prelates, Theodoros, bishop of Heracleopolis.[6]

The site of Heracleium is located within the modern Heraklion.[7][8] The ancient port town gave its name to the modern city of Heraklion, which revived the historical name during the 19th century.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 3.17.6.
  2. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
  3. ^ Cornel. Creta Sacr. vol. i. p. 254.
  4. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. x. pp. 476, 484. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  5. ^ Stadiasmus Maris Magni §§ 348–349.
  6. ^ Cornel. Creta Sacr. vol. i. p. 254.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
  9. ^ Howe, Samuel Gridley (1868). The Cretan refugees and their American helpers. Boston: Lee and Shepard. p. 33 – via archive.org.

  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSmith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Heracleium". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.

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