Pressos Archaeological Site

The important ancient city of Pressos was the homeland of the Eteocretans–the true Cretans. These people withdrew to these three hills, built a city and continued their Minoan culture when the Dorians invaded. Remains of an older and newer city were found as well as very important tablets written in the Minoan language using Greek characters. This may help in the deciphering of the Minoan language.

The site was inhabited continually from Neolithic to Hellenistic times. Pressos dominated the east side of Crete, and it had two harbours, one on the north coast–Itia, the site of Sitia–and the other one, Stiles, on the south coast. The excavations have revealed three acropolises, temples, houses, and tombs, but little remain to be seen in the site. From the acropolis, where some ruins still remain, one has a good view of the old harbour of Pressos, Sitia in the distance.

Pressos was in continuous struggle with the powerful cities of Itanos and Ierapytna for the control of the Temple of Zeus Dicteos in Palekastro. Although at some point in time it even shared citizenship with Ierapytna, it was destroyed by Ierapytna about 155 B.C. and was never rebuilt. The inhabitants of Pressos left for Itia (Sitia), their harbour on the north coast and established New Pressos there.

The region was probably inhabited since the Neolithic period. In the cave located in Skales, by the river banks of Kalamauki and Panteli, Neolithic and caramaic ceramics were found. In 1884, Federico Halbherr discovered in Praissos the first Eteocretan inscription and found a large number of clay figurines. The excavations of the Brittish Archeological School revealed that in Praissos there was a city of the historical Hellenistic times. The more ancient Eteocretan city of Praissos, recorded by the ancient Greek historian Stravon, was far from the remains preserved today and after its destruction, the last descendants of the Eteocretans, along with the Dorians, built the new city in the 12th century BC. It is the remains of this new city that are still preserved today. The region of the “state” of Praissos occupied the whole peninsula of Sitia -apart from Itanos- which was then called the Eteocretan peninsula, the peninsula of Praision. The regime of the Hellenic-Geometric Praissos was democratic. As an autonomous city, Praissos had its own coins. In most of these coins we find representations of Hercules, Zeus, Apollo, Demeter and the word “PRAISION”.

At the hill of Praissos a tomb was excavated in 1935, where a Praisian athlete was buried along with his awards, the most characteristic of which were two painted Athenean amphoras dating back to 560 – 500 BC. It seems that the athlete participated and won the pan-Athenean games. In Praissos there are traces of all past centuries. The traces of the Neolithic, the Mycenaean, the Geometric, the Hellenistic, and the Venetian centuries. Even the Turks left two fountains in Vavelous.