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'Heraklion' or 'Iraklion' (Greek: ''Ηράκλειο''; Italian: ''Candia''), is the largest city and capital of Crete. It is also the fourth largest city in Greece. Its name is also spelled ''Herakleion'' (transliteration of ancient/Katharevousa name), or ''Iraklio'', with other variants. For centuries it was known as 'Candia' (Greek: Χάνδαξ or Χάνδακας, ).
Heraklion is the capital of Heraklion Prefecture, with an international airport named after the writer Nikos Kazantzakis. The ruins of Knossos, which were excavated and restored by Arthur Evans, are nearby.

Contents

History

Byzantine Era

Venetian Era

Modern Era

Transportation

Port

Airport

Highway Network

Public transit

Climate

Colleges and Universities

Sporting teams

Famous natives

Literature

Scienctists and Scholars

Painting

Film industry

Music

Sports

Business

See also

Notes

References

External links

History

Heraklion is close to the ruins of the palace of Knossos, which in Minoan times was the biggest centre of population on Crete. It is thus very likely that there was a port here as long ago as 2000 BC. There is,however, no archaeological evidence of the port.
The present city of Heraklion was founded in 824 AD by the Saracens (an Arabic Muslim people). They built a moat around the city for protection, and named the city خندق '', 'moat'. The Saracens allowed the port to be used as a safe haven for pirates, much to the annoyance of the nearby Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine Era

In 961, the Byzantines, under the command of Nikiforos Fokas, later to become Byzantine Emperor, attacked and defeated the city, slaughtered the Saracens, looted the city, and burned it to the ground. They remained in control of the rebuilt Khandak for the next 243 years.

Venetian Era

In 1204, the city was bought by the Venetians as part of a complicated political deal which involved among other things, the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade restoring the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus to his throne. The Venetians improved on the ditch by building enormous fortifications, most of which are still in place, including a giant wall, in places up to 40 m thick, with 7 bastions, and a fortress in the harbour. Khandak was renamed to ''Candia'' in Italian and became the seat of the Duke of Candia. As a result, the Venetian administrative district of Crete became known as "Regno di
Candia" (Kingdom of Candia). The city retained the name of Candia for centuries and the same name was often used to refer to the whole island of Crete as well. To secure their rule, Venetians began in 1212 to resettle families from Venice on Crete. The coexistence of two different cultures and the influence of Italian Renaissance lead to a flourishing of letters and the arts in Candia and Crete in general, that is today known as the ''Cretan Renaissance''.
After the Venetians came the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. They besieged the city for 22 years in a bloody war in which 30,000 Cretans and 120,000 Turks died. The Venetians surrendered in 1669. Under the Ottomans, the city was known officially as 'Kandiye' (again also applied to the whole island of Crete) but informally as ''Megalo Kastro'' 'Big Castle'. During the Ottoman period, the harbour silted up, so most shipping shifted to Hania in the west of the island.

Modern Era

In the period of autonomy under Great Power supervision (1898-1908), Candia was part of the British zone. With the rest of Crete, it became part of the Cretan State in 1908, and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece in 1913. Upon its union with Greece it was renamed "Heraklion", after the Roman port of Heracleum 'Heracles' city' whose exact location is unknown. The biggest monument of the city is the Venetian medieval fortress ''Rocca al Mare'' (also known as ''Koules'') located at the port.

Transportation

Port

Heraklion is an important shipping port and ferry dock. The public can take ferries and boats from Heraklion to a multitude of destinations including Thira, Rhodes, Egypt, Haifa and mainland Greece.

Airport

Heraklion International Airport, or Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is located about 5km east of the city. The airport is named after Herkalion native Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek writer and philosopher. It is the second busiest airport of Greece, mostly due to the fact that Crete is a major destination for tourists during summer. There are regular domestic flights to and from Athens, Thessaloniki and Rhodes with Aegean Airlines and Olympic Airlines. Cyprus Airlines flies to Larnaca via Rhodes. Furthermore, Sky Express operates direct flights to Aegean islands such as Rhodes, Santorini, Samos, Kos, Mytilini and Ikaria. During the summer period, traffic is intense and the flight destinations are from all over Europe (mostly Germany, UK, Italy and Russia). The airfield is shared with the 126 Combat Group of the Hellenic Air Force. The take off in western direction leads directly over the town of Heraklion, which makes it a very noisy city.

Highway Network

European route E75 runs through the city and connects Heraklion with the three other major cities of crete: Agios Nikolaos,Chania, and Rethymno.

Public transit

There are a number of buses that are serving the city as well connect the city to many major destinations in Crete.

Climate

Crete has a warm Mediterranean climate. Summers in the lowlands, are hot and dry with clear skies. Dry hot days are often relieved by a system of seasonal breezes. The mountain areas are much cooler, with considerable rain. Winters are mild in the lowlands with rare frost and snow.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average High °C	15	16	17	20	23	27	29	28	27	23	20	17
Average Low °C	9	9	10	12	15	19	22	22	19	17	13	11
Precip (cm)	91.4	76.2	58.4	30.5	15.2	2.5	0.0	0.0	20.3	68.6	58.4	76.2
''Source: www.weather.com''

Colleges and Universities

★ University of Crete

★ TEI of Crete

Sporting teams

The city hosts three soccer clubs:

★ OFI Crete in Heraklion, plays in the first division.

★ Ergotelis FC - in Heraklion, plays in the first division.
Both OFI and Ergotelis FC use the Pankritiko Stadium, which was built for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.

★ Atsalenios - Football Club of Heraklion which plays in the third division.

Famous natives

Heraklion has been the home town of some of Greece's most significant spirits, including the novelist Nikos Kazantzakis, the poet and Nobel Prize winner Odysseas Elytis and the world-famous Greek painter Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco).

Literature

★ Elli Alexiou, writer 1894-1988

★ Odysseas Elytis, poet, Nobel Prize in Literature 1911-1936

★ Nikos Kazantzakis, the prominent modern Greek writer 1883-1957

★ Vitsentzos Kornaros, most important Cretan Renaissance writer 1553-1613

★ Lili Zografou, writer, 1922-1998

Scienctists and Scholars

★ Francesco Barozzi, mathematician and astronomer 1537-1604

★ Fotis Kafatos, Professor of Biology, President of the European Research Council

★ Nikolaos Panagiotakis, Professor of History, Byzantinologist, 1935-1997

Painting

★ Michael Damaskenos, painter of icons 1530/35-1592/93

★ El Greco, Mannerist painter, sculpturer and architect 1541-1614

★ Georgios Klontzas, painter of icons 1540-1607

★ Theodoros Poulakis, painter of icons 1622-1692

★ Andreas Ritzos, painter of icons 1422-1492

★ Emmanuel Tzanes, painter of icons 1610-1690

★ Aristidis Vlassis, painter
★ 1955

★ Konstantinos Volanakis, painter 1837-1907

Film industry

★ Rika Diallina, actress and model, Miss Hellas
★ 1952

★ Sapfo Notara, actress 1907-1985

★ Yannis Smaragdis, film director
★ 1970

Music

★ Fragiskos Leontaritis (Francesco Londarit), sole Cretan Renaissance composer 1518-1572

★ Giannis Markopoulos, composer
★ 1939

Sports

★ Nikos Machlas, football player
★ 1973

★ Georgios Samaras football player
★ 1985

Business

★ Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, business woman and politician
★ 1955

See also

★ Minoan civilization

★ Siege of Candia (1648 - 1669)

★ University of Crete

★ Foundation for Research & Technology - Hellas

★ European Network and Information Security Agency

★ TEI of Crete

★ Centre for Technological Research of Crete

Notes

★ The War for Candia by the VENIVA consortium provides details of the siege of Candia, including estimated number of deaths.

References

External links

★ (FORTH) Foundation of Research & Technology Hellas

★ (CTRC) Centre for Tecnological Research of Crete

★ (STEP-C) Science & Technology Park of Crete

★ Cretaquarium Thalassocosmos

★ Municipality of Heraklion

★ Heraklion Information about the city of Heraklion by the Technological Educational Institute of Crete

★ Heraklion city map and virtual tour An interactive map with streets, sights, travel info and pictures