The ancient town of Praisos on Crete

The remains of the ancient town of Praisos are located on a hill in the east of the island of Crete. The last few miles to the site are over a narrow and sometimes bumpy road (but not a dirt track). Eventually you'll end up on a parking lot at the bottom of a hill and you do the last bit on foot (look out for the arrows that indicate the easiest route). In the parking lot there are signs with information about the site. There are remains of a temple, of houses and a city wall, but a lot of it is no longer intact. In the 2nd century BC Praisos was inhabited by the descendants of the Minoans. They had fled to this area in order to escape attacks by the Dorians, but eventually after a battle the town fell. Both Ieraptyna (nowadays Ierapetra) in the south and Itanos in the north were Doric towns and there were frequent conflicts about who had control of the temple of Zeus at Paleokastro. In 155 BC Praesos was destroyed by Ierapetra.

In Praisos stone tablets with letters, terracotta figurines and a quantity of coins were found. The letters on the stone tablets are Greek but nobody has been able to decipher them. They are now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. It is believed that it is the ancient Minoan language that is written in Greek alphabet.