Atsipades

Atsipades (also Atsipadhes, Atsipadhes Korakias which refers specifically to the peak) is an archaeological site of a Minoan peak sanctuary in western Crete.

Atsipades is a villade of the Foinikas Municipality in Rethymnon

Geography

Atsipades is about 20km south of the modern town of Rethymnon. Korakias peak is a part of Mount Kouroupas, above the modern village of Atsipades.

Archaeology

Atsipades was identified as a peak sanctuary in 1986. The site was first excavated in 1989 by the Atsipadhes Korakias Peak Sanctuary Project, directed by Alan Peatfield of the University College Dublin of Ireland.

Atsipades was in use from Early Minoan III to Middle Minoan II.

Many circumcised phalli were found at Atsipades, a unique find among the Minoan peak sanctuaries. Other finds included ceramic spindle whorls for weaving, clay human and animal figurines, ceramic lamps and ceramic altars.

The votive animal figurines are mostly of cattle. Nearby settlements suggest that this peak sanctuary served a rural community of farmsteads and hamlets.

Minoan Crete Map

Reference

Jones, Donald W. 1999 Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete ISBN 9170811539

Peatfield, Alan 1994 http://www.ucd.ie/classics/classicsinfo/94/Peatfield94.html Retrieved 16 Jan 2006

Links

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