On the plain south of Gortyna, the Martyrion is an early Byzantine site whose name recalls a place of witness or burial for a saint. Its remains, including a cruciform church and associated structures, speak to the architectural and liturgical forms of the period, while the surrounding landscape carries traces of archaic, late antique and Roman occupation. Much about the site remains uncertain, and the ruins are fragmentary. For a visitor, it is a quiet echo of Christian Crete, best approached slowly, with the plain and the nearby ancient city of Gortyna as its setting.
Coordinates and heritage data compiled in the Atika atlas.
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