The code wall
Twelve columns of text carved into the stone.
Olaf Tausch โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Jebulon โ CC0 ยท Jebulon โ CC0 ยท Carole Raddato โ CC BY-SA 2.0
Because it gives us something **very rare**: a long, complete text about **everyday life** in a Greek society, rather than about its wars or its myths. Most of what survives from ancient Greece is literature, philosophy and political history; here instead are practical rules on **marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, a woman's rights over her property, and the status and rights of slaves** โ the structure of a society as its own people organised it. It dates to about the fifth century BC and was carved on a public wall for people to read, which is itself telling: a law displayed rather than hidden.
**Gortyn and Phaistos together** โ they are on the same road south of Heraklion and make a comfortable single day by car. The best order: set out **early** (before eight) to avoid the heat of the plain, **Gortyn first** (about 45 km, an hour there), then **Phaistos** (some 15 km further, an hour and a half), then โ if time and energy remain โ drop to **Matala** on the coast to swim and have lunch, returning in the evening. โ Without a car this is hard: regional buses are few and poorly connected; consider an organised tour.
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**The Roman capital of Crete**, a city that spread across an enormous area of the Messara plain โ and its most important feature is not a building but **an inscribed wall**. Here stands the **Gortyn Code**: a Greek legal text of the fifth century BC carved on stone blocks in twelve columns, regarded as **the oldest and most complete surviving European law code**. It deals with marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, property rights and the status of slaves โ giving a rare direct picture of the life of a Greek society rather than of its wars and its gods. It is written **boustrophedon**: one line left to right, the next right to left, as an ox turns when ploughing โ which is where the name comes from. The site also holds the sixth-century basilica **church of Saint Titus**, among the oldest churches in Crete, a Roman theatre, an odeon, temples, and remains running away into the fields around you. โ The site is **divided**: the fenced part is ticketed, while other portions scattered in the fields along the road can be seen free.
Twelve columns of text carved into the stone.
Among Crete's oldest churches โ sixth century.
Roman remains scattered along both sides of the road.
Gortyna, 70012 Agioi Deka, Crete