Greece · 19th century BC
Zakros (Greek: Ζάκρος also Zakro or Kato Zakro) is a Minoan archaeological site on the eastern coast of Crete in Lasithi, Greece. It is regarded as one of the six Minoan palaces, and its protected harbor and strategic location made it an important commercial hub for trade to the east.
The town was dominated by the Palace of Zakro, originally built around 1900 BC, rebuilt around 1600 BC, and destroyed around 1450 BC along with the other major centers of Minoan civilization. Extensive ruins of the palace remain, and are a popular tourist destination.
Zakros is sometimes divided into Epano Zakros (Upper Zakros), the portion higher up on the hillside, and Kato Zakros (Lower Zakros), the part near the sea. A Minoan villa was discovered on the road from Epano Zakos near the gorge. It is dated to the Minoan LM IA period (c. 1700–1625 BC), before the construction of the palace. A pithos found there had a Linear A inscription around its rim recording a large quantity (32 units) of wine. A ravine (usually referred to as a gorge in archaeological publications) known as the "Ravine of the Dead" runs through both the upper and lower parts of the ancient site, named after the numerous burials that have been found in the caves along its walls.
Text adapted from “Zakros” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Palace of Zakros ranks #543 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #14 of the 133 mapped in Greece. Founded c. 1900 BC, it is older than 99% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 6 atlas entries founded in the 19th century BC. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,273 times in the last 60 days, more than 89% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.
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