Greece · 19th century BC
Phaistos (Greek: Φαιστός, pronounced [feˈstos]; Ancient Greek: Φαιστός, pronounced [pʰai̯stós], Linear B: 𐀞𐀂𐀵 Pa-i-to; Linear A: 𐘂𐘚𐘄 Pa-i-to), also transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south central Crete. It is notable for the remains of a Minoan palace and the surrounding town.
Ancient Phaistos was located about 5.6 km (3.5 mi) east of the Mediterranean Sea and 62 km (39 mi) south of Heraklion. Phaistos was one of the largest cities of Minoan Crete. The name Phaistos survives from ancient Greek references to a city on Crete of that name at or near the current ruins.
Text adapted from “Phaistos” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Phaistos ranks #160 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #6 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 21,423 times in the last 60 days, more than 97% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 130,000 visitors in 2018. See how Greece compares in the castle statistics.
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