Gortyna, Crete

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…To Titus, my true child in a common faith; Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior…This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order…” Titus 1:1,4,5

The Basilica of St Titus at Gortyna commemorates the ministry of Titus on Crete, where Titus is considered Crete’s first bishop.  The basilica is from the 6th century AD, but Gortyna itself has evidence of settlement from the 7th century BC on.  The site is huge.  The less developed area of the archeological park contains ruins of many temples, Roman baths, a theater, hippodrome and Praetorium.  The most interesting to us is the Odeon and the famous Gortyna law code inscribed on the Odeon wall in the 1st century AD - using law inscribed stones from a hellenistic building that was much older. The code itself dates from the 500s BC  and was inscribed on the walls for all to see.  Archeologist were able to partially reconstruct the wall and inscriptions.  Scholars have translated the law code, written alternating right to left then left to right  (boustrophedon writing style) and found detailed laws relating to all aspects of life dating from the Minoan era.