A Heraklion castle tour means a day among the old fortresses and walls of Heraklion, the largest city of Crete. It is one of the Greece tours on this site.
What does a Heraklion castle tour mean?
A Heraklion castle tour is a visit built around the idea of the castle itself. A castle was a fortified structure, meaning a building made strong against attack. Nobility, royalty and military orders built castles of this kind in the Middle Ages.
The word castle in Heraklion castle tour comes from the Latin castellum. Castellum is a diminutive of castrum, meaning a smaller form of that word. The Latin castrum meant a fortified place. European-style castles arose after the Carolingian Empire fell. Its land was then split among lords and princes.
Northern European castles were first built from earth and timber. Timber is wood that has been cut for building. Their defences, the parts that protected a castle, were later replaced by stone. A motte was a flat-topped mound of earth. A ditch around a motte came from digging that earth.
A scientific approach to castle defence emerged in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Gunpowder reached Europe in the 14th century. It changed castle building only in the 15th century. Gunpowder is the explosive powder used in guns. Dates make any Heraklion castle tour easier to read about.
True castles declined and were replaced by artillery star forts and indefensible country houses. Artillery means the large guns used in war. A star fort is a fort named for its star shape. Indefensible means unable to be defended. A country house is a home in the countryside.
- Keep: A keep was a great tower that served as a castle’s main living quarters.
- Moat: Digging earth for a motte left a ditch around it, called a moat.
- Concentric defence: Stages of defence were placed inside one another, able to work at the same time.
From the 18th century, mock castles were built in a Gothic revival. A revival is a return of an older style. These buildings had no military purpose. Anyone reading about a Heraklion castle tour can now tell a true castle from a mock one.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the gatehouse add?
A Heraklion castle tour is clearer with one simple word in mind: gatehouse. A gatehouse is a building that holds the entrance to a large structure or complex. Knowing that plain meaning makes the older castle terms easier to follow.
The gate was the easiest point for an enemy to attack. Fortified gates and gateways date back to the Bronze Age, an early era of bronze tools. Fortified means built with strong defences. This long history gives any Heraklion castle tour a wider frame for understanding a castle entrance.
The Ishtar Gate in Babylon is a famous early example of a fortified gate. The Romans built gatehouse fortifications across Europe and the Mediterranean. Both examples show that gate defence is an old idea. Visitors on a Heraklion castle tour can read a gatehouse as part of that old tradition.
Strongly fortified medieval gatehouses can include a drawbridge and one or more portcullises. A drawbridge is a bridge that can be lifted to close an entrance. It crosses a moat, a ditch dug around a castle. A portcullis is a heavy grille that drops down to shut a gateway.
Such gatehouses can also have machicolations and arrow loops. A machicolation is an opening in a ledge that juts out from the top of a wall. An arrow loop is a narrow slit in a wall for shooting arrows. Murder-holes were the places from which stones were dropped on attackers.
- Gatehouse keep: A gatehouse that took on the function of a keep, the castle’s main tower, has this name.
- Châtelet: A very large French gatehouse can be called a châtelet, which means small castle.
- Torburg: In German, a gatehouse is called a Torburg, which means gate castle.
By the end of the Middle Ages, a gatehouse had lost its defensive purpose. The Middle Ages sit in history between the ancient era and the modern era. A Heraklion castle tour can treat a gatehouse as a record of old defence, not a working barrier.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does Michele Sanmicheli add?
A Heraklion castle tour gains background from the Italian architect Michele Sanmicheli. The Serenissima, the Venetian state, hired him to work as a military architect. He designed fortifications, sturdy structures that defend a town or a border.
Sanmicheli lived from 1484 to 1559, and he died in Verona. He was a citizen of the Republic of Venice, a state with no king. His name also appears as Sammicheli, Sanmichele or Sammichele. Anyone preparing for a Heraklion castle tour can meet any of these forms.
In 1535 Venice created a post for him: engineer superintendent of its fortifications in the empire. An empire is a state that rules lands far from its own centre. The post made him the chief overseer of those forts. Construction of the Fort of Sant’Andrea, a work of his, began in 1534.
Between 1537 and 1540 he made inspection trips to Dalmatia, Zadar, Šibenik, Corfu and Crete. An inspection trip is a visit made to check how well a site is built and kept. Crete appears on that list, which makes his name worth knowing before a Heraklion castle tour.
Porta Palio, a gate in Verona, is considered his masterpiece, or finest work, as a military architect. The city side of Porta Palio is austere, meaning plain, and covered in rusticated ashlar. Ashlar is stone cut into neat blocks, and rusticated ashlar has deep joints. These terms help readers of a Heraklion castle tour.
- Porta San Zeno: The front face of this gate, its facade, is not entirely stone but uses alternating bricks.
- Lazaretto of Verona: This lazaretto, a ward for the sick, was begun in 1549 to isolate people infected with plague.
- Palazzo Grimani di San Luca: This palace in Venice dates from about 1556 and is his last masterpiece.
Porta Nuova in Verona, whose name means New Gate, was built between 1535 and 1540. Dates, places and names like these give a Heraklion castle tour a firmer background. They also show the range of one man’s work as a military architect.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the Kingdom of Candia bring?
A Heraklion castle tour gains depth from Venetian rule of Crete, which worked through named offices. The Duke of Crete held one of those offices on the island. The duke was elected from among the Venetian patriciate, which means the noble families of Venice.
Together, the duke and his councillors formed the Signoria, the island’s central government. A councillor is an adviser who sits on a council and helps a leader decide. The Signoria was therefore a team, not one person. Knowing this term helps a reader follow the Venetian story behind a Heraklion castle tour.
The Venetian government on Crete had a Great Council, a Senate and a Council of Ten. Each of these three was a body, meaning a group of people who shared the work of governing. These three bodies are part of the political background to a Heraklion castle tour on Crete.
In crisis or war, a provveditore generale was appointed with supreme power over civil and military officials. Here, a crisis means a sudden, serious danger that needs a fast reply. Civil officials ran public affairs, while military officials led the armed forces. Supreme power means the highest authority over those officials.
After Cyprus fell in 1571, Crete was Venice’s last major overseas possession. An overseas possession is land that a state rules from across the sea, away from its home city. For a Heraklion castle tour, the year 1571 is a useful date to keep in mind.
- Chamberlains: The government had two chamberlains, later three, who handled fiscal affairs, meaning the island’s money matters.
- Treasuries: Each province kept its own treasury, a place for public funds, known in Italian as a camera.
- Admiral: An admiral, a senior navy officer titled Captain of the Guard of Crete, commanded the local naval forces.
For a Heraklion castle tour, one fact about the capital of Venetian Crete stands out. Candia, the capital, was placed directly under the Commune Veneciarum. A commune is a self-governing community, so the name means the commune of Venice itself.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the star fort add?
A Heraklion castle tour makes more sense when the idea of a bastion fort is clear. A bastion fort, also called a trace italienne, is a style of defensive building developed in Italy. Gunpowder cannon made earlier medieval defences out of date, driving the design.
The design uses a polygonal curtain wall. That is a wall made of straight sides that meet at angles. Pointed bastions jut from each corner of it. A bastion is a solid, pointed part of the wall that sticks outward. Learning that one word helps a Heraklion castle tour feel clearer.
The bastions were shaped like arrowheads. That shape removed blind spots, known as dead ground. A blind spot is a place the defenders cannot watch. Attackers shelter in such places, so removing them left attackers with less cover. Knowing this term gives a Heraklion castle tour more meaning.
A bastion fort has a multi-pointed outline, and that outline resembles a star. This resemblance gave rise to the name star fort. The shape of the plan explains the name. Anyone who pictures a star can picture the fort. Plain names like this keep a Heraklion castle tour simple.
From the 1520s, engineers built gently sloping earth banks in front of ditches. A ditch is a long trench dug in the ground. These banks are called glacis. The word sounds foreign, but the idea is plain. A glacis is a smooth bank of earth, shaped with a gentle slope.
- Material: Brick does not shatter on impact from a cannonball, unlike stone.
- Florence: Michelangelo used star forts in the defensive earthworks, or soil banks, of Florence.
- Refinement: Baldassare Peruzzi and Vincenzo Scamozzi refined the design in the sixteenth century.
In the nineteenth century, star forts were replaced by simpler, more robust polygonal forts. Robust means strong, solid and hard to damage in a fight. Knowing this later change helps a Heraklion castle tour place the star fort in time.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the machicolation add?
A Heraklion castle tour introduces one castle term worth knowing: machicolation. It is an opening between the corbels, or supports, of a battlement, the fortified top of a wall. Through it, defenders can aim at attackers who reach the foot of the wall.
The main benefit of the design is protection. Defenders stay behind cover, not exposed over the parapet. A parapet is the low protective wall along a top edge. Battlements are built stepped out, so they overhang the wall below. Knowing this helps a reader follow a Heraklion castle tour.
The oldest known machicolations are on Roman fortifications of the Limes Arabicus, from the 4th century AD. Fortifications are strong defensive works. The Limes Arabicus was a Roman frontier defence system. Any year numbered after year one carries the label AD. That places the design in Roman times.
After the Crusades, the design was brought to Europe from the Levant. The Crusades were medieval military campaigns in the Middle East. The Levant is the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The sea lies between Europe, Africa and Asia. This history is useful background for a Heraklion castle tour.
Machicolations were more common in French castles than in English ones. Château de Farcheville, built from 1290 to 1304, has one of the oldest surviving machicolations in northern France. Surviving means that the feature still stands today. This example gives a reader a point of comparison before a Heraklion castle tour.
- Origin: The word comes from Old French machecol, which appears in Medieval Latin as machecollum.
- Meaning: Machecol is thought to come from machier, meaning crush or wound, plus col, meaning neck.
- In French: The same feature is called mâchicoulis, which is spelled with an accent on the first a.
Machicolations became obsolete after gunpowder weapons were widely adopted. Obsolete means no longer in use. Gunpowder weapons, such as cannons and guns, use an explosive powder to fire. The machicolation belongs to an older age of defence, a fitting topic for a Heraklion castle tour.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the drawbridge add?
A Heraklion castle tour makes more sense once one idea is clear. A drawbridge is a moveable bridge at the entrance to a castle or tower. When lowered, it provides access. It can be raised quickly from inside to deny entry.
Gate words are worth learning before a Heraklion castle tour. A gatehouse is the building at a castle gate. The usual layout put the drawbridge immediately outside it. Ropes or chains ran to a windlass, a drum that winds rope, in a gatehouse room. The windlass raised or lowered the bridge.
Weight shaped how a bridge was raised. Only a very light bridge was raised without a counterweight, a second weight that balances the load. By the 14th century, lifting arms called gaffs were linked by chains to the bridge. When raised, the gaffs fitted into slots in the gatehouse wall called rainures.
A raised bridge also changed the gate itself. When raised, the bridge lay flush against the gate, forming an extra barrier. Flush means lying flat against a surface. A drawbridge was therefore more than a way across. Readers planning a Heraklion castle tour can keep this detail in mind.
Not every drawbridge belongs to a castle. In American English, drawbridge can refer to moveable bridges such as bascule and vertical-lift bridges. These are two kinds of moveable bridge. The castle sense, tied to a gate, is the one that matters for a Heraklion castle tour.
- Spelling: Another spelling of drawbridge is draw-bridge, which puts a hyphen between its two parts.
- Turning bridge: A bridge that turns on central trunnions, which are pivot pins, is called a turning bridge.
- Forts: Forts also used drawbridges, such as Guthrie rolling bridges in Palmerston Forts.
Seen together, these parts show how a gate was built to open and to close. The bridge, the gatehouse, the chains and the gaffs worked as one system. That system is the answer to what a drawbridge adds on any Heraklion castle tour.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the arrow slit add?
A Heraklion castle tour gains a useful term in the arrow slit. It is a narrow opening cut into the wall of a castle. The slim shape makes it hard to harm the archer behind it, leaving attackers only a small target.
The arrow slit has other names. It is also called an arrow loop or a loophole. Sometimes it is called a balistraria, a word that comes from balister, meaning crossbowman. All these names point to the same opening. Learning them before a Heraklion castle tour makes castle talk easier to follow.
Balistrariae are found in the curtain walls of medieval battlements. A battlement is the defended top of a wall. A curtain wall is the long stretch of wall that links the towers. The slits sit beneath the crenellations, the raised blocks and gaps along the top of the wall.
One slit form is the cross, which suits both the longbow and the crossbow. A longbow is drawn by hand; a crossbow is a bow fixed to a wooden stock. The narrow slit lets an archer change the height and direction of a shot. On a Heraklion castle tour, height means aiming up or down.
Walls behind the slit can be cut at a slant, giving the archer a wide view. Right behind the slit lies a recess called an embrasure, a hollow in the wall. The embrasure lets a defender get close to the slit. A Heraklion castle tour reader can take slant to mean an angled cut.
- Fishtail: A slit sometimes widened to a bottom triangle, giving defenders a clearer view of the wall base.
- Early size: Early slits stood as tall as a man and about a palm wide on the outside.
- Old credit: The invention of the arrow slit is attributed to Archimedes, which means it is credited to him.
Arrowslits were brought back into military architecture only towards the end of the 12th century. Anyone who knows this term follows castle talk with more ease on a Heraklion castle tour. The arrow slit is a small opening that carries a clear defensive job.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the keep add?
A Heraklion castle tour offers a chance to learn what a keep is. A keep is a type of fortified tower, meaning a tower built to resist attack. European nobility built keeps within castles during the Middle Ages.
Why did castles have keeps at all? Keeps were used as a last refuge, which means a final safe place. The plan was simple. If the rest of the castle fell to an enemy, the keep was the fallback. Knowing this makes a Heraklion castle tour easier to follow.
The first keeps were made of timber, which is wood. They were a key part of motte-and-bailey castles. A motte is a raised mound of earth. A bailey is the walled yard beside it. A shell keep later replaced the wooden keep. Such history is useful background for a Heraklion castle tour.
The Vincennes keep rose six stories, with a walkway around its machicolated battlements. Battlements are the notched top edge of a wall. A machicolation is a gap in a projecting ledge, used to defend the wall below. The Kolossi Castle keep in Cyprus is square, three floors high and 21 metres tall.
Around 1130, Jean de Colmieu described the keep as a citadel that commands the whole ring of defences. A citadel is a strong fort. In 1464 bombards defeated the keep of Bamburgh Castle, once considered impregnable. Bombards were early large cannons, and impregnable means too strong to break.
- Spanish: Medieval Spanish writers called keeps torre del homenaje, meaning tower of homage.
- French: Twelfth-century French writers called keeps a donjon, from Latin dominarium meaning lordship.
- English: In England, donjon became dungeon, a word that first referred to a keep.
Keeps did not always play the same role, as German keeps called bergfriede show. These towers were normally built into a castle’s outer defences. A Heraklion castle tour is a good place to ask which kind of keep a tower is.
On a Heraklion castle tour, what does the Doge of Venice add?
A Heraklion castle tour makes more sense once a single name stays in view. That name is the doge, the highest authority in the Republic of Venice from 697 to 1797. In a republic, no king stands at the head of the state.
The doge acted as head of state and head of the Venetian oligarchy. A head of state stands for a whole country. An oligarchy is rule by a small group. The word doge comes from the Latin dux, meaning leader. A Heraklion castle tour can keep the title simple: it means leader.
After 1172, a committee of forty was entrusted with electing the doge. A committee is a small group given one job. In 1229, a deadlocked vote, meaning a tie, raised the number of electors from forty to forty-one. Electors are the people who cast the votes for a new doge.
Election rules introduced in 1268 stayed in force until the republic ended in 1797. Thirty Great Council members were chosen by lot, meaning a random draw. That group was then reduced by lot to nine. Chance clearly shaped the process, a point a Heraklion castle tour can make.
Electing a doge needed at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one electors. Doges normally ruled for life, although forced removals from office also occurred. A forced removal meant a doge had to leave the post early. Those counts are easy to quote on a Heraklion castle tour, in plain numbers.
- Last doge: Ludovico Manin abdicated, or gave up office, in 1797 after Napoleon’s conquest of the city.
- No revival: Venice never revived the title of doge after the office ended.
- Treaty of Zadar: A special article in this written state agreement removed Dalmatia and Croatia from the doge’s title.
From the 14th century, the doge’s ceremonial crown was called the corno ducale, a ducal hat. Ceremonial means worn for formal events, and ducal means of the leader. The crown completes the picture of that office for a Heraklion castle tour.
Before a Heraklion castle tour, which questions come up?
A Heraklion castle tour is set in Heraklion, a city on Crete. The city’s airport carries the name of a Greek writer, and its dry summers run warm to hot. Mount Juktas lies south of Heraklion, and Heraklion counts among Crete’s four regional units.
Where do visitors fly in for a Heraklion castle tour trip?
Heraklion International Airport is Crete’s primary airport, meaning the main one of the island. Its site is about 5 km east of Heraklion’s main city centre. The airport takes its name from Nikos Kazantzakis, who was a Greek writer and philosopher. Here, km is short for kilometres.
For a Heraklion castle tour, what is the climate like?
The climate in Heraklion is hot-summer Mediterranean, a label that points to hot summers. Summers there are dry and warm to hot, and the skies are clear. In October Heraklion averages 43.8 mm of rain, where mm is short for millimetres of rainfall.
In which regional unit does a Heraklion castle tour sit?
Crete has four regional units, each an official area of the island, and Heraklion is among them. The regional unit of Heraklion is subdivided into 8 municipalities, meaning 8 areas with their own local government. Rethymno borders it on the west, and Lasithi borders it on the east.
For a Heraklion castle tour, which mountain lies to the south?
Above the town of Archanes, Mount Juktas rises to a height of 811 metres. The mountain lies south of Heraklion in north-central Crete. Juktas was first excavated in 1909 by Sir Arthur Evans. To excavate means to dig carefully at a site, which helps people learn about the past.