(18 October 2016) Crete has always been considered an ancestral bridge between the Near East and the West, in the formation of the Greek and Roman civilisation. It still holds many important treasures dating from the beginning of the Minoan period until the Venetian conquest. These help to recount the history of the Mediterranean Sea and the origins of our civilisation. The University of Padova has had a foothold in Crete since 2002 with the excavation of the Piccolo Teatro alongside the Sanctuary of Apollo Pythion of Gortyna. The two were connected by their liturgical celebrations of the God. This initiative was borne out of Italy’s longstanding presence in Greece founded on the collaboration with the Italian School of Archaeology of Athens founded in 1909, and with the Ministry of Foreign AAffairs. From 2013 onwards, the archaeological excavations moved to the heart of the Sanctuary of Apollo, previously excavated in 1885 and 1887. In this extraordinary historical and archaeological context, the University of Padova has recently concluded its annual excavations resulting in exceptional results. Talks lead by Professor Jacopo Bonetto, coordinated by numerous PhD and graduate students from the University of Padova; focused on the interior of the Temple of Apollo in the city of Gortyna, an enormous urban fortress that extends across 400 hectares. The Temple of Apollo is the home of the first written laws inscribed in the foundation and the walls of the structure. Its excavation was launched in order to chronologically reconstruct its history in relation to the origins of the urban foundations in the 7th century B.C. (red)
