Axos

Axos was an ancient city-state on Crete, an inland town on the slopes of Mount Ida with its harbor at Astale, its ruins lying near the modern village of Axos at an elevation of about 600 meters. Occupation is attested from the Late Minoan IIIC period through the Geometric, Classical, Roman, and Byzantine eras, and the city is mentioned by Herodotus, Virgil, and Strabo. Axos minted its own coins bearing images of Zeus and Apollo and later became an important Byzantine episcopal see with many churches; Italian excavations begun in 1899 uncovered pottery, inscriptions, figurines, and remains of Cyclopean walls.