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Lyktos (Greek language: Λύκτος or Λύττος) was a city in ancient Crete. During the Classical Greece and Roman Greece periods, it was one of the major settlements on the island. Its ruins are located near the modern-day village of Lyttos in the municipality of Minoa Pediada, Heraklion Regional Unit.
In 344 BC, Phalaikos the Phocis assisted the Knossos against their neighbors the Lyktians, and took the city of Lyktos, from which he was driven out by Archidamus III, king of Sparta.Diodorus xvi. 62. The Lyktians, at a still later period, were engaged in frequent hostilities with Knossos, and succeeded in creating a formidable party in the island against that city. During the Lyttian War in 220 BC the Knossians, taking advantage of their absence on a distant expedition, surprised Lyktos, and utterly destroyed it. The citizens, on their return, abandoned it, and found refuge at Lappa. Polybius,iv. 53, 54. on this occasion, bears testimony to the high character of the Lyktians, as compared with their countrymen. They afterwards recovered their city by the aid of the Gortyna, who gave them a place called Diatonium, which they had taken from the Knossians.
Lyktos was sacked by the Ancient Rome general Metellus,Livy Epit. xcix.; Florus iii. 7. but was existing in the time of Strabox. p. 479. at a distance of 80 stadia (15 km) from the Libyan Sea.Strabo p. 476; comp. Stephanus of Byzantium s. v.; Scylax p. 18; Pliny iv. 12; Aesych. s. v. Καρνησσόπολις; Hierocles. The site still bears the name of Lytto, where ancient remains are now found.Robert Pashley, Trav. vol. i. p. 269.
In the 16th century, Venetian manuscriptsMus. Class. Ant. vol. ii. p. 274. describe the walls of the ancient city, with circular bastions, and other fortifications, as existing upon a lofty mountain, nearly in the centre of the island. Numerous vestiges of ancient structures, tombs, and broken marbles, are seen, as well as an immense arch of an aqueduct,Kelly, A. 2018 A Roman Aqueduct through the Cretan Highlands - securing the water supply for elevated Lyttos. In G.A. Aristodemou and Th.P. Tassios (ed.) Great Waterworks in Roman Greece. Aqueducts and Monumental Fountain Structures: Function in Context. Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 35, 147-169 by which the water was carried across a deep valley by means of a large marble channel.
The harbor of Chersonesos served as the port for Lyktos trade.
The town of Arsinoe belonged to Lyktos during the Hellenistic period, according to Stephanus of Byzantium, although its location is far from certain. Some scholars locate this Arsinoe (Crete) at the site of the older city of Rhithymna (although it is rather far from Lyktos). Others place it near the village of Malia, at Chersonesos above, or elsewhere in the territory of Lyktos.Getzel M. Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor (Volume 17 of Hellenistic culture and society). University of California Press, 1995 p132
The decoration of the coins issued at Lyktos is usually an eagle flying, with the inscription "ΛΥΤΤΙΩΝ" ("of the Lyttians").Eckhel, vol. ii. p.316; Töck, Kreta, vol. i. pp. 13, 408, vol. ii. pp. 431, 446, vol. iii. pp. 430, 465, 508.
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