Heraklion today is a modern city, one of the largest in Greece. There are wonderful vacation destinations around it, like Hersonissos, which is famous all over the world as a non-stop party place. Close to Heraklion there are also some of the most visited archeological sites in Greece, like the Knossos palace. The city itself has a rich history, which is obvious in its architecture, that is the medieval buildings one can see mainly in the harbor. What most people don’t know, however, is that Heraklion was founded by Saracen pirates, during the third decade of the ninth century AD, after they had conquered a large part of Crete’s northern coast. The fort they built was surrounded by a big moat, a chandax in Greek, that’s why the city that was formed after the expansion of the fort was named Chandax. Chandax terrorized the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas, since it was the base of operations of the pirates. Many Byzantine emperors tried to take hold of the city, but their efforts ended up in failure. It was Nikiforos Fokas (who would become the emperor later in his life) that conquered the Saracens in 961 AD and also made sure to erase any trace of them from the area. The adventures of Heraklion didn’t end there, but its pirate era was now in the past. Beyond the Byzantines, Heraklion belonged to the Venetians and the Ottomans, but also the Cretan State, before it finally became Greek in 1913. Crete Hotels – AKS Minoa Palace
