Lissos sits on the 17 kilometers from the west end of the south coast of Crete, halfway between Sougia on the east and the popular vacation spot Paleochora on the west. Both Sougia and Lissos were port cities for Dorian-era (800s BC) Elyros, an inland city at a high elevation about 6 km from the sea and now known as Rodovani. Lissos enjoyed prosperity and significance from about 300 BC-400s AD, and eventually were destroyed by Saracen Arabs from Spain in the early 9th century.
Lissos had its own coinage, as did the city it served, Elyros. Elyros is thought to have achieved a population of about 30,000. Lissos's claim to fame is the temple of Asklepios, the god of healing. As an important healing center it attracted the sick and ailing from all over the island who partook of its healing waters, which flowed from a thermal spring and was probably why the temple was built in the first place. The temple was eventually brought down by an earthquake. A mosaic floor has survived.
The ruins of a theater, aqueduct, cemetery, baths, and early Christian churches have been found. There is a Roman cemetery with "chamber tombs," i.e., small mausoleums. Many statues were found there as well, more than in any other archeological site in Crete excepting those found from the Roman era in Gortys. Statues of Asklepios, the Goddess Hygeia (Health- we get the word hygiene from her), and Pluto, all of which are on display at the Chania Archeological Museum. With these in the museum are 17 other statues that were stumbled upon by a shepherd looking for water for his goats in 1957.
Although no recent work has been done, excavating Lissos is an ongoing project, so other finds are sure to come to light considering its importance as a port and as a population center.
