Why go
This era answers why a city close to Knossos became an island capital in its own right. The emirate’s fortified port controlled an important Aegean position; its name endured through Byzantine rule and evolved into Venetian Candia. The modern streets mostly show later layers, so the story supplies the missing foundation.
The full story
In the ninth century, a group of Andalusian exiles led by Abu Hafs established control over Crete and made a new fortified capital at the site of modern Heraklion. The city was protected by a moat, reflected in its Arabic name and in the later Greek form Chandax. Its harbour served the emirate and became a base for seaborne activity across the Aegean. The Byzantine Empire repeatedly sought to recover the island and finally captured the capital in 961. The city was then rebuilt under Byzantine rule. A visitor will see much more of Venice’s later defences than of the emirate’s own works, but the earlier foundation explains why this coastal position continued to matter. It also gives a clearer meaning to the sequence of names: Chandax was not an ancient synonym for Knossos, and Candia was the Venetian form associated with the city that developed from this fortified port.