Archaeological Site of Leuke

The antiquities of Koufonissi are the remains of ancient Lefki, a Greco-Roman town on an island off the south-east coast of Crete, with a stone theatre, Roman baths, a temple and a settlement built on purple dye. Koufonissi is separated from the Cretan coast by a thin stretch of sea that is often rough, and that strait never stopped people living on the island in antiquity. The ancient name Lefki means white, taken from the shimmer of white limestone and marl in the sunlight.

Koufonissi was an economic and cultural centre from the Minoan period through to Greco-Roman times. Every major city of the region claimed it at one point or another.

Who owned Koufonissi

Itanos and Ierapytna fought a significant dispute over the island. The record of it is the inscription of the Magnites, now embedded in the facade of the Toplou monastery church, and it shows the island belonged to Itanos in 132 AD.

Sponge fishing and Tyrian purple

The history of the islands is tied to sponge fishing and to the processing of Tyrian purple, the red dye used by the ancients and the Byzantines. The dye was extracted from the gastropod Murex brandaris, and it sold by weight in silver.

Aristotle and Pliny both describe how it was made. Live shells were collected in early autumn or winter and kept in pots until enough had been gathered, because each shell produced a single drop of dye. Smaller shells were then broken with stones, while larger mollusks were pierced so that a small gland, called the flower, could be pulled out. The milky liquid from the gland went into salt with a little vinegar and was left in the sunlight, where its colour turned from yellow to red, and boiling then diluted or condensed it. Adding hyacinth blooms produced violet instead, which was rated the inferior quality.

The theatre at Anemertia

Excavations began on the island in 1976 and uncovered a well-preserved stone theatre. It stands on the northwest edge of the island at Anemertia, opposite the Marmara islet and a short distance from the beach.

The auditorium has 12 rows of seats and a maximum length of 34 m, with 6 m between the twelfth row and the orchestra floor. It could hold about 1,000 people. Damage is limited to the west side, though a significant part of the central seats has gone completely.

The orchestra was paved with clay tiles and is almost a chamber in scale. The stage, which has decayed entirely at its western end, was about 20 m long and an estimated 9 m wide. At the eastern end the paraskenion, the pulpitum or stage, the hyposkenion and the vaulted east parados can all still be made out. Rich decoration once covered the theatre, and it was vandalised, then the whole building was destroyed and burned with ferocity at the end of the 4th century.

The settlement and the dye workshops

East and south of the theatre the excavations revealed a settlement, destroyed in the same way the theatre was. The largest building is a house or villa of which 8 proper rooms still stand.

• The entrance is a small porch, a propylon, facing the road that leads to the east parados of the theatre.
• The kitchens have been identified, along with the household workshop where purple dye was prepared.
• Two formal rooms for entertaining have mosaic floors in black and white geometric designs, based on the rhombus and the cross, framed by a surround.
• Other houses in the main part of the settlement have produced 16 cleared rooms, probably fishermen’s homes.
• Dye installations and fishing equipment, including hooks and lead weights for nets, were found in those rooms.

The Roman baths

The public baths, the Balinea, are the most important building of the settlement after the theatre, and they were in use from the 1st to the 4th century AD. Romans combined physical cleaning with training and conversation at the baths, so a bath building was needed in small settlements as well as in cities. Rich houses had a private miniature of the public Balinea, while the imperial Thermae were famous for their luxury.

The Koufonissi complex follows the standard Roman plan, with its rooms set around a garden. Walls of the central heating room survive to a height of 4 m. There are two hypocausts, perhaps one for men and one for women, baths for sweating, warm, hot and cold baths, and changing rooms. Parts of the marble floor and walls remain in some rooms, and a large number of vaulted tanks with pipelines brought water from the springs north of the temple across to this side of the island.

The temple and the lighthouse that consumed it

A temple was found in the south part of the island, and it has suffered more than anything else on Koufonissi. In 1920 the authorities looted it for stone to build a large lighthouse, which they placed only 5 m from the eastern short side of the temple, where the entrance would have been. A second, stepped entrance was found on the north side.

The temple measured 18 m by 15.7 m and stood on a crepidoma. Next to its northwest corner, two large pieces of the colossal cult statue were found, a deity enthroned on a cube-shaped seat. The surviving fragments are part of the seat with the left side of the pelvis, and the right leg from the draped waist of the garment down to the ankle. They are badly damaged, but the work appears to be Hellenistic, and the complete statue must have stood over 2.50 m high.

The rest of the statue was broken up by the workmen and used as building material for the lighthouse, which was bombed in 1944. Lumps of marble from it can be seen wedged among the other stones, together with the huge symmetrical blocks uprooted from the temple. Only the steps and the filling of the temple remain, and even the flooring has gone. In more recent years a metal automatic lighthouse pylon, since removed, stood over the temple floor, on the spot where the colossal statue of the deity worshipped by the people of Lefki once stood.

What to see near Koufonissi

The closest places we cover sit back on Crete, across the strait from the island. These are the nearest of them, nearest first.

• Votsalaki beach lies 8.6 km away, the closest shore we cover.
• Atherina beach lies 9.7 km away.
• Agia Irini beach lies 10.2 km away.
• Pervolakia Gorge lies 11.3 km away, the nearest gorge walk.
• Kalo Nero beaches lie 11.8 km away.
• Xerokambos Gorge lies 12.9 km away, also called Lamnoni.
• Ammoudi beaches lie 13.3 km away.
• Xerokampos lies 13.7 km away, the nearest village we cover.
• Xerokambos beach lies 14.0 km away, at that village.
• Alatsolimni beach lies 14.9 km away.
• Lagada beach lies 14.9 km away.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Koufonissi?

Koufonissi is an island off the south-east coast of Crete, separated from it by a thin and often wavy stretch of sea. The nearest shore we cover on the Cretan side is Votsalaki beach, 8.6 km away.

What was the ancient name of Koufonissi?

The ancient name was Lefki, which means white. It came from the way the island’s white limestone and marl shimmer in the sunlight.

What can you see at the Koufonissi antiquities?

The site holds a stone theatre, a settlement with a villa and fishermen’s houses, a Roman bath complex and a looted temple. The theatre has 12 rows of seats and held about 1,000 people, and the bath complex still has walls standing 4 m high.

Why was Koufonissi important in antiquity?

Koufonissi produced Tyrian purple, the dye that sold by weight in silver, and it lived on sponge fishing. Every major city of the region claimed the island, and the inscription of the Magnites records that Itanos owned it in 132 AD after a dispute with Ierapytna.

How was Tyrian purple made?

Dye makers collected live Murex brandaris shells, extracted a gland called the flower, then salted the liquid, added vinegar and left it in the sun until it turned red. Each shell gave one drop, so the shells were stored in pots until enough had been gathered. Boiling diluted or condensed the result, and hyacinth blooms turned it violet.

What happened to the temple on Koufonissi?

The authorities looted it in 1920 for stone to build a lighthouse 5 m from its eastern side. Workmen broke up the colossal cult statue for building material, and the lighthouse was bombed in 1944. Only the steps and the filling of the temple remain.