By Nicolas Bard

Anogia is located 54 km away from the city of Rethymnon, perched at an altitude of 730 meters on the back of the Armi hill, in the imposing Psiloritis. There are about 2,200 inhabitants today. Their name comes, as is easily understood, from the location where they are built, meaning “upper earth”. We also find them as Axicanozia or Great Anogia, and are divided into individual neighborhoods, neighborhoods and squares.

At the center of the town lies the church, around which the social life of the settlement is developed, and are quite densely populated, with narrow streets, steps and many historical monuments. The sounds of the lyre and the mantinades sound everywhere in the straits of the settlement, and almost everyone is “dying”.

Very close to Anogia, at an altitude of 1,500 meters in Psiloritis lies the Ideon Andron, one of the most important caves of Crete since 4,000 BC. The legend wants the cave to be the place where Rea’s mother hid Zeus from a baby, so that his father would not be devoured by Saturn, for fear of losing power. Zeus is said to have been fed by the milk of Aiga Amaltheia and was taken care of by ideal fingers and Couretes, who with the noise of the shields and their dances were “choked” by the baby’s crying, so that Saturn would not hear them. About 10 km west of Anogia, at an altitude of 1,300 meters, is the ancient Zomomy, with the famous source. There in 1982 a significant Minoan installation of 1,360 sq.m. was discovered. oriented from north to south.

According to Homer, Minos has been up every nine years in the Holy Ideon, with Minoan pilgrims, to take the laws of governance from God.

Anogia is an area with a large resistance action against the various conquerors, who suffered three devastating Holocausts in less than 130 years (Turks 1822 and 1867, German 1944). From 1941 to 1944, in the struggle against the German conquerors, a total of 104 Anogians lost their lives. In 1946 the state honored Anogia with the awarding of the First Class Cross, for the disasters with which they were affected, as well as for their heroism. In the next year, the Anogeia Community, honored, was recognized as the Municipality of Anogeia.

Over the years, the population of Anogeia has maintained the language and the peculiar dialect unchanged, which includes to this day, the words of ancient Greek. The pronunciation, heavy and straight, is characterized in particular in Lambda and RO. Most of the residents also maintain their surnames without the ending “-kis”, which is found on the rest of the island, and in particular in the center-east
part of it.

Of particular interest is the Anogeian architecture, which is a sophisticated example of modern folk architecture, with a sense of renewal of architectural forms and dynamic composition of the space. The traditional Anogeian home is characterized by diversity, color and extroversion, and is structured according to the sophisticated model of the prehistoric Cretan house: built with stone and wooden beams is usually a single, ground floor space, separated with arches and flat, loft, loft, loft in the walls. For useful household items, perimeter -built pedestrians, gardens and small exterior Rooms that adequately house all daily functions. Internally the Anogean house is adorned with handmade rugs, tsberia, tags, knives, curtains, relics, embroidered pillows, knitted blankets and much more.

Anogeia also comes from great personalities, who have offered much to both the Cretan and Greek tradition.

Nikos Xylouris, Psarantonis, Vassilis Skoulas, Louis of Anogeia, Blind Lyraris, Alkibiadis Skoulas, Nikolaos G. Manoussos, Orestis Manoussos, Aristidis Chereis and Lefteris This place gave birth.

Wherever you find yourself, the settlement finds traditional elements. Each corner has a separate story to tell, a reminder of origins, a genuine side of Greek identity. It is no coincidence that since antiquity to this day the area is inhabited continuously, and has never been on the sidelines.