Editing Sitia (section)

==History==
[[File:Città di Settia - Francesco Basilicata - 1618.jpg|thumb|250px|The city of Sitia and the surrounding area by [[Francesco Basilicata]], 1618]]
[[File:Sitia R01.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Kazarma fortress]] at the top]]
[[File:Sitia R02.jpg|thumb|250px|View of the marina]]
The settlement of the town dates to pre-[[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] times. Excavations in the [[Petras]] neighbourhood have found architectural remains from the end of the Neolithic (3000 BC) and continue through the Bronze Age 3000-1050 BC, including the Minoan palace of Petras. Several other Minoan settlements have been found within the municipality, notably [[Itanos]] and [[Mochlos]].{{cn|date=November 2024}}

According to [[Diogenes Laërtius]], Sitia was the home of [[Myson of Chen]], one of the [[Seven Sages of Greece]].{{cn|date=November 2024}}

{{anchor|Names|Etymology|Toponymy}}

===Name===
The ancient Itia or Etea<ref>John Freely, Crete: Discovering the 'Great Island {{ISBN|1-84511-692-5}}, p. 154</ref> ({{langx|grc|Ἠτεία}}, {{translit|grc|Ēteía}}) appears to correspond roughly to modern Sitia. The name Siteia itself is probably the result of [[Rebracketing#In Greek 2|rebracketing]] of {{translit|grc|se}} ({{lang|grc|σε}}, "at") and {{translit|grc|Ēteía}}.<ref>[[Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt]], ''Travels and Researches in Crete'', 1865, chapter XIX, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OzMbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201 p. 201]</ref><ref name=Bourne1887>{{Cite journal
 | author = Bourne, Edward G.
 | year = 1887
 | title = The Derivation of Stamboul
 | journal = American Journal of Philology
 | volume = 8
 | issue = 1
 | pages = 78–82
 | doi = 10.2307/287478
 | publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press
 | jstor = 287478
}}</ref>

===Ancient Sitia===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}
Sitia was founded by [[Minoans]] as Itia,{{dubious|date=April 2024}}<!--use the actual Minoan form if it exists--> and was a place of refuge for native Cretans after the fall of the major Minoan settlements.{{fact|date=April 2024}} The city continued to prosper through the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods as one of the island's chief ports.

===Venetian era===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}
The town was later expanded and fortified by the [[Venice|Venetians]] after their acquisition of Crete in 1204, who used it as a base of operations for the Eastern Mediterranean. During the Venetian occupation, the town was destroyed three times: first by an earthquake in 1508, then by the Turkish pirate [[Hayreddin Barbarossa]] in 1538, and finally by the Venetians themselves in 1651. This final destruction took place in the context of the [[Cretan War (1645–1669)]] in which the Venetians battled to retain their hold on the island against the [[Ottoman Empire]]. While Sitia did not fall in the initial Turkish advance, the Venetians did not have the resources to withstand a long siege, and accordingly destroyed the fortifications and removed the garrison to [[Heraklion]]. The local inhabitants meanwhile removed westwards to Liopetro and the site was subsequently abandoned for the next 200 years of Turkish rule.

The main remnant of the Venetian occupation is the ''[[Kazarma fortress|Kazarma]]'' (from Italian ''casa di arma''), the old fortress overlooking the harbour.

===Modern era===
After the Venetian period and subsequent abandonment the town was rebuilt until 1870 by the progressive Turkish governor [[Hüseyin Avni Pasha]] following the [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)|Cretan Revolt]]. It was subsequently created capital of the Sanjak of Lasit (later [[Lasithi]], which it remains to this day). Under Turkish rule the town was renamed '''Avniye'''{{what?|date=April 2024}}<!--provide the Ottoman Turkish form--> after its rebuilder, but as the local Greeks continued to use the traditional name of Sitia this innovation did not survive independence. Despite the turbulent history of Crete in leaving the Ottoman Empire and joining Greece, as well as the First World War, the population almost quadrupled between 1881 (570 inhabitants) and 1928 (2,100 inhabitants). Major public works were carried out by the Greek government in 1911 to modernise the town, in the course of which much of the Ottoman era town was rebuilt, as well as a fresh water supply.