Panasos is a small, picturesque village of Gortyna municipality. It is 35 kilometers from Heraclion and 450 meters above the sea level.

The beautiful settlement is built between olive groves, vineyards and fruit-bearing trees. In the past it was known for its fine production of cherries.

There is an olive tree in the area that has been declared monumental by the Olive Crop Association of the Municipalities of Crete. It is an olive tree with a magnificent embossed trunk. The diameter and perimeter of its root is 4, 5 meters and 12 meters respectively.

The Mporothiana cavern is in the east of the village but it is not exploited yet.

The 179 residents of the settlement are mainly occupied by agriculture.

HISTORY

Ruins of ancient buildings are in Lenika and Loutra in order to prove the long history of the area. There is also a sulphur spring, called Vromolimni, in Loutra, 500 meters from the village. Its water was channeled through an aqueduct, a few ruins of which are still preserved.

The first reference of Panasos is in a contract of 1280.

The residents of the village took an active part in the Cretan Revolution of 1866 and fought in the Greek Resistance.

PLACE NAME

There are many views about the origin of the name of the village.

In the first one it is supported that the name is Pre-Hellenic and comes from the ancient word “Panasos”.

The second one concerns a legend about two young lords called Pan and Assos and they stayed friends in spite of their love for the same woman (see myths).

In the end, it is believed that the name has to do with the worship of Panas, god of the shepherds in the post ancient era and with Asios River that springs from the hills of the village.

MYTHS

The myth of the village has to do with its name. As Manolis Peponakis wrote in his book “To chorio mou” (i.e. “My village”) “the name of two lords is given to the village, they were called Pan and Asos. The lord of Apollonia (in Pateles, where Prinias is today) had a son called Pan. A lord from Gortyna was called Asos. Both of them loved the daughter of the lord of the city. But, as she loved both, she did not want to disappoint either of them. So the two men decided to duel.

When they were ready to start the duel, she did not let them and she never got married in order not to disappoint them. The two men did not get married either. Before their departure from the place of their beloved, they gave their name to the area in order their brotherhood to be shown eternally”.

CHURCHES

The churches of Agios Georgios, Agia Paraskevi, of Sotiras, Panagia, Agios Ioannis Theologos and Agios Nektarios are in Panasos.

FESTIVITIES

The village celebrates on the 26^th of July, the day of Agia Paraskevi and on the 8^th of September, the day of Panagia. It celebrated also on the last Sunday of May when the cherry feast takes place.