GORTY'NA (Lat., from Gk. Norma). An ancient city of importance on the southern side of the island of Crete. It stood on the banks of the small river Lethaus (Mitropolipotamo), at a short distance from the sea, with which it communicated by means of its two harbors, Me tallum and Lebena. It possessed temples of Apollo Pythius, Artemis, and Zeus. Near the town was the famous fountain of Sauros, inclosed by fruit-bearing poplars; and not far from this was another spring, overhung with an evergreen plane-tree which in popular belief marked the scene of the amours of Jupiter and Europa. Gortyna was the second city in Urete, next to Cnosus in importance. According to tradition, they combined to subdue the island, and then quarreled with each other. Neither plays a conspicuous part in the history of Greece. Under the Romans Gortyna became the metropolis of the island. Some ruins may still be traced at the modern village of Hagii Deka. An impor
tant inscription (Greek) was discovered here in 1884 by Halbherr in the bed of a mill-stream. Taken with two fragments previously discovered, and others which have come to light later, the inscription forms a practically complete code of laws, bearing on the family relations in regard to such matters as inheritance, marriage, divorce, and adoption. The inscription is written alter nately from right to left and left to right (bous trophedon) in a peculiar local alphabet and in the local dialect. In spite of these marks of antiquity, it is not likely that the code can be dated much earlier than n.c. 400. Consult: Bacheler and Zitelmann. Das Becht von Gortyn (Frankfurt, 1985) ; Bannack, Insehrift von Gor tyn (Leipzig, 1885) ; Merriam. in American Jour nal of Archmology, vols. i. and ii. (Baltimore, 1885-86), with translation and notes.
GoRTZ, gerts, VON. See SCIiL1TZ.