Strabo Geography 10.4.7

[7] There are several cities in Crete, but the greatest and most famous are three: Cnossus, Gortyna and Cydonia. The praises of Cnossus are hymned above the rest both by Homer, who calls it “great” and “the kingdom of Minos,” ¹ and by the later poets. Furthermore, it continued for a long time to win the first honors; then it was humbled and deprived of many of its prerogatives, and its superior rank passed over to Gortyna and Lyctus; but later it again recovered its olden dignity as the metropolis. Cnossus is situated in a plain, its original circuit being thirty stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territories, being two hundred stadia distant from Gortyna, and a hundred and twenty from Lyttus, which the poet named Lyctus. ² Cnossus is twenty-five stadia from the northern sea, Gortyna is ninety from the Libyan Sea, and Lyctus itself is eighty from the Libyan. And Cnossus has Heracleium as its seaport.

[7] There are many cities in Crete, but the largest and most distinguished are Cnossus, ¹ Gortyna, ² Cydonia. ³ Both Homer and later writers celebrate Cnossus ⁴ above the rest, calling it vast, and the palace of Minos. It maintained its pre-eminence for a long period. It afterwards lost its ascendency, and was deprived of many of its customs and privileges. The superiority was transferred to Gortyna and Lyctus. ⁵ But it afterwards recovered its ancient rank of the capital city. Cnossus lies in a plain, with its ancient circumference of 30 stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territory; [distant] 200 stadia from Gortyna, and from Lyttus 120, which the poet ⁶ calls Lyctus. Cnossus is at the distance of 25 stadia from the northern sea; Gortyna 90, and Lyctus 80, stadia from the African sea. Cnossus has a marine arsenal, Heracleium. ⁷