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Ηράκλειο (Irákleio),
Just south of the city is the archaeological site of Knossos, which became prominent by 1600 BCE.
The city is served by Ηράκλειο (Irákleio) International Airport, one of the nation's busiest.
| Name | Year | Population | Political entity |
| Knossos | 1600 BCE | city state | |
| Knossos | 1360 BCE | 30,000 | palace-state |
Overview of Irákleio, Kríti, Ellás
1. Heraklion in English.
2. 2011 figure from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Greece, accessed March 21, 2018.
3. Crete in English.
4. Also called Ελλάδα (Elláda); Greece in English.
5. Its name at that time is unknown as the script in use, Linear A, has not be decoded.
6. Dating in the second millenium BCE is uncertain to a degree of centuries.
7. 2017 table from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Greece, accessed March 27, 2018. My criterion for inclusion: greater than one million passengers.
8. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of the World's Largest Cities." The city was the largest in what is now Ελλάς (Ellás) in 1600 BCE and was tied for largest in that area in 1360 BCE. It was the eighth largest in the world in 1600 BCE and was tied for fourth in 1360 BCE. In 1600 BCE it was smaller than Ninua, which was smaller than Hazor, which had 24,000 residents.
9. Its political status in 1600 is conjectural.
10. Assuming it is Mycenaean I do not know whether its name was Knossos, and if so, how that was represented in Linear B. It also is not clear that the island was conquered by 1360, in which case the old city state, using Linear A as its script, was in power. That script has never been decoded so the city name is again unknown.
11. By 1360 BCE a Mycenaean palace-state had probably displaced the prior city state, which had expanded island-wide before being conquered.
