Naxos Places to visit Iria  
 

Iria is a sanctuary at Livadhi where there were found proofs of religious continuity with the 14th century B. C, (Mycenaean times 1300 - 1100 B. C.) when an open-air cult lasted. 

The area has an enclosure wall and it is measuring at least 70 x 58m. A reference of Dionysos in antiquity and of St. George later on. There were discovered four different buildings in successive layers with the same orientation, located exactly at the same site. 

The first construction was built around 800 B. C. by wood and bricks, a single room. It might have been destroyed because of the nearby river of Peritses. The second building replaced the first around 730 B. C. and was a hall with four aisles defined by colonnades. It has been found out that it was used for mystery rites. The reason for destruction is unknown.

A third temple was built ca. 680 B. C. Some of the old walls were used and it had three aisles. The open-air cult revived around the 7th century and the focus was a four-sided clay hearth. Around 580 - 570 B. C. they started erecting the fourth and largest construction of all. 

Some repairs were necessary in the Roman times (1st century B. C.). The temple was converted into a Christian basilica (5th century A. C.), a small Byzantine church of St. George was founded. 

The wall surrounding the sanctuary must have been built in the late antiquity. A store-like building is incorporated on the west and was used as a dining-hall from the early archaic period (7th century B. C.). 

It is admitted by the scholars that Naxos played a very important role in the development of ancient architecture