The Geropotamos ( or Ιερός Ποταμός) is a watercourse in southern Crete in Greece. Its drainage area is . It rises on the north slope of the Asterousia Mountains, near the village Sternes. It flows west through the Messara Plain and discharges into the Libyan Sea near Tympaki. This river was a source of water supply for the ancient Minoan settlement of Phaistos.C. Michael Hogan, Phaistos Fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian (2007) The Ieropotamos was heavily drawn upon by the Minoans because of the intensity of farming, even in the Bronze Age at Phaistos.L.W.Mays et al., A brief history of urban water supply in antiquity Scientists have determined that the groundwater basin may have been overdrafted some time in the Bronze Age, being a contributing factor to the mysterious depopulation of Phaistos.Yuri Gorokhovich, Abandonment of Minoan palaces on Crete in relation to the earthquake induced changes in groundwater supply, Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 32, Issue 2, February 2005, Pages 217-222
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