According to one tradition, Gortys was named after its founder Gortys, the son of Radamanthys, king of Phaistos and brother of Minos. Another version is is that it was founded by Gortys from Tegea in Arcadian Gortynia. The third tradition is a variation on the same myth that Gortys was founded by Queen Gortyna of Crete, mother of King Taurus. The site has been inhabited since the end of the Neolithic period. Gortyn was the capital of the province of Creta et Cyrenaica under the Principate ( 27 BC to 284 AD). According to Stephanus of Byzantium it was originally called Larissa (Λάρισσα) and Cremnia or Kremnia (Κρήμνια).
See:
- Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v. Γόρτυνα., p. 433; https://archive.org/details/STEPHANUSBYZANTIUSETHNICAvol.AALPHAGAMMA2006ByMargaretheBillerbeck/page/432/mode/2up?view=theater
- Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 2.85.https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.%202.85&lang=original
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, illustrated by numerous engravings on wood. William Smith, LLD. London. Walton and Maberly, Upper Gower Street and Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row; John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1854, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DG%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Dgortyn-geo