Mitato Explained

Mitato (Greek, Modern (1453-);: μιτάτο, archaic form: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μιτᾶτον or μητᾶτον, from Latin: metor, "to measure off/to pitch camp") is a term meaning "shelter" or "lodging" in Greek.

Appearing in the 6th century, during the Byzantine period it referred to an inn or trading house for foreign merchants, akin to a caravanserai. By extension, it could also refer to the legal obligation of a private citizen to billet state officials or soldiers. Alternatively, in the 10th century, Constantine Porphyrogenitus uses the term to refer to state-run ranches in Anatolia.^[1]

In modern Greece, and especially on the mountains of Crete, a mitato (in the plural mitata) is a hut built from locally gathered stones to provide shelter to shepherds, and is used also for cheese-making. Mount Ida (also called Mount Psiloritis) in central Crete is particularly rich in flat stones suitable for dry stone construction.^{[2] [3] [4]}

See also

• Vernacular architecture

External links

• Cabanes d'estive (mitata) des environs d'Anogia en Crète centrale (Grèce) (Summer shepherding huts (mitata) in the vicinity of Anogia in central Crete, Greece)

Notes and References

1. [Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]
2. Antonis Plymakis, Koúmoi-Mitáta kai Boskoi sta Leuká Ori kai Psiloriti ("Shepherd's huts and shepherds in the Lefka Ori and the Psiloritis"), Chania, 2008, 630 p.
3. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/pastoral-life-in-the-mountains-of-crete/ Harriet Blitzer, Pastoral Life in the Mountains of Crete. An Ethnoarchaelogical Perspective
4. Sabine Ivanovas, Where Zeus Became a Man (with Cretan Shepherds), Efsthiadis Group Editions, 2000, 183 p. (Life in the corbelled dry stone huts of central Crete).