Azoria is an archaeological site on a double-peaked hill overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello in eastern Crete. The excavations have recovered evidence of an Archaic Greek city, established c. 600 BC, following a long period of continuous occupation throughout the Early Iron Age or Greek Dark Age (1200-700 BC) and Early Archaic (700-600 BC) (or Orientalizing) periods. The city was destroyed by fire early in the 5th century BC, to be subsequently reoccupied on a limited scale c. 200 BC, probably a single tower constructed on the peak of the South Acropolis.
Although the site has a long history of use, the most visible remains are the houses and communal buildings of Archaic date (600-500 BC). The public buildings of Archaic date cluster close to the peak on the west and south sides of the South Acropolis and cover a total area of over 0.60 hectares.
Among the Archaic remains is a multi-room structure called the Communal Dining Building, which the excavators have interpreted as a possible andreion—a dining hall used for corporate syssitia, the communal mess of the city's male citizenry organized in hetairiai; and the Monumental Civic Building, a large hall, about 200 square metres in internal area, with a stepped bench built against the walls on the interior, and an adjoining two-room shrine.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.