This tree is at the ancient Greek and Roman site of Gortys/Gortyna, on the island of Crete. This tree started growing 1600 years ago, which coincided with an earthquake which hit the site. A Byzantine church was destroyed in the earthquake, and the tree began growing around a column from the church, which is now embedded in the trunk. The site was filled with trees like these, with extremely knotted trunks. This tree is across the road from the main site, where vast fields are filled with rubble from unexcavated buildings dating from more than 2000 years ago.
