The mythology of Crete is related to the birth of the first of the Olympian Gods, Zeus who was also called "Kritagenis" (born in Crete), but also to Europe, the daughter of the king of Asia, by whom our continent is named after.

According to the myth, at the beginning of the world the archon was Uranus, his wife Gaia and their son Cronus who overthrew his father. However, Cronus in order to prevent the prophesy from coming true, that is he would also be overthrown by his own son, he swallowed his newly-born children

. When Rhea, his wife, was pregnant to their last child, Zeus, she asked Uranus and Gaia to help her. Therefore, they all decided that the child would be born and hidden in Crete.

 Zeus was born in Diktean Cave and raised by the Nymphs and the two daughters of Melissos, the king of the Crete, Adrastia and Melissa. Zeus grew up drinking the milk of a goat called Amalthea which he later wanted to thank so he made her horn symbol of abundance and the goat itself a constellation (of Aiga). Kourites, whose strokes of their pikes on the shields made Cronus unable to hear the baby's cry, protected the divine child.

 

When Zeus overmastered his father after fearsome fights, he had an extensive love life. One of his love stories concerns Europe, the daughter of king Aginoras or Phoenix.

 In order to approach Europe but also to avoid his wife Hera, he was transformed into a bull and went close to her. When Europe noticed the beautiful bull she mounted on it and then Zeus started to run until he reached Crete.

They had three children together in Crete, Minos, Radamanthys and Sarpidonas. The essence of the myth is connected closely with the history of Crete, since scientists allege that Minoans originate from Asia and they had the bull as their sacred animal.

 

Zeus married Europe to the king of Crete, Asterios who was perhaps the hypostasis of Zeus himself, as we already know that "Asterios Dias (Zeus)" was worshipped and was the one that raised her three sons.

 

Minos was married to Pasiphae, the daughter of Ilios (Sun God) and Crete, the nymph after whom the island was named. Always according to the myth, in order Minos to come by the throne of Crete he asked her father to give him a bull, so that he could prove to Cretans and also to his brothers that he was the chosen one by the gods. He promised that he would immolate the bull to the god afterwards. However, he violated his promise and instead of the divine bull, he sacrificed an ordinary one. Poseidon wanted to punish him, so he made his wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull. The queen, to satisfy her ardour, managed to have an intercourse with the bull closed in a factitious cow, being helped by the inventor Daedalus. After their coupling, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man was born whose name was Minotaur. Later, Daedalus, ordered by Minos, built a labyrinth (maze) where Minotaur was kept. Minotaur was given 7 young boys and 7 girls to eat by the Athenians every year so as to satisfy his rage, until Theseus, son of Aegeus king of Athens, came to the island. Theseus helped by Ariadne the daughter of Minos, who was in love with him, managed to kill the Minotaur. Ariadne helped Theseus by giving him the renowned "clue" (thread); in this way he could tie the thread somewhere at the beginning of the labyrinth and then be able to get out of the maze, as it did happen.

 

The myth of Daedalus shows the technological and cultural development of the island, whilst the myth of Minotaur the supremacy of Crete even on the Athenians. The death of Minotaur by Theseus indicates the termination of this domination.

 

 

 

The passage from the Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age happened, according to some historians, as a normal evolution and according to others after the evasion of unknown immigrants who helped the island to evolve fast. The civilization is now entering a phase of rapid development. The archaeological excavations proved that from the early part of that period several cities had been established on the entire island. Homer in his Iliad mentions "ekatoboli" (one hundred cities). The most important cities though, were Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia and Zakros, which were located in the centre and the eastern side of the island.

 

Minos was the king of Knossos, his brother Radamanthys of Phaistos and the other brother Sarpidonas of Mallia. The main characteristic of the Minoan civilization was the alliance-union of many cities to one sovereign state, and not the city-state like Athens, Sparta and Thebes. The cities were not enclosed in walls and this is an indication of how well they got on with each other. This helped them to become a great naval force and to conquer not only the Cyclades but also other islands of the Aegean. Thucydides mentions the naval supremacy of Minoan Crete. In addition, they developed commercial trade with other states like Egypt, Cyprus and East. At Kato Zakros, that was probably an export harbour, Cypriot coins and Syrian ivories have been found.

 

The prosperity that the island was experiencing, resulted in social advancement and cultural evolution. The frescos of "Parisian" and "Prince with lilies" indicate the obvious quality level and the fine sense of exquisiteness the Minoans possessed. The excavation of the whole complex of buildings in Knossos and Phaistos gave us the opportunity to marvel an architectural masterpiece with a perfect irrigation and water supply system.

 

The role of women is also impressive, as they were free to take part in all social meetings or ceremonies and they even participated in several athletic events. Moreover, Minoan religion was matriarchal. The greatest God was a woman who was taking several forms having the suitable symbol every single time.

 

The head of public life is Minos who superintended everything. He governed the state, commanded the army, judged the citizens and exercised his priestly duties.

 

Minoan Crete was no exception to the rule of decline and finally after many centuries of a radiant civilization (2800-1400 BC) it fell sharply into decline. We do not know for sure why that happened or why the Palace of Knossos and the entire Minoan civilization were destroyed. There are theories concerning this catastrophe, such as; a) it is due to an invasion of external foes, b) the eruption of the volcano of Thira (Sandorini), which is the most possible to have happened and c) the decline was a result of the revolution of Cretans against Achaeans who had already conquered the island earlier, around 1450 BC. Whichever the truth is, one thing is certain; that Crete from 1200 BC and later had no longer precedence in history and played no significant part for thousands of years. It was occupied by the Achaeans, they established their rule especially during wartime, and it participated in the Trojan War (1193-1184) with Idomeneas the king of Knossos together with the Achaeans.

 

 

 

The first Dorians immigrated to the island around the middle of the 10th century BC from Sparta and Argolis. Those who came from Sparta settled in the central part of Crete, while those from Argolis were established in the western side. In the 9th century BC new Dorian immigrants, called Magnites, who came from Pelion and Ossa, settled between

 

 Gortyna and Phaistos. Dorians were severe and polemic people and that is the reason why they occupied and established their rule Crete so rapidly, although not many of them had come to Crete. Due to their being warlike people, they were striving against each other for almost 1000 years; during this period no attempts had been made in order these settlements to be merged and that caused the non-existence of any cultural activities.

 

It stood to reason that the structure of the society would be organized in accordance with the Spartan method since Dorians had descended having these principles. Consequently, people were divided in three ranks, the Liberated, the Neighbours and the Slaves.

 

The Liberated people were the Dorians and those of the Cretans, mostly noble, who accepted them without fighting. These formed the Ruling Class.

 

The Neighbors or Citizens were the islanders who yielded after they had capitulated to the conquerors. They were farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen and they composed the second social class. They had the right to maintain their property and only paid in a part of their income to the city-state. They were not oppressed; therefore, they never rose in rebellion against the Dorians.

 

The slaves were those Minoans and Achaeans islanders who offered a stout resistance and yielded by the force of arms. They cultivated state or private land and they kept only a small amount of the products for themselves. There were also slaves who occupied themselves with other tasks, such as burials of the dead or any kind of services at their master's houses.

 

Three governmental-state organs, the Kosmoi, the Parliament and the Church according to the Dorian Greek model administered every city-state.

 

The Kosmoi had extensive authorities and competence. They were chiefs of the army during warfare and sovereigns in time of peace. They were between four and eleven members and were elected for a year without being entitled to be re-elected before three to ten years had passed.

 

The Kosmoi determined several issues and afterwards they called the people to uphold their decisions. At the end of their service they accounted for it and that procedure was called "trial". In case of violation or malpractice, they were penalized with heavy punishment or were relieved of their command.

 

The Parliament was the equivalent of the Senate of Sparta. It was composed of Kosmoi who successfully passed the "trial". The members of Parliament were permanent and unaccountable. They were superintending the Kosmoi and were taking their place when the later lost office. They were studying every significant case and on the motion of Kosmoi they disclosed the dismissal which must have been approved by the people's assembly.

 

The church was the assembly of the Free Citizens that held regular or not meetings. The main characteristic, though, was that the sanction or approval was taking place with no further discussion.

 

During the last centuries of the Dorian Era, an atmosphere of friendliness evolved towards the Macedonians. The big cities Gortyna, Knossos, Kidonia and Irtakina played a leading part. The Spartans, who worried, sent Agisilaos, brother of the king of Sparta, to limit this friendly attitude. He egged some of the Cretan cities on to piratical activities against the free connection and contact of Alexander with the main part of Greece. Alexander's reaction was direct. He sent Admiral Amfoteros to cut up the Spartan forces in Crete. The accurate results of this battle are not known, however we do know, from a script found in Kirini in Africa, that the sole cities that Alexander permitted to be supplied with wheat, while the whole Crete was infested by shortage of corn, were Gortyna, Knossos, Kidonia and Eliros. Thus, it is surmised that these were the cities that nursed feelings of friendliness and prevailed in this Macedonian-Sparta antagonism.

 

In the 3rd century even Ptolemys tried to influence Crete, the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt. The necessity of controlling the sea routes of the East Mediterranean urged the Ptolemys to take an interest in Crete which is formed the center of their foreign policy. The cause of interference in Cretan affairs came from Itanioi when, being in conflict with Presioi over the administrative control of the Sanctum of Dictean Zeus, asked for help. The ambitious and vigorous king of Egypt Ptolemy Philadelphos the 2nd sent Admiral Patroklos who settled in Itanos, creating a Ptolemy protectorate which lasted for about two centuries. The sanctum of Dictean Zeus is situated near the area of today's Palaiokastro, Sitia. The influence of Ptolemys seems to have spread into the whole Crete. Scripts and honorable resolutions, found in several cities such as Gortyna, Eleftherna, Lappa, Phalasarna etc, are evidence of it.

 

However, Ptolemys were not the ones who made an attempt and succeeded in insinuating and win the Cretan cities over. Other Hellenistic kingdoms did the exact same thing. In this way, sundry Cretan cities had occasionally established friendly relations with several Hellenistic kingdoms. Such cases were Liktos that entered into alliance with the kingdom of Slefkides,

 

 

 Eleftherna and Ierapitna with Atigonos Dosonas the king of Macedonia. Another king of Macedonia, Philip the 5th, who dreamt of dominating over the entire hellenic area, entangled Crete in trouble with his policy in the Aegean Sea. Knowing that powerful Rhodes, which controlled all sea routes with its fleet, was an obstacle to his plans incited Ierapitna and Olounda to pirate against the Rhodians. The later responded by allying with the Romans who began war against Philip and then they allied with Knossos in order both of them to attack Philip's allies, Ierapitna and Olounda. This war is called Cretan War and ended with the defeat of Ierapitna and Olounda. All this external infiltration in Crete resulted in the peak of internal tensions and oppositions; moreover, the toughest and bloodiest battles took place and this was a direct consequence.

 

 

Crete had always been of great interest for the Romans. Its exceptional position in the Mediterranean would give Romans the opportunity to control the sea routes and to limit or discontinue the pirates' activities. After one unsuccessful attempt by the Roman General Markus Antonios, the Roman Supreme General Kointus Caecilios Metellos set three legions ashore to take over the island. After the occupation of Kidonia, Metellos continued methodically with the other Cretan city-states. When he arrived in Knossos, he met with stiff resistance from General Lasthenis who, realizing that he was going to lose the battle, burnt all the treasures of the city so the enemies could not take them, and he and his men took to Ierapitna. General Metellos hardened by the resistance, destroyed everything in his way and reached Ierapitna where the final battle took place in 67 BC and indicated the total conquest of Crete. The sole Cretan city that was not destroyed was

 

 Gortyna, which under secret consultations, had declared its friendly disposal towards the Romans and as a result the later appointed it as the capital of Crete; that incident conduced to evolve and become the economical centre of the island during the Roman occupation in Crete.

 

Despite the occupation, the Romans permitted the "Koinon of Creteon" to operate freely; it organized musical and athletic contests while it had the faculty to mint its own coppery coin. The Romans built big technical works of public utility, roads, aquaducts etc ruins of which are in Liktos and Hersonissos.

 

As soon as the Roman Empire divided into west and east (395 AD), Crete was part of the Eastern Roman State. The Western was soon taken over by numerous forces who descended from North, whilst the Eastern Part evolved in a Hellenic state and later in a Byzantine Empire part of which was Crete.

 

 

From the middle of the 4th century until the beginning of the 13th Crete constituted province of the Byzantine Empire, except for a period of 150 years of Arabian occupation. During the first centuries of the Byzantine Empire, Crete experiences one very historically tranquil period and develops agricultural and cattle-breading activities and commerce. The population is estimated to have been about 250.000 people. The island might not have been experienced polemical catastrophe, however in the first five centuries, powerful earthquakes dilapidated many cities among which was the capital of the island, Gortyna, but was re-built by the Emperor Theodosios the 2nd.

 

A big and mortal force, the Arabs, appeared in the last centuries of the premier Byzantine period. The Arabs, after they had taken over North Africa and moved to Spain and Europe, began to show their great interest in Crete. This interest, apart from being a motive for piracies, grew bigger when, during an internal conflict in Andalousia, the headman of the city Cordoba Ambou Hafs Omar would incite his people, about 10.000, to move in order to find another land to settle. In 824 BC he landed in Crete, according to some in Messara Gulf because it was there that many coins of that period were excavated.

 

Ambou Hafs Omar occupied quite easily and established his base of operations in the north coast, where Herakleion is today. He fortified the city with wall and dug a deep moat which was flooded in a few time by sea and consequently the city became an impregnable islet. The city was named Ravdh ek Khantak and later it changed into "Handakas", the permanent name of the city.

 

It was from here that the Arabs dashed against all the islands and the coastline of the Aegean Sea. Some of these raids are mentioned to have been made against Mytilene in 862, Halkidiki in 866, the coasts of Adriatic in 872, Attica in 902, Salonica in 904 from which they abducted 22.000 young boys and girls who were sold in a slave trade in Handakas.

 

The Byzantines made many attempts to liberate Crete with General Krateros who did not succeed. Finally, in 961 AD, the Emperor Romanos the 2nd entrusted Nikiforos Fokas with a new mission. After nine whole months of siege, he contrived to liberate Herakleion. Crete became again part of the Byzantine Empire with Herakleion as its capital and not Gortyna.

 

 

When the decline of Byzantium started, Crusades for the liberation of the Holy Land from the Turks were taking place. Nevertheless, the Fourth Crusade instead of ending up in the Holy Land, it headed towards Constantinople which was taken over by the Crusade and with some help by Prince Alexios, son of the deposed Emperor Isaakios the 2nd Aggelos, who negotiated secretly with them and finally led them to Constantinople. In the agreement made by Alexios with the crusaders Crete was offered as a gift to one of the headmen of Crusade, Boneface of Montferrat, feudal lord of North Italy. Boneface, however, could not occupy the island and therefore he sold it to the Doge of Venice Erriko Dandolus. The agreement was concluded and signed in Andrianople on 12th August 1204. The price of Crete was 1.000 silver marks.

 

The Venetians were so detained apportioning the "possessed" land that did not perceive the movement of the Genoan head pirate Erriko Pescatore, who took over a big part of central and eastern Crete in 1206. In order Pescatore to consolidate his dominance on the island, he fortified three big fortresses, the one in Sitia, in Handakas and Rethymnon and several others but not as big, 15 concertedly.

The Venetians alarmed by these developments made two unsuccessful attempts to take over the island, the first in 1207 with Ranieris Dandolus and Roudziro Premarinus, and the second in 1208 with Jiakomo Loggus who temporarily occupied the fortress of Palaiokastro. Nevertheless, the final dominance of the Venetians on Crete happened later, in 1212, with the Venetian Duke Jacob Tiepolo who made his Genoan opponent to relinquish his claim on the island and capitulate. Consequently, after a last unsuccessful genoan attempt in 1266-1294, Venice became the dominant of the island for about four and a half centuries, from 1212 until 1669.

 The only region that Venice could not occupy completely was Sfakia. In order the Venetians to overcome the difficulties they were facing from the local population and to solve the problem of distance they created settlements. The first colonists left Venice on 20th March 1212 and consisted of 132 noblemen or knights and 48 pedestrians or demotics. Other settlements followed in 1222, 1235, 1252 and it was then when the city of Chania was built on the site of ancient Kidonia. Within the first century about 10.000 Venetians settled on Crete, a fact that indicates how important they considered the island to be, since Venice had 60.000 people. The first centuries were tough and implacable for Cretan people. Land was taken away from them, they worked hard for the fortification of the island and ran sundry errands of the Venetians. During these 457 years that Venetians were ruling on the island 25 revolts had been risen against them and several other movements. Most of them took place within the first 70 years.

 

When Constantinople was taken over by the Turks in 1453 AD many Greek noblemen and intellectuals took off for the Venetian occupied Crete. In this way, the Byzantine culture and art thrived. This contributed the co-existence conditions to become better for both Cretans and Venetians, parallel to the fear of Venetians for the Turks, that made the former want to be on better terms with the local population.

 

 

Before the complete occupation of Crete by the Turks in 1669 AD many raids had been attempted on the island by them during the previous years. The first attacks are dated back to 1333. In the middle of the 16th century, the raids grew worse, while, at the same time, the infamous pirate Herendin Barbarosa made his appearance and in 1538 attacked Crete, took over a big part of central and western side but his invasion stopped before the walls of Handakas. In 1562 Dragut or Turkut Reish ravaged the villages of Apokoronas, whilst in 1571 Oulouz Ali ravaged the villages of Milopotamos and Rethymnon. The devastation of the city was total, since the inhabitants had abandoned it in order to save themselves. Due to this destruction, the Venetian rector Alvise Lando fortified the city with the castle of Fortezza on the hill of Palaiokastro.

 

 

While the raids of the Turks were taking place, several attacks were happening by others, such as Arabs, Algerians, Maltans, Spanishes etc. In 1317, the south coasts of Crete were struck by the Algerians who had set their base of operations on the small island called Chrisi or Gaidouronisi, south of Ierapetra. The raids went on even during the next centuries and one of them in 1522 was the toughest for

Ierapetra.

 

 In 1645, the Turks made the decision to take over Crete totally and make it part of the Ottoman Empire. In the beginning of the summer, the Turks arrived with about 400 ships and 60.000 soldiers. The commander of the fleet was Giusuf Pasha and of the army Musha Pasha and Murat Agha. The Turkish forces reached the west part of the Gulf of Chania on 23th June and the first battle with the Venetians took place on the island called Thodorou which in a few hours was about to be taken over, and therefore the provost marshal decided to blow it up as soon as the Turks would go into the enclosure of the fortress. After this battle, the Turks moved on to the city of Chania which they occupied on 22nd August 1645 after one hard siege and heavy loss as far as the Cretans were concerned. In a few time all the villages of Chania fell into the Turks' hands, except for Sfakia.

 

 

On 2 July 1646 a big Turkish force of 40.000 men and with Deli Hushein as its commander, headed to Rethymnon causing terrible havoc on their way. They arrived in Rethymnon on late September and started siege and bombardments by sea and land. On 11th October they managed to create a pass and go into the city, after the people and garrison had been locked in Fortezza. After 23 days, the garrison was forced to capitulate and give the fortress in on 13th November. In the end of 1648, the Turks had total dominance of the entire Crete, apart from Herakleion. The siege of Herakleion lasted 21 years and composed one of the most dramatic events in the history of the island. It cost the Turks 117.000 dead people and about 30.000 Greek and Venetian people.

 

 

The Turks, after they had taken over Herakleion, re-built the walls of the cities and changed most of the churches into mosques. Many Christians, so as to save themselves from the ferocity of the conquerors, took shelter in the Ionian Islands. The years between 1770 and 1821 were the hardest in the long history of the island.

 

The "Great Cretan Revolution" began in 1866 and lasted until 1868 with the blowing up of the Monastery of Arkadi by the people in siege which was the peak of the entire revolution. 840 of people in siege were killed and 1500 of the Turks were also killed and injured.

 

In 1895-96, new conflicts broke out, as in the years between 1890-95 the old animosity and hatred revived and assaults happened on a daily basis. In 1897, greek armed forces arrived in Crete and volunteers tried to liberate the island, in the hope of Crete being united with the rest of Greece. The battles stopped in 1898, the year when the massacred in Herakleion by the Turks took place. The struggles continued and the revolution of Therissos in 1905 brought those conflicts to a head. That led to the unification of Crete with Greece in 1913 and made Eleftherios Venizelos publicly known.

 

 

The last heroic event in Cretan history took place during the World War II, when Crete became a battlefield. On May 1941 thousands of Germans paratroopers landed on west Crete, trying to take it over.

 

    Australian, New Zealander and Greek soldiers together with Cretan civilians put up a stout resistance. Nevertheless, the superiority in numbers of Germans and their excellent equipment finally triumphed over the Cretan people who, despite all these, continued their resistance even after the island had been occupied. The kidnapping of German General Kraipe by the partisans and his going to Cairo brought their resistance to a head.

The reprisals by the Germans were hard.