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| History |
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Here something about the history
of Crete. Don't be afraid, it is a short
version.
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The earliest traces of
human habitation in Crete go back to the Neolithic Age.
The first inhabitants of the island lived in caves, which later became
places of worship and in houses with stone foundations and brick walls.
These people were farmers and shepherds. They used simple tools and
utensils made of animal bones and stone, many of which have been turned up
during archaeological excavations.
We know very little about
their religious beliefs. It is hypothesized that they worshipped Goea, the
goddess of fertility. Many figurines showing this female form have been
found in Crete and throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin. For many
centuries afterwards Mother was the most important symbol for the cultures
of the Mediterranean lands.
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The
Bronze Age in Crete, around the year 2,600 B.C.,
was the beginning of the culture which has come to be called "Minoan
civilization". The name, from Minos, the mythical king of Crete, was first
used by the archaeologist Arthur Evans. The Minoan epoch is broken down
into three periods:
- Early Minoan period (2,600 B.C.- 2,000 B.C.)
- Middle Minoan period (2,000 B.C. - 1,580 B.C.)
- Late Minoan period (1,580 B.C. - 1,100
B.C.)
The first palaces were
built in Crete around the start of the Middle Minoan period, that
is, around 2,000 B.C. Economic and political power seems to have
centered on the palaces of Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, Archanes,
Zakros and Kydonia.
An earthquake which shook the whole island and was followed by extensive
fires seems to have destroyed the palaces around 1,700 B.C.
However, we do not know
whether the destruction of the palaces was the work of nature alone, or
whether there was also an invasion of the island. Immediately after, the
palaces were rebuilt even larger and more magnificent than before and the
period from 1700 B.C. to 1400 B.C. is often called the Final Palace
period. Mallia, Zakros, Phaistos and above all Knossos were at the height
of their power during this period. Excavations have revealed that more
than one script was in use in Crete at this time: a hieroglyphic script
(of which the Phaistos Disc in Herakleio Archaeological Museum is an
example) and a syllabic script, which is known as Linear A, that has not
yet been deciphered.
Excavations in the island and along the coasts of the Aegean show that the
Minoans built trading posts in these places. The economy of the island
flourished. Farming and stockbreeding produced large yields and the
workshops of the palaces and the villages turned out goods for export to
the other islands and to mainland Greece. Works of art made in Crete found
buyers in Egypt, Phoenicia and Syria and Minoan pottery has been
discovered throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Around 1400 B.C.
there was a tremendous natural disaster which led to the end of the Minoan
culture.
Earthquakes and fires destroyed Knossos and the other palaces and the
towns were deserted.
The catastrophe may have been caused by the eruption of the Santorini
volcano, although it is possible that this may have coincided with a
foreign invasion. However, the disaster was not the absolute end of Minoan
culture.
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After the
destruction of the palaces and the collapse of the Minoan culture, Crete
was conquered by the Dorians, who sailed across from mainland Greece. The Doric cities of Crete had the same system of government as Sparta,
that is, they a senate consisting of the nobility of the city.
The
towns were protected by walls and each had its own acropolis. The cities could be kept united under the
leadership of Knossos, but only when this was necessary for the purposes
of repelling some new invader. Quite a number of traces of these Doric cities have
survived down to the present day: at Prinia, some 40 km from Herakleio, traces have been found on a low hill of one of
the most important Archaic sanctuaries of the 7th century B.C. Gortyn, approximately 45 km from Herakleio , was from time
to time the most important and powerful city in Crete. Traces of all the
periods in the history of the island have been found here. Of particular
interest are the inscriptions giving the Laws of Gortyn, which include
legislation in family law and the law of inheritance.
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- During the
Classical period (500-323 B.C.), Crete
did not play a particularly important part in the political and cultural
spheres. This situation did not change during the Hellenic and Roman
periods which followed.
When Crete became a Roman province, the living
conditions of the islanders began slowly to improve. The population
increased and densely-populated towns grew up in the plains and along the
coasts.
It is worth to be noticed that during the Roman period, Gortyn
became the island's capital.
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- Crete experienced
Byzantine rule in two periods: the first of these (330 - 826 A.D.) was
interrupted by occupation by the Arabs (826 - 961) and was followed by the
second Byzantine period (961 - 1204). The main characteristic of the
first period was the establishment of Christianity in the
island. After the Arab occupation in 826,there was much persecution of
Christianity and the religion's hold over the island slackened.
It was not until
961 that the Byzantine general Nicephorus Phocas was able to liberate
Crete and bring it back into the Byzantine Empire. In this second period
Christianity gained in strength. It was at this
time that Herakleio became the seat of the Archbishop and churches and
monasteries sprang up everywhere.
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In 1204 Venetians
became the rulers of the island. In this period, Herakleio was renamed
Candia and it remained capital of Crete. The Venetian influence in Crete's
architecture remained until our days. When Constantinople fell to the
Turks in 1453, large number of Greek nobles and scholars took
refuge in Crete. As a result, Byzantine culture and Byzantine art took on
a fresh lease of life.
The Monastery of St. Catherine in Herakleio was a particularly important
center of Byzantine culture where theology, philosophy, music and
literature were developed. The traditional Byzantine style of painting
combined with elements taken from the Italian Renaissance formed a new
school of art called the "Cretan school". Among the most famous painters
in this period were Michail Damaskinos, Klontzas and Ioannis Kornaros. The
youthful works of Domenico Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco,
should also be seen as belonging to the Cretan school.
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The Turks after an
endless invasion which took place 130 years about, they succeeded
to become the rulers of the island. Generally speaking the Turkish
occupation was the darkest period in the island's long history. And when
the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, the Turks
in their rage behaved with even greater cruelty to the Cretans. The great
Cretan rebellion began in 1866 and lasted until 1868.
This was the climax of the Cretan desire for freedom and union with the
rest of Greece. During the course of the revolt, the Arkadi Monastery was
destroyed and it became a symbol of the indomitable will of the Cretans to
be free. The Arkadi sacrifice sent a tremor of horror round the world. In
the end, the rebellion petered out amid incalculable destruction and loss
of human life.
Fresh fighting broke out
in 1895 - 1896, after a period since the beginning of the decade
when the old wounds had reopened and violence was an everyday occurrence.
In 1897, Greek forces gradually began to liberate the island, with
the intention of uniting it with Greece.
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The fighting stopped in
1898. The great powers recognized the existence of autonomous
"Cretan State'. Prince George of Greece was appointed High Commissioner
over it. However, the struggle of the ordinary Cretans continued,
culminating in the Theriso rebellion of 1905. That rebellion
led to the eventual union of Crete with Greece. The most recent heroic
event in Cretan history occurred during the Second World War, when Crete
became the theatre of hard fighting, in the world famous "Battle of
Crete".
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