Hello Gems,
I am embarking on a cultural / art residency in Crete, Greece and would love to have some more insight on Minoan, Cretan, and general historically and culturally important features of the island.
I'll be in Heraklion and Anogeia, but I will have some time to explore before leaving, would love to hear what you have to say and even personal experience! Thank you so much!
Hello! It sounds like a hopefully great time!
The cultural and historical background of the region you're about to visit is immense, in a way that would be very hard to summarize in a few lines. Crete is defined by its blend of all Greek eras and diverse cultures that morphed into one solid and rigid identity that is not so much diverse, but rather conglomerated into something uniquely itself. Crete might be one of the most culturally proud and traditional regions remaining in Europe. If you're lucky, you will perhaps see a few men walk around in folk attires.
The impact that Crete leaves on both its own people and most visitors is amplified by the fact that it's not just a culturally rich place, it is also a blessed region with beautiful coastline, big mountains and a very rough, wild terrain with endemic fauna and flora. Its weather is hot but it snows in the mountains. It has two small palm forests, the only natural ones in Europe. On a clear day, you can see the coasts of Egypt from the south of the island.
Below I wrote a summary (yeah, it's a summary) of the most defining moments of Cretan history and features of Cretan culture. And after this I am not writing anything else about Crete ever again, I am just going to link this post to everyone asking about Crete and be done with it XD
Pre-historical and Minoan Crete
The earliest signs of human presence on Crete are at least 130,000 years old (Lower Paleolithic period), as suggested by excavations of bifacial stone tools of the Acheulean type. It was fully inhabited by Hunters Gatherers in the Mesolithic Period. The Neolithic farming culture starts on Crete around 7,000 BC, and traces of a settlement from that era have been found on the island.
Crete's sophisticated history starts with the Minoan Civilisation, the first known advanced civilisation in Europe, roughly 4,700 years ago. The Minoan society was artistic, athletic and prosperous with powerful royalty and advanced infrastructure, including multi-story buildings. They mainly worshipped deities of fertility and the women enjoyed more freedoms than in several other contemporary societies (though calling them a matriarchal society as some do would be inaccurate). They used to be considered pacifists, although recent research has started questioning this conviction. In any case, they were perhaps more peaceful than their neighbours, the warlike Achaeans (the Mycenaean Greeks). By the way, the Minoans weren't truly called Minoans. We don't know exactly what they called themselves, but Egyptians called them Keftiu or Kaftayu and Mesopotamians called them Caphtor or Kaptara. We don't know when exactly it turned to "Crete" but Homer already calls the island as such. Their sacred symbols were the bull and the double axe.
The Minoans did not deserve what happened to them. North of Crete, there is the very famous, super touristy island of Santorini (or else Thera, as its old and official name is). Back at the time, this island was inhabited by Minoans too. This island looks exceptionally sweet and dreamy but it is one of the most lethal volcanoes on planet earth. In 1600 BC the volcano of Thera erupted, swallowed and sank half of its own self into the sea and created a tsunami so massive that moved south and flat out destroyed the Minoan civilisation. It was one of the worst volcanic eruptions in the human recorded history. The tsunami was so big that it moved past the giant mass of Crete and reached Egypt, causing a lot of distress and problems there too. Many geologists believe that the natural disasters the tsunami must have caused to Egypt were the inspiration for the Ten Plagues of Egypt in the Bible. It's not 100% scientifically proven but many do believe it to be the case. Meanwhile, it is also commonly believed that the sunken half of Thera / Santorini island was Plato's inspiration for the myth of the lost Atlantis.
Whatever little remained from the Minoan Civilisation was quickly occupied by the Mycenaeans and ever since, the surviving Minoans mixed with the Mycenaeans, contributing to the formation of the Greek ethnos as it was by the Homeric Age. It shoud be noted, however, that despite their whatever differences, Mycenaeans and Minoans have been found to be very similar genetically. The Mycenaeans and the Minoans were similar even pre-eruption, but they were distinct societies and we have not yet deciphered the language the Minoans spoke. It is unclear whether they spoke a relative of the Greek language (the Mycenaeans already spoke Greek) or something completely different. At this point in time, post-1600 BC we start seeing syncretization of Minoan religious beliefs with the early Greek pantheon and a lot of the legends and history of Crete inspire Greek mythology (see; Theseus and the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, Europe and Zeus etc).
Tips: Heraklion is the largest city in the island and its historical center. There you will find the most important archaeological discoveries dating to the Minoan Era, including of course the Palace of Knossos, parts of which survive in great condition.
Classical and Hellenistic Crete
Maybe due to the lasting consequences of the natural disaster, maybe for other reasons, Crete was not at its finest moment during the classical and hellenistic periods. Much like it was happening in the Greek mainland and in Asia Minor, Crete was divided in city states and those were - as usual - in constant wars with each other. Despite Crete's early contribution in archaic art and law, from which Athens and Sparta were in fact influenced, its further progress was stalled by the relentless infighting. This infighting was exploited by external powers which were getting involved in the Cretan matters, like Philip of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great), the nearby Rhodes island, Egypt and eventually the Romans.
Tip: The fact that Crete was not as politically influential or in the frontline does not mean that it did not produce invaluable treasures. I recommend you visit all the archaeological museums within your reach!
Roman, Byzantine and Arab Emirate of Crete
Crete was supporting Mithridates VI Eupator, the Greek-Iranian king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), in his efforts to halt the Roman expansion. As a punishment, the Romans attacked Crete and eventually conquered it after a few years of war. Historical evidence suggests they did not cause extensive damage to the island and Cretans were able to continue living peacefully.
Christianity reached Crete very early, as Apostle Paul has sent an epistle to the first bishop of Crete. Gortyna of Crete was the site of the largest Christian basilica built on the island, which was founded in the 1st century AD.
In the following centuries, Crete remained peacefully, if a little isolated and backwards, a part of the Roman Empire which eventually turned into what we historiographically call the Byzantine empire, meaning the increasingly Greek Eastern Roman Empire.
In the 820 ADs, Crete was conquered by Andalusian Arab Muslims, who established an emirate on the island, which became the center of piracy in the northeastern Mediterranean. It was them who founded Chandax, which is none other than modern-day Heraklion, the largest city of Crete.
It's interesting to say that through raiding and terrorizing other regions, the Emirate of Crete became prosperous and indeed an almost cosmopolitan society, highly praised by other contemporary Arabs. Sophisticated pirates, they were. The Cretan Greeks were able to keep their language, traditions and religion (although they paid the Islamic taxation) and agriculture and trade were further developed.
Dinars from the Emirate of Crete.
Crete remained an emirate for about 130 years. In 961 the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas reconquered the island, ending the Saracen piracy in the Aegean Sea and expelling the Arabs and Berbers from there. For the following centuries until the Fourth Crusade (1204) Crete remained Byzantine Greek and contributed a lot of warriors to the Byzantine army as akritae (frontier guards particularly skilled in battle). Crete at the time also became a center of Byzantine nobility and it was governed by a strategos (army general).
The interior of the 11th century Byzantine church of Virgin Mary in Fodele, photographed by Kristalia Melessanaki.
Tip: There are a few churches in Crete surviving from the middle and late Byzantine period, and I recommend visiting them if you can, as well as also of any time period, if you want to understand the culture thoroughly. Eastern Orthodoxy's impact on medieval and modern Greek history and culture is monumental and defining.
Kingdom of Candia (Venetian Crete)
After the Fourth Crusade (1204), which dismantled the Byzantine Empire, Crete fell to the Venetians, who called the island "Candia" (from the previous Chandax). The Cretans revolted multiple times against the Venetians but it was without success. In the end, Crete did not manage to partake in the efforts of the Byzantines to re-establish their empire but it also did not fall to the Ottoman Turks until 1669, 200 years after the rest of Greece.
This period was extremely important for Crete. One may say we have the first very solid evidence of what Cretan Greek culture evolved into, as the hardened, rural -former pirate-y- Byzantine Cretans clashed with Western European culture. The influence between the conquerors and the conquered was fascinatingly mutual: Cretans became more acclimated to western art and culture, their accent became more sing-songy, whereas Venetians got hellenized too, greekifying their names, exploring and occasionally identifying with older Greek historical periods.
When the rest of Greece fell to the Ottomans, many Greeks interested in the arts and education fled to Crete, causing what we call the Cretan Renaissance in this melting pot of the East and the West. Cretan literature, art and music flourished, while Crete became the main place that preserved the Byzantine arts (Cretan School of Art).
One example of Cretan legacy of the time is the famous painter El Greco (=The Greek, real name Domenikos Theotokopoulos, 1541 - 1614). El Greco moved to Spain and contributed to the Spanish Renaissance. His works were often not understood by the people of his time - they were shockingly modern. Nowadays, he is considered a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, almost four centuries before these movements actually developed.
For Greece, although it's neither the only one nor even the first, the most impactful literary work of the time was the epic romance of Erotokritos, penned by Vintsentzos Kornaros, a Venetian whose family had been hellenized even before he was born. Erotokritos is the most treasured monument of the Cretan Greek dialect. People learned the poem by heart and would recite it in celebrations and festivities, not unlike how it was happening with the rhapsodoi and the homeric epics many centuries prior. The very musical Cretan culture further developed and improvised rhymes and poems would be accompanied with music. In the 20th century, musician Christodoulos Chalaris studied extensively Byzantine, post-Byzantine and folk Cretan music and based on his learnings he composed one of the most significant masterpieces of modern Greek music, let's say a score to Erotokritos, possibly faithful to what 16th century Cretan music may have sounded like, with the poetry set to music. The music and now songs of Erotokritos, despite technically only composed in the 20th century, entered the folk heritage, not just of Crete, but all of Greece in general. There's no native Greek who does not know or has not sung along to Erotokritos. Not only that but numerous covers and original songs with new lyrics about Erotokritos and his love Aretousa are being composed constantly. Erotokritos is the epic of Modern Greece.
Manuscript from Erotokritos. I am always amused by certain tropes that Erotokritos has in common with Romeo and Juliet. In truth, the two works were written independently only 5 years apart (!) but apart from drawing from similar tropes of forbidden love and serenating your loved one, they develop and end as differently as two stories can. To be honest, I genuinely prefer Erotokritos, not because I am Greek, but because I like the ending better and there is also a war thematic in Erotokritos, not just a difficult romance.
Tip 1: You will likely see monuments from the Venetian period during your stay in Crete. Outside of Heraklion, a couple cities (Chania and Rethymno) maintain an old Venetian architectural style in the old districts.
Tip 2: If you meet local musicians during your visit, ask them to play Erotokritos to you. They all know it, ALL. In fact, even foreign musicians coming to Crete for work or inspiration know or learn Erotokritos. Especially in Anogeia where you will go and they still specialize in the Cretan lyre, it's like their expertise. Below I am linking an instumental-only piece by Ross Daly as an introduction, but there's just so much, so much available. I mean, the poem has more than 10,000 verses...
Ottoman Crete
Venetians and Turks were constantly at war over, uhhh... essentially Greek lands. The siege of Candia (1648-1669), possibly the longest siege in history, resulted in the victory of the Ottoman Turks and the eventual expulsion of all Venetian presence from the island. Crete remained an Ottoman land for the next 200 years.
The turkish impact on the island was two faced; one one hand, Crete had some of the most active resistance against Ottoman occupation, with one particular region, that of Sfakia, never fully submitting to the Turks. On the other hand, in Crete Islam spread way more efficiently than in any other Greek land. On the eve of the Greek Independence War, almost half of the Cretan population had converted to Islam. However, it should be noted that quite a few of those were in fact Crypto-Christians and immediately turned back to Christianity once the Greek Revolution started. In any case, the rate of Greek Muslims was perhaps one of the highest in any Greek-inhabited land besides Anatolia.
Crete participated and committed fully to the Greek War of Independence which started in 1821, however it did not manage to liberate itself alongside south mainland Greece. It remained an Ottoman land and passed shortly under the control of Egypt, which was also an Ottoman vassal at the time. Cretans continued to fight against the Turks on their own, attempting numerous revolts over the years, progressively attracting the attention of the European world.
Tip: The Arkadi monastery is perhaps the most significant momument of the Cretan Greek revolution. In 1866, besieged Greeks had found shelter in the monastery but eventually the Turks broke through the resistance. The Cretans, 259 men and 700 women and children, chose to set fire to the gunpowder in the vaults of the monastery and kill themselves over falling at the hands of the Ottoman troops. The Arkadi Monastery is located about an hour from either Heraklion or Anogeia.
Modern Crete
This and many incidents that followed caused international sympathy and after a lot of revolts, pacts, breakings of pacts, conferences and the like, the Ottomans gradually lost most of their military power in the island. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Greece in 1897, apparently blaming it for supporting Crete and inflaming the situation. This war, while technically a defeat for Greece, led to the eventual independence of Crete, which became an autonomous state. Prince George of Greece arrived at the island in late 1898, as a High Commissioner of the autonomous state, signaling the final detachment of Crete from the Ottoman Empire, however it still remained under the Sultan's suzerainty.
About 10 years later the Cretan State took advantage of domestic turmoil in the Ottoman Empire and declared its union with the Kingdom of Greece. A major - maybe the ultimate - catalyst for the union as well as the Eastern Mediterranean political affairs for the next 30 years and Greece's identity even to this day was the emergence of a young Cretan politician, Eleftherios Venizelos, who then presided over all matters Greek for all the next decades.
He was not the only major modern Greek coming from Crete though. One of the most internationally acclaimed Greek authors, Nikos Kazantzakis, and one of the two greatest Greek composers, Mikis Theodorakis, were Cretans too.
In 1922, during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the Greek Muslims and the Turks of Crete left and settled in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other places of the Near East.
Crete has been shaped from all these influences, its sufferings and its periods of prosperity. The Cretans are highly artistic people, with special skill in music and dance, and they are very proudly connected to their roots and traditions. Few people love their land as fiercely as Cretans love Crete. They are also very welcoming people with a strong sense of philoxenia (hospitality). On the other hand, they do not take rudeness and offense well and they are quick-tempered. You don't have to worry about anything as long as you remain polite though. Let alone that young people are pretty much as chill as anyone. Their cuisine is a sub-branch of Greek cuisine and it has been voted at times as the healthiest in the world. If you get to know well a traditional Cretan family, they might attempt to murder you by feeding you until you explode lol.
Drinking custom where the singer calls the participants by their name to drink one after the other. Notice how all Cretan men are clad in black. They dress in black in all the formal situations in which they don't wear their folk clothing. They do wear regular clothing in daily informal situations, although a few dress in black or in folk attires even everyday.
The Cretan war dance "Pentozali".
Anyway, hopefully this will help you understand Cretan culture and art better.
Some more links in my blog for you:
https://gemsofgreece.tumblr.com/crete
https://gemsofgreece.tumblr.com/tagged/heraklion
https://gemsofgreece.tumblr.com/tagged/rethymno
Greece was concured by Turks for 400 years but Crete for only 200 years. In that time period (bc back then it was the Renaissance Era) how d
