Crete

Definition

The island of Crete was the center of Minoan civilization in Bronze-Age Greece that flourished from approximately 2200 to 1450 BCE. With a total area of 8336 square-kilometers, it is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is mountainous and has natural harbors.

According to Homer, Crete had 90 cities, of which Knossos was the largest and most important. It is believed that the island was divided into at least 8 political units during the height of Minoan civilization. The north is thought to have been governed from Knossos, the south from Phaistos, the east from Zakro and Mallia, and the west from Chania.

There are signs of tectonic activity on the island of Crete, especially along the coasts. Around 1700 BCE, earthquakes destroyed many of the major Minoan palaces, including Phaistos, Mallia, and Zakro. They were later rebuilt and then destroyed again around 1450 BCE, when there was another large-scale disturbance on the island. All of the palaces except for Knossos were completely destroyed at this time. Shortly after, Mycenaeans from mainland Greece took over Knossos and became the dominant presence on Crete.

Written by Steven Fife, published on 02 September 2009 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Crete Books

• The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean Eric H. Cline Oxford University Press, USA (01 January 2012) Price: $44.59

• The Bull of Minos: The Great Discoveries of Ancient Greece Leonard Cottrell Tauris Parke Paperbacks (13 October 2009) Price: $16.02

• Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture Patrick E. McGovern Princeton University Press (02 September 2003) Currently unavailable

• A History of Greece to 322 B.C. N. G. L. Hammond Oxford University Press, USA (28 August 1986) Price: $61.13

• Travelling Heroes: In the Epic Age of Homer Robin Lane Fox Vintage (09 March 2010) Price: $21.95