A short history of Crete

Crete has more history than almost anywhere in Europe. Knowing the outline makes every ruin, fortress and monastery much more interesting.

The Minoans

From around 3000 BC Crete was home to the Minoans, Europe’s first advanced civilisation. They built great palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Zakros, traded across the Mediterranean and painted the colourful frescoes you see in the Heraklion museum. Their civilisation faded after about 1450 BC.

Greeks and Romans

Mycenaean Greeks followed, then independent city states. In 67 BC the Romans took the island and made Gortyna the capital. You can still see the famous Gortyna law code carved in stone.

Byzantines, Arabs and Venetians

After Roman times Crete was part of the Byzantine Empire, apart from an Arab period in the 9th and 10th centuries. From the early 13th century the Venetians ruled for over four hundred years and left the harbours, fortresses and old towns of Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion.

The Ottomans

After a siege of more than twenty years, Heraklion fell in 1669 and Crete became part of the Ottoman Empire. It was a time of many uprisings, like the one remembered at Arkadi Monastery in 1866.

Freedom and union with Greece

Crete became an autonomous state in 1898 and joined Greece in 1913.

The Second World War

In May 1941 German paratroopers invaded in the Battle of Crete. The occupation that followed was hard, and the resistance of the Cretans is still remembered in villages like Anogeia.

Updated: 2026-10-29