Timeline of Crete

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 Interkriti History: http://www.interkriti.org/crhis1.htm
 Greek Crete: http://odysseas.com/crete.html  

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 The capital is Iraklion
 (SFEC, 8/17/97, p.T11)
In Crete myth: Theseus escaped from the labyrinth of the minotaur using a skein of thread provided by Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos.
    (WSJ, 2/8/02, p.AW9)

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5Mil BC    Crete separated from the Greek mainland about this time.
    (AP, 1/4/11)

700k BC – 130k BC    In 2010 experts from Greece and the US found rough axes and other tools, thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years, old close to shelters on the south coast of Crete.
    (AP, 1/4/11)

11000BC-10000BC    The first Greek tribes settled on Crete around the 11th century BC.
    (WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)

3200BC-2000BC The Cycladic culture, a network of small, sometimes fortified farming and fishing settlements that traded with mainland Greece, Crete and Asia Minor, flourished during this period. It is best known for the elegant figurines: mostly naked, elongated figures with arms folded under their chests. It was eclipsed by Crete and Mycenaean Greece.
    (AP, 12/31/06)

2500BC    Cycladic figurines on the islet of Keros were deliberately smashed around this time. In 2006 new research led scientists to believe that Keros was a hugely important religious site where the smashed artwork was ceremoniously deposited. The sea-faring Cycladic culture consisted of a network of small, sometimes fortified, farming and fishing settlements that traded with mainland Greece, Crete and Asia Minor. It became renowned for its elegant flat-faced marble figurines.
    (SFC, 1/10/06, p.D7)(AP, 12/31/06)

2000BC-1600BC    The Middle Minoan period of Crete. Middle Minoan I finds polychrome decoration in pottery with elaborate geometrical patterns; we also discover interesting attempts to picture natural forms, such as goats and beetles. There then followed some great catastrophe. Middle Minoan II includes the period of the great palace of Phaestos and the first palace of Knossos. This period also includes the magnificent polychrome pottery called Kamares ware. Another catastrophe occurred. The second great palace of Knossos was built and began the Middle Minoan III. It was distinguished by an intense realism in art, speaking clearly of a rapid deterioration in taste. Pictographic writing was clearly developed, with a hieratic or cursive script derived from it, adapted for writing with pen and ink.
    (R.M.-P.H.C.p.17)

2000BC-1500BC    The Minoan civilization, named after the Cretan ruler Minos, reached its height with central power in Knossos on the isle of Crete. The culture was apparently more female-oriented and peaceful than others of the time.
    (http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.2)

1700BC    Knossos, Crete, was first destroyed by an earthquake.
    (SFC,12/9/97, p.A8)

1627BC    The volcano Thera, or Santorini in the Aegean Sea, erupted about this time. Akrotiri, a Minoan city on the south part of Thera, was later excavated. About 3-6 feet (1-2 m) of ash fell on the city which had a population of about 30,000. The explosion of Thera about this time released energy equal to 200,000 H-bombs. In 1939 Spyridon Marinatos authored “The Volcanic Destruction of Minoan Crete.”
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption)(NH, 5/96, p.3)

1500BCE    Egyptian tombs from about this time show paintings of apparently Cretan messengers and merchants, called by the name Keftiu, bearing Cretan goods: and in addition we find the actual tangible goods themselves, deposited with the Egyptian dead.
    (R.M.-P.H.C.p.17)

c600-500 BC    Epimenides, Cretan philosopher, is said to have originated the Liar paradox, by proclaiming that “All Cretans are liars.”
    (Econ, 10/4/03, p.77)

365        Jul 21, An earthquake, whose epicenter was in Crete, leveled the Egyptian Port of Alexandria as well as the Roman outpost of Leptis Magna in Libya. Some 50,000 people died. The ancient Egyptian city, known as Leukaspis or Antiphrae, was hidden for centuries after it was nearly wiped out by the tsunami. When Chinese engineers began cutting into the sandy coast to build the roads for a new resort in 1986, they struck the ancient tombs and houses of the town founded in the second century B.C.
    (www.earthscape.org/r2/jos/vol1-1june1997/pg55.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.18)(AP, 9/8/10)

367        Much of Gortyn, the Roman capital of Crete, was destroyed be an earthquake. It was 1st inhabited around 3,000 BC and was destroyed by an Arab invasion in 824.   
    (AP, 9/30/05)

1204        The rule of Venice over Crete dates to this year, when the Republic was awarded 3/8 of the Eastern Roman Empire for its role in supporting the Fourth Crusade.
    (http://romeartlover.tripod.com/Creta.html)

1450-1650    The Venetians occupied the capital city of Iraklion. The forests of Crete provided the Venetians with cedars and firs for their fleets.
    (SFEC, 8/17/97, p.T10)

1541        El Greco (d.1614), artist, was born in Crete. He settled in Toledo, Spain, in 1577 and died there.
    (WSJ, 6/18/01, p.A16)

1645        Turkish invaders of the Ottoman Empire captured Hania on the island of Crete and built a mosque.
    (SFEC, 8/17/97, p.T10)

1669        Sep 26, The island of Crete fell to the Ottoman Turks after 465 years as a colony of Venice.
    (WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A11)

1894        Arthur Evans went to Crete to find the truth behind the legend of the Minotaur.
    (AM, 11/00, p.53)

1896        Nov 26, Russia disclosed a plan to seize Constantinople if Britain intervenes in Crete.
    (AP, 11/26/02)

1897        The Greeks were defeated by Turkey at Velestino in their war over the independence of Crete.
    (WSJ, 8/6/98, p.A13)

1898        Turkey withdrew from Crete.
    (AM, 11/00, p.53)

1899        Sir Arthur Evans discovered the center of Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. He erected a house overlooking the excavations and named it Villa Ariadne after the daughter of King Minos. As he unearthed a mound at Knossos he rebuilt parts of a 3,500 year-old palace in modernist style. In 2009 Cathy Gere authored “Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism.”
    (WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)(WSJ, 2/8/02, p.AW9)(Econ, 5/16/09, p.91)

1908        An Italian expedition on Crete discovered a terra cotta artifact with an unknown script. It was dated to about 1700 BC and became known as the Phaistos Disc (Phaestos Disc). [see 1600 BCE]
    (SSFC, 2/22/04, p.M6)

1912        Greece acquired Crete. [see 1913]
    (WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)

1913        Dec 14, Greece formally annexed Crete.
    (AP, 12/14/02)

1940-1941    German paratroopers were decimated in the battle for Crete.
    (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)

1941        May 20, Germany invaded Crete by air.
    (HN, 5/20/98)

1941        Jun 1, The German Army completed the capture of Crete as the Allied evacuation ended.
    (HN, 6/1/99)

1944        Partisans kidnapped the German commander of Crete and spirited him off to a British submarine.
    (WSJ, 2/8/02, p.AW9)

1973        Dilys Powell (1901-1995), film critic for the London Times, authored "The Villa Ariadne," a history and travel memoir of Crete. It was published in the US in 2002.
    (WSJ, 2/8/02, p.W9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilys_Powell)

1999        Jan 13, Dozens of illegal refugees on Crete went on a hunger strike to support their demand for political asylum. A boat that was to take them to Italy ran aground in a storm Nov 27. The refugees were Kurds, Indians and Sudanese.
    (SFC, 1/14/99, p.A6)

2006        Feb 20, Farmers clashed on the island of Crete with striking seamen who kept Greece's ports closed for a fifth day. The protest has caused food and gasoline supply problems for some Greek islands, and forced farmers to dump perishable goods.
    (AP, 2/20/06)

2007        Jul 11, Three firefighters died while battling a blaze in a forest on the Greek island of Crete.
    (AP, 7/12/07)

2011        Jan 3, A Greek ministry statement said experts from Greece and the US have found rough axes and other tools, thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years, old close to shelters on the south coast of Crete. The island has been separated from the mainland for about five million years, so whoever made the tools must have traveled there by sea, a distance of at least 40 miles.
    (AP, 1/4/11)

2011        Mar 6, Nearly 50 Bangladeshi migrant workers evacuated by sea from Libya to the Greek island of Crete jumped ship during the night, apparently to avoid being sent back to Bangladesh. Three died, 11 remained missing and many others were hospitalized.
    (AP, 3/6/11)

2014        Apr 24, A Togo-flagged cargo ship sank off the southern island of Crete. Four crew members were rescued by a merchant vessel, but three remained missing.
    (AP, 4/24/14)

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