Crete

Roman Provinces

The island of Crete was a cradle of early human advanced civilization. Home to the Minoans, Crete reached its point of greatest power around 1600 BC, but later Greek colonization brought the island into the Hellenistic world. City states were established and intense rivalries developed between cities such as Knossos, Cydonia and Gortyna. Despite these rivalries and intermittent wars, Crete was able to maintain itself as a virtually independent state from that of mainland Greece. Close ties were developed, simply due to cultural similarity, but Crete was never a major player in mainland affairs in its post Minoan history.