DK Travel : Crete : History & Culture

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Venetian Fortress

Built in 1523–40 to guard the harbour approaches, the massive Rocca al Mare, as it was known to the Venetians, served its purpose well. Piles of cannonballs in the inner chambers seem to await another assault.
Venetian Fortress, Siteia

Siteia’s restored Venetian fort is used as an open-air theatre for concerts and plays in summer. The fortress is all that remains of the city’s once substantial ring of battlements which resisted a three-year siege by the Turks in 1648–51.
Venetian Rule

Crete falls into Venetian hands after 1204, when the Fourth Crusade goes awry and the Byzantine Emperor is deposed by an army of Frankish crusaders in alliance with Venice. Cretans rebel against the Venetians, but without success.
Venetian Tower, Finikas, Loutro

The lonely tower standing on a headland between Loutro and the bay of Finix, is yet another Venetian relic. Nearby are a few scattered blocks, the remains of a Byzantine church and also a Hellenistic town, the latter an important seaport when the Romans ruled Crete.
Vinzentzos Kornaros

This 16th-century poet (died 1677) was a contemporary of El Greco and Damaskinos and is remembered for his life’s work, the Erotokritos, post-Byzantine Greece’s greatest work of epic literature.
War of Independence

In 1821 a nationwide rising in mainland Greece flares into a full-scale and eventually successful War of Independence. In Crete, Chatzimichalis Dalianis and fewer than 400 rebels raise the Greek banner at Frangokastello, where they are besieged and slaughtered. Crete remains under the Turkish yoke.
Zakros

The fourth largest of Crete’s Minoan palaces, Zakros was rediscovered in 1961 by Cretan archaeologist Nikolaos Platon. The site had not been plundered, and finds included a stunning rock crystal jug, now in the Irakleio Archaeological Museum. Remains of the palace and a cistern can be seen.
Zeus

Paramount among the Greek gods, Zeus was said to have been born and raised in caves (see The Birth of Zeus). His mother sheltered him from his childdevouring father, the Titan Kronos, whom Zeus eventually slew, giving rise to a new dynasty of gods.
Zeus and Europa

Though married to the goddess Hera, Zeus took many mortal lovers, one of whom was the princess Europa, daughter of the King of Phoenicia. Taking the form of a white bull, Zeus carried Europa off to Crete, where he took her as his wife.
Zorba the Greek by Kazantzakis

The freedom-loving spirit of Greece is to the fore in this early 20th-century tragi-comedy.