Crete

Battle for Crete Introduction The battle of Crete occurred due to various causes and consequences including the enormous demand on the island by both the allies and the Axis. The battle began just after dawn on 20 May 1941. The air above was filled with parachutes as thousands of trained elite German Para troops began to drop from the skies. This was the beginning of the Battle for Crete. For 12 intense days the allies, New Zealanders, British, Australian and Greek troops, assisted by Cretan civilians

Located on the Greek island of Crete is the ancient Palace of Knossos. It is found on the outskirts of the modern day city, Heraklion. The city of Knossos, as shown below, is directly focused in the centre of Crete and is slightly off the north coast. Even more so, it is situated south of the Greek mainland. Knossos, in simplistic terms, is an ancient Minoan palace and surrounding city on the island of Crete, where it was sung of by Homer in his Odyssey. The marvelled settlement was

The island of Crete has a great significance in the Bible, aside from it be significant Crete is unique. The island is first referred to as Kaptara in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating to the 18th century BC. Greece has an extremely large number of Islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 – 6,000 depending in the minimum size to consider. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 – 227. Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands

Ancient Crete First Inhabitants ?Humans are believed to have arrived on the island now known as Crete sometime between 6500-6000 BCE, and the early Neolithic inhabitants may have arrived from Asia Minor.? While these early inhabitants were primitive, they had already adapted some stages of productivity such as possessing domestic animals (?Minoan,? Dilos).? Modern archeological findings date handmade ceramic pottery, which was frequently decorated with incised geometric motifs and made to imitate

The first great age of Minoan Crete was the Old Palace period(2000-1700B.C),during which huge labyrinthine palaces were built at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Zakros. In these palaces the power and wealth of the island were concentrated, and around them the political, social, economic and religious life of the island revolved. The manner in which these buildings and their various servicing systems were constructed is quite remarkable. In 1700 B.C. a great earthquake shook the island and the palaces

Book Review: “The Nazie Occupation of Crete, 1941-1945” G.C. Kiriakopoulos is a dentistry professor at Columbia University. Kiriakopoulos is a Fellow of the Royal Society in Great Britain and is a highly decorated veteran of World War II. He has written two books “Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Crete” and “The Nazi Occupation of Crete, 1941-1945.” His first book, “Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Crete,” has been praised as the most authentic documentation of the battle. This book details

The Minoan Civilization began on the Mediterranean island of Crete. It was first excavated by Sir Arthur Evans. The possible civilization sparked his interest when a charm that the Minoans use to wear was found, and it was brought to his attention. He started at Knossos, where the possible civilization became a reality. He uncovered multiple palaces, which have all been named since then. They are named: Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros. Each one shows signs of religion, trade, and politics. They

In the summer of 2016, recreational divers discovered fragments of pottery of the East coast of Crete near the Palace at Zakros. The fragments depicted artwork resembling that of ancient Minoan culture, specific to the Late Minoan IA-IB period. A team of archeologists returned to the location to start a week long search for any other Minoan artifacts. Divers were able to locate a shipwreck where the artifacts originated from. The ship, which was named by divers as “Minos’s Treasure“ (there is no

The Empire of Crete is an island strategically positioned in the Mediterranean Sea. Crete controls most of Eastern Mediterranean trade and taxes. Crete has the ability to trade with “Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, the Aegean islands, the mainland and west Sicily” (Thomas Sakoulas). This is how Crete gets its income. The issue is Crete has materials to build boats, but as soon as Crete reaches the mainland they lack animals to carry their goods across the Silk Road. The Crete Empire will secure trade along

for takeoff and landing was a necessity. This is where the island of Crete, in Greece, had an advantage. As Crete was the largest of the islands in the Mediterranean, it would be the perfect location for raids into the Balkans and Southern Europe, along with being a base for tactical air support in Greece and the Balkans. The harbor was also the largest in the Mediterranean, so it would be ideal for Naval base operations. If Crete were to fall into the hands of the Germans, it could be used for raids