Crete, Greek and Roman
Crete, Greek and Roman(see map: The Roman empire (central and eastern provinces)) (for prehistoric Crete see Minoan civilization). Evidence for the history of the island comes both from literary sources, inscriptions, and coins and from excavation and (increasingly) field survey. The transition from bronze to iron age is still not fully understood, but some sites go back into the Dark Ages (Dictaean cave; the Idaean cave—finds start in the 8th cent.; refuge sites, e.g. Karphi and Vrokastro), but in historical times the island was predominantly Dorian Greek (Eteocretan, a non-Greek language, was used in places in the Archaic period, and traces survived into the 2nd cent. bc). Cretans prided themselves that Zeus was born on Crete, they developed a peculiar temple form, and also eschewed the hero-cults found on the Greek mainland. Of
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