Crete. The modern Candia. This large island, which closes in the Greek
Archipelago on the south, extends through a distance of 140 miles between its
extreme points. Though exceedingly bold and mountainous, this island has very
fruitful valleys, and in early times, it was celebrated for its hundred cities.
It seems likely that a very early acquaintances existed between the
Cretans and the Jews. Cretans, Act_2:11,
were among those who were at Jerusalem at the great Pentecost. In Act_27:7-12, we have an account of Paul's
shipwreck near this island; and it is evident from Tit_1:5,
that the apostle himself was here at no long interval of time before he wrote
the letter. The Cretans were proverbial liars. Tit_1:12.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Crete
krēt (Κρήτη,
Krḗtē, ethnic Κρῆτες,
Krḗtes, Act_2:11; Tit_1:12): An island bounding the Aegean Sea on
the South. It stretches from 34 degrees 50´ to 35 degrees 40´ North latitude
and from 23 degrees 30´ to 26 degrees 20´ East long. With Cythera on the North
and Carpathos and Rhodos on the Northeast, it forms a continuous bridge between
Greece and Asia Minor. The center of the island is formed by a mountain chain
rising to a height of 8,193 ft. in Mt. Ida, and fringed with low valleys beside
the coast. There are no considerable rivers; the largest, the Metropole, on the
South, is a tiny stream, fordable anywhere. An island of considerable extent
(156 miles long, and from 7 to 30 miles broad), in several districts very fertile
and possessing one or two good harbors, it seems marked out by its position for
an important role in the history of the eastern Mediterranean. But never since
an age which was already legendary when Greek history began has Crete occupied
a dominating position among the powers of the surrounding continents. Internal
dissensions, due in ancient times to the diversity of races inhabiting its soil
(Eteocretans - the original inhabitants - Pelasgians, Acheans, Cydonians and
Dorians), and in modern times to the fact that a large minority of the
population has accepted the Ottoman religion along with Ottoman government,
have kept Crete in a position of political inferiority throughout the
historical period.
1. Early History
Mt. Ida in Crete was famous in Greek legend as the birthplace of Zeus.
The half-legendary, half-historical King Minos was said to be the son of Zeus,
and to have derived from his father the wisdom to which, by a type of myth
common in Greek lands, the constitution of the Cretan cities was ascribed.
Minos was accepted as a historical personage by Thucydides and Aristotle, who
say that he was the first dynast in Greece to establish dominion on the sea.
One of his exploits was the suppression of piracy in Cretan waters, a feat
which had to be repeated by the Roman Pompeius at a later period. Aristotle
compares the Cretan institutions with those of Sparta; the island was said to
have been colonized by Dorians from Peloponnesus (Politics ii.10). The
most important cities in Crete were Knossos (whose palace has been excavated
with fruitful results by Mr. Arthur Evans), Gortyna, near the Gulf of Messara,
and Cydonia, with its river Iardanus. The excavations of Mr. Evans at Knossos
and of the Italians at Phastos (near Fair Havens) prove that Crete was a center
of Mediterranean civilization in an early age. In the Homeric poems, Crete is
said to have contained an hundred cities; at that period the Cretans were still
famed as daring sailors. In the classical age of Greek history they never held
a leading position. They are mentioned chiefly as traders and mercenary
soldiers, skilled especially in archery. During the Hellenistic period Crete
remained free. Demetrius Nicator made the island his base of operations before his
defeat at Azotus in 148.
2. The Jews in Crete
In 141, the Cretan Jews were influential enough to secure the patronage
of Rome. They were being oppressed by the people of Gortyna, and appealed to
Rome, which granted them protection. In strengthening the position of the Jews,
the Romans were copying the Seleucid policy in Asia Minor; both the Seleucids
and the Romans found the Jews among their most devoted supporters in their
subject states. This interference of Rome in the interest of her future
partisans paved the way for her annexation of the island in the following
century. From this date, there was a strong and prosperous body of Jews in
Crete, and Cretans are mentioned among the strangers present at the Feast of
Pentecost in Act_2:11. Its alliance
with Mithradates the Great, and the help it gave to the Cilician pirates gave
Rome the pretext she desired for making war on Crete, and the island was
annexed by. Metellus in 67 bc. With Cyrene on the North coast of Africa, it was
formed into a Roman province. When Augustus divided the Empire between the
Senate and himself, Crete and Cyrene were sufficiently peaceful to be given to
the Senate.
3. Later History
They formed one province till the time of Constantine, who made Crete a
separate province. The Saracens annexed Crete in 823 ad, but it was recaptured
for the Byzantine Empire by Nicephorus Phokas in the following century. From
the 13th till the 17th century it was held by the Venetian Republic: from this
period dates its modern name “Kandia,” which the Venetians gave to the Saracen
capital Khandax, and afterward to the whole island. After a desperate
resistance, lasting from 1645 to 1669 ad, Crete fell into the hands of the
Turks, who still exercise a nominal suzerainty over the island.
4. Crete in the Old Testament
In 1Sa_30:14; Eze_25:16, and Zep_2:5,
the Philistines are described as Cherethites, which is usually taken to mean
Cretans. The name is connected with Caphtor and the Caphtorim (Deu_2:23; Jer_47:4;
Amo_9:7). The similarity between the
river-names Jordan and Iardanos (Homer Odyssey iii. 292) “about whose
streams the Kydones dwelt,” has suggested that. Caphtor is to be identified
with Cydonia; or possibly it was the name of the whole island. Tacitus believed
in an ancient connection between Crete and Palestine; the Jews, he said, were
fugitives from Crete, and derived their name Iudaei from Mt. Ida (Hist.
v.2). Crete is mentioned in connection with the campaign of Demetrius Nicator,
referred to above, in 1 Macc 10:67. See CAPHTOR; CHERETHITES.
5. Crete in the New Testament
Crete owes its connection with Pauline history to the accident of a gale
which forced the ship carrying Paul to Rome to take shelter on the South coast
of the island. In the harbor of Myra, on the coast of Lycia, the centurion in charge
of Paul transferred him from the Adramyttian ship which had brought them from
Caesarea, to a ship from Alexandria in Egypt, bound for Ostia with a cargo of
grain. The fact that the centurion was in virtual command of the ship (Act_27:11) proves that it was one of the vessels
in the imperial transport service. Leaving Myra they came opposite Cnidus with
difficulty, against a head-wind. The ordinary course from Cnidus in good
weather was to steer straight for Cythera, but on this occasion the West or Northwest
winds made this route impracticable, and they sailed under the lee of Crete,
whose South coast would shelter them from a Northwest gale, and afford
occasional protection from a West gale. They passed Salmone, the Northeast
corner of Crete, with difficulty, and worked round the coast to Fair Havens, a
harbor somewhat to the East of Cape Matala. The great Feast fell while they
were at Fair Havens; in 59 ad it was On October 5, in the middle of the season
when the equinoxes made sailing impossible. Paul advised the centurion to
winter in Fair Havens, but the captain wished to reach Phoenix, a harbor
farther to the West, where ships from Egypt were accustomed to put in during
the stormy season. It was decided to follow the captain's advice; but on its way
to Phoenix the ship was struck by a Northeast wind called Euraquilo, which
rushed down from Mt. Ida. The ship was carried out to sea; it managed to run
under the lee of Cauda, an island 23 miles West of Cape Matala, where the crew
hauled in the boat, undergirded the ship, and slackened sail. On the fourteenth
night they were driven on the coast of Malta, and wrecked.
The narrative does not state that Paul landed in Crete, but as the ship
lay for some time at Fair Havens (Act_27:8,
Act_27:9) he had plenty of opportunity
to land, but not to travel inland. The centurion gave him permission to land at
Sidon. Paul left Titus in Crete (Tit_1:5);
tradition made the latter its first bishop, and patron saint.
6. The Cretans
Cretans were present, as noted above, at the Feast of Pentecost (Act_2:11). Paul's estimate of the Cretan
character (Tit_1:10-16) was the one
current in antiquity. Paul quotes (Tit_1:12)
a well-known line of the Cretan poet Epimenides (who lived about 600 bc) on the
mendacity of the Cretans. The sentiment was repeated by Callimachus (Hymn to
Zeus 8). Other ancient witnesses to the detestation in which the Cretan
character was held are Livy xliv.45, and Plutarch Aemilius section 23.
Literature
Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul; Ramsay, St. Paul the
Traveler and Roman Citizen, 320-30. On Crete in Greek and Roman times,
consult e.g. Grote, Holm, and Mommsen. A succinct account of the prehistoric
archaeology of the island is given in Burrows, The Discoveries in Crete,
and Bailkie, The Sea Kings of Crete.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Crete
Now called Candia, one of the largest islands in the Meditterranean,
about 140 miles long and 35 broad. It was at one time a very prosperous and
populous island, having a “hundred cities.” The character of the people is
described in Paul's quotation from “one of their own poets” (Epimenides) in his
epistle to Titus: “The Cretans are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Tit_1:12). Jews from Crete were in Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost (Act_2:11). The
island was visited by Paul on his voyage to Rome (Acts 27). Here Paul
subsequently left Titus (Tit_1:5) “to
ordain elders.” Some have supposed that it was the original home of the
Caphtorim (q.v.) or Philistines.
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary