History of Crete

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized
by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

information in books and make it universally accessible.
https://books.google.com
+= A SHORT
POPULAR
HISTO
RY OF
CRET
E
By J- H - FREESE MA
a
ad
C. Sp n la
li
ro
el
k
pa O
b
da .TIM
ra
G.
Su BE Dto.
R
R DIA
CAN
Y SITJA
GE
RA
PE
TR
A
DA
Messura By
LE
C.Martello
Gardoy
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
W
P- CLAYDEN
LOG
MG.1123.5
E
IA
HA
RV
EM AR
DI
AD
AN
AC
CCL
AE IN NO
W VERA
ESI
A
T
T
I
A
HA
R
E TAS
C
S
V
N
Harvard College Library .

FROM THE
J. HUNTINGTON WOLCOTT FUND .
Established by ROGER WOLCOTT (H. U. 1870), in memory

of his father, for "the purchase of books of per
manent value, the preference to be given to
works of History, Political Economy,
and Sociology." (Letter of Roger
Wolcott, June 1 , 1891.)
Received
. Jby
2.3 ..1.8.9.17
――
:
A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY OF CRETE
A
.
B
1
1
24°
Lim m
Hu
C.Spada
an
Busa
A
CANEA BAY
ANE
Tigani KISAMO PENOF
Gunia AKROCIR
BAY Halepa
35 C.Kut PRECL 35
30 SAN 30
ro
Sphinari tra
B.
de
ro
sci
Lu
av
indoo
vastey
Rumel
l
Grandes
ia
i
Candang
pil
mi
iv
io O Ri B.
VCat ros
.Kr IN
s
o
Tr
Tri
Plaka
alo
EL
F.l
C
C.
C
S
C.M
Caruba
B.
Zakro B
mpelos
35
hannel
Gavdo Pulonisi
C.Zur
Amberos Gav
24°
1
睿
I
A SHORT POPULAR
HISTORY OF CRETE
BY
John Henr
J. H. FREESE, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
WITH INTRODUCTION
By W. P. CLAYDEN
SANS PEUR ET
SANS REPROCHE
& N
LONDON
JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.

[All Rights Reserved]
1897
1.5291
MG. 1123.5 HARVARD COLLEGE
JUL 23 1897
LIBRARY.
Wolcott fund .
PREFATORY NOTE .
THE compiler of this little book desires to acknow

ledge his special obligations to the following works
amongst a large number of others which have been
consulted :
Louis Lacroix, Iles de la Grèce (Univers pittoresque,
vol. xxxviii . ) .
G. Finlay, History of Greece.
P. Daru, Histoire de Venise.
Von Hammer, History of the Ottoman Empire.
Larousse, Dictionnaire Universel.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Article " Crete."
F. Bamberg, Geschichte der Orientalischen Angelegen
heit im Zeitraume der Pariser und des Berliner Friedens.
E. Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty.
R. Pashley, Travels in Crete.
The Gazetteer of the World.
A. F. Yule, A Little Light on Cretan Insurrections.
W. J. Stillman , The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-1868 .
Fauriel, Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne.
Elpis Melena, Kreta- Biene.
A Passow, Carmina Popularia Græcia Recentioris
CONTENTS .
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION ... ... ... 7
I. THE ISLAND OF CRETE : GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL
FEATURES ... ... ... ... 25
II . ANCIENT CRETE, TO THE TIME OF ITS CONQUEST BY THE
ROMANS ... ... ... ... 32
III. THE HISTORY OF CRETE, FROM THE TIME OF ITS CON
QUEST BY THE ROMANS ΤΟ ITS CAPTURE BY THE
TURKS ... ... ... 48
IV. THE HISTORY OF THE ISLAND, FROM ITS CAPTURE BY
THE TURKS TO THE PRESENT TIME ... ... 73
V. GREEK HETÆRIÆ AND THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE ... 112
VI. CRETAN SONGS AND LEGENDS ... ... 133
:
INTRODUCTION .
FOR many weeks I have been receiving from all parts

of the kingdom requests for information on the subject
of Crete and the relations of the Cretans with the
kingdom of Greece. It has been impossible to meet
this demand, because the Cretan question and the action
of the Greek Government and people can only be
explained by telling the island story, and no brief but
sufficient summary of Cretan history was to be found.
This want is supplied by Mr. Freese in the following
chapters, which give an account of the geographical
and physical features of the island, sketch its political
and social life from the earliest times till now, and
show what have been the struggles and aspirations of
the whole Hellenic people. It is impossible, without
such a glance back over their stormy and suffering past,
to understand the position, or to enter into the feelings
and aspirations of the Greek nation or their Cretan
brothers. Crete has been a martyr island. It had a
thousand years of changeful history before the Christian
era, and, making allowance for a few centuries of peace
and prosperity, it may fairly be said to have had a
thousand years of struggle and suffering in Christian
8 INTRODUCTION.
times. It lies, as it were, on the border line between

East and West, between Christian civilization and the
semi-barbarism of Islam, and the tides of Mohammedan
conquest and Christian victory have swept backwards
and forwards over it for centuries. Its people are there
fore what ages of conflict have made them. Wherever
the Ottoman Turk rules, barbarism gains on civilization ,
commerce decays, agriculture is neglected, and all the
humanities, to use the Scottish phrase, die of inanition.
It is not the fault of the Cretan peasant, therefore, if, like
Othello, he is rude in speech—
"And little bless'd with the set phrase of peace ; "2
for he must say, with the Moor
"And little of this great world can I speak,

More than pertains to feats of broil and battle. "
Ten times within the present century the Cretans have

been driven to revolt by the intolerable oppression of
their alien rulers, and from the time when Europe forced
them back under Turkish rule in 1830 to the present
moment they have known little else than “ broil and
battle." The sixty-six years since Leopold refused the
Crown of Greece, because this essential part of the Greek
kingdom had been forcibly rent from it and re - enslaved ,
have seen seven rebellions, two of which lasted for a
couple of years or more. That of last spring lingered on
till the late summer, and after a brief time of compara
tive quiet blazed up again early in this year, and has
brought the active interference of the Greeks and the
present war.
The condition of Crete for eighteen months before the
outbreak of these latest troubles is fully described in
INTRODUCTION.
the detailed despatches of Consul Biliotti. During that

period the consul sent home more than two hundred
and forty letters and telegrams, in which may be read
the story of Cretan life from day to day. It is all along
a story of disorder and discontent, of pillage and murder.
Month after month his letters convey the most serious
warnings of coming trouble. A mere glance at the Blue
Book (Turkey, No. 7, 1896) shows the disturbed con
dition of the country. " Murder of Christians by Mussul
mans " is the burden of its index pages. Lists of
murders and outrages are sent home by the consul from
time to time, and on the 3rd of October, 1895 , he reports to
Lord Salisbury that he has been told that the low class
of Mussulmans are speaking of making the Christians
in Crete " repent of any concessions which the Sultan
may grant in Asia." On the 21st of November he
writes, that the situation, " in the opinion, not only of
the native Christians, but in that of the Mussulmans
themselves, is now quite intolerable ; " and on the 3rd of
December Lord Salisbury, writing to Sir Philip Currie,
urges him to impress on the Porte "the danger of
serious trouble unless some remedial measures are soon
adopted." But Sir Philip Currie is instructed to do his
spiriting gently, to be careful to assure the Porte that
"Her Majesty's Government are actuated by no wish to
interfere in the affairs of Crete, or to suggest any course
of action, but that they desire only in a spirit of friend
ship that the Sultan's Government should anticipate,
and thus avert, complications to which a continuance of
the present disorders will assuredly give rise." This
" spirit of friendship " was to be shown towards the
government of a man whose hands were already red
IO INTRODUCTION
ΤΟΝ ..
with the blood of thousands of Christians in Armenia,

and who was at that moment preparing one of the most
bloody and cruel massacres in the whole history of the
Christian Church. The appeal had no effect. Sir
Philip Currie wrote on the 18th of December, that the
Turkish Government was " incapable of taking any
effectual steps to remedy the present state of things in
Crete, or to avert the insurrection which, it is generally
believed, will break out in the spring."
All the winter Consul Biliotti kept Lord Salisbury
informed of every detail of public affairs, as fully as
though Crete was an integral part of the British Empire.
In February, 1896, the racial murders began to be
frequent, and the catalogue sent home in March and
April shows a state of complete disorder. On the
7th of March, Consul Biliotti gave an account of various
disturbances and sufferings, and added, “ All these
details are certainly known at Constantinople, but
nothing is done to find a remedy for a state of things
which, before long, must fatally lead to a general out
break, and disorders which may exceed even those of
the year 1889." So matters drifted on till May. All
this time Carathéodori Pasha, a Greek Christian, was
the Governor ; but the Porte refused him the means of
paying his police, and the commander of the Turkish .
troops mocked his authority and frustrated his efforts.
In March, 1896, he was recalled, and Consul Biliotti
reported that even the Mussulmans deeply deplored his
departure. His recall was the sign that the farce of
keeping to the reforms which the Powers had exacted,
was at an end. Turkhan Pasha, a Mussulman, was sent
to reign in his stead, and Consul Biliotti telegraphed on
INTRODUCTION. II
the 24th of March that attempts at murder and murders

were daily committed by Mussulmans against Christians ,
and that on that day the Christians in Canea had not
opened their shops, as three attempts at murder had
taken place on the day before . The whole island now
fell into a state of anarchy ; and early in May Turkhan
Pasha adjourned the General Assembly till August.
On the 21st of that month the Foreign Minister of the
Porte told Mr. Herbert at Constantinople that the
position of affairs in Crete was very bad. Turkhan
Pasha was recalled , and a soldier, Abdullah Pasha, was
put in his place . The next day Turkhan Pasha got
orders from Constantinople to convoke the General
Assembly for the 28th, but the Grand Vizier told Mr.
Herbert that the demands of the Cretans could not be
granted, that the convocation of the Assembly would
have but little effect, and that he feared order could
only be restored by military measures. On the very
day of the despatch of this telegram from Constanti
nople, the military measures were effectually prepared
for by a rising of the Mussulman population, and a
massacre of Christians in Canea.
The demands of the Cretans, which the Turks deter
mined to resist, were substantially that the Pact or
Convention of Halepa, which is fully described by Mr.
Freese in his fourth chapter, should be carried out.
They asked that the gendarmerie should be composed of
Cretans, and not of Albanians and others from different
parts of the Empire ; that the Custom-house adminis
tration and revenue should be handed over to the
Cretans ; that Turkish correspondence clerks should be
done away with ; and that the old system ofjurisprudence
I2 INTRODUCTION.
should be restored. The Porte, however, as Mr. Block

inferred from a conversation he had with the Grand
Vizier, had resolved on military measures, and Mr.
Herbert knew so well what this determination meant
that he telegraphed from Constantinople to Lord
Salisbury :
" The Turkish Government, according to all the infor
mation I receive, are determined to quell the insurrection
in Crete by force, with their customary severity. I think,
therefore, in view of this probability and the Zeitoun
experience, that we should be very careful how we allow
our consul to give any guarantees as to conditions being
carried out by the Sublime Porte."
This warning of the untrustworthy character of the
Turkish Government was acted on . Consul Biliotti was
instructed not to accept responsibility for any conditions,
but to confine himself to bringing about negotiations
and settling the preliminaries of an arrangement. This
order to our consul was repeated, and similar orders
were sent by all the Powers to their representatives.
The consuls telegraphed for warships, and warships
were sent. Meanwhile reports were sent home that the
Porte was shipping troops for Crete, and Mr. Herbert's
fears of a repetition in the Greek island of the Zeitoun
severities were shared by all the Powers as well as by
the people and the Government of Greece. Greece was
deeply stirred. It seemed to the Greek people to be their
duty to step in and shield the Cretans from the vengeance
of the Assassin of the Armenians. Count Goluchowski,
the Austrian Minister, expressed to our Ambassador at
Vienna, Sir E. Monson, the fear that events had gone
to such lengths that an irresistible popular current
INTRODUCTION. 13
might carry away the King of Greece and his Govern

ment, and he significantly added, " The blame for the
present situation lies entirely with the Turks themselves ,
and it will be impossible for Greece to stand aloof if acts
of savagery take place in the island. " Greece, however,
possessed her soul in patience. She took the advice of
the Powers, and in so doing let a great opportunity
slip. Crete was ready to fall into her hands, and Count
Goluchowski said that she would have had much Euro
pean sympathy if she interfered to stop the savagery.
There was everything to justify her interference. Consul
Biliotti telegraphed to Lord Salisbury in June : " Pillage
and fire mark the passage of the troops." The Christians
in the interior, however, held their own , and the efforts
of the Turks to conquer them entirely failed . They had
themselves struck the blow and won their freedom. If
at this moment Greece had been allowed to step in, the
union of Crete to the Hellenic Kingdom might have
been accomplished amid general consent.
The Greeks, however, have a watchful enemy in Russia.
They stand in Russia's way. A strong Hellenic king
dom would not only bar her progress to the warmer
seas, but might compete with her for the old capital of
the Byzantine Empire. The political superstition of
" the integrity and independence of the Ottoman
Empire " has now its headquarters at St. Petersburg,
while Austria professes allegiance to it, and France bows
the knee to any idol Russia may set up. M. Hanotaux
told Mr. Howard on the 8th of July, that if the Powers
could smother the Cretan question they would do a good
work. So Prince Lobanoff thought, and he induced
Austria to propose the blockade of Crete, to prevent the
14 INTRODUCTION.
importation of arms or volunteers from Greece. Lord

Salisbury made a fitting reply to this proposal. In a
despatch to Mr. Gosselin, on the 29th of July, he said
that he had told the German Ambassador
That I saw no prospect of Her Majesty's Government being able

to adhere to this suggestion. They had always declined to intervene
in cases of civil strife between a Government and its subjects , and
their objection would be accentuated by the fact that they would
be intervening in opposition to Christian insurgents who had very
solid grievances to complain of. After what had taken place in
Armenia during the winter, it was difficult to count on the modera
tion or clemency with which the Turkish Government would be
likely to use any victory it might achieve, and Her Majesty's
Government, therefore, shrank from taking part by material
intervention in the work of restoring the authority of the Sultan,
when they had at their disposal no means of insuring that the
restored authority would be exerted with moderation and justice.
The German Ambassador thereupon reminded Lord

Salisbury of the Greek blockade, instituted when Mr.
Gladstone was Prime Minister, and asked him whether
that was not a precedent for the blockade of Crete.
But Lord Salisbury says—
I replied that the distinction between the two appeared to me to

be very marked. If Greece were to assume a hostile attitude to
the Turkish Government, and make any aggression upon the
independence or integrity of the Turkish Empire, the collective
guarantee into which the Powers entered at the Treaty of Paris
would become a matter of serious consideration . . . . But the
question submitted by Count Goluchowski was not that of coercing
the Government of Greece ; it was that of taking part against the
Cretan insurgents. I added, as a secondary objection to the
proposal, that I very much doubted its success. It was no easy
matter to guard a littoral so indented as that of Crete, and to
prevent the blockade being broken by small fishing-boats from
the neighbouring coasts of Africa or of Greece ; and the blockade
would not be an easy one to maintain in the face of the weather
INTRODUCTION. 15
which usually prevailed in the seas between Crete and Greece in

the early part of the autumn. Some of the Powers were now
urging a blockade on the ground that it did not consist with their
dignity to allow their recommendations to be set at naught ; but I
feared that if the blockade was tried and failed they would think
it still less consistent with their dig to acquiesce in such a
result, and the question of military occupation, with all the
rivalries and entanglements which it would involve, would
then be forced on us for decision. (Turkey, No. 7, 1896,
p. 231.)
This admirable despatch settled the whole question. |

Nothing more was heard of the proposed blockade,
though Count Goluchowski was " extremely agitated
and impressed by the difficulties of the situation " when
Lord Salisbury's wise decision was communicated to
him. He thought it might lead to war ; and hinted
that it " would certainly intensify the suspicions already
entertained of British policy." Lord Salisbury, however,
refused to move, and said that " it was not an even
handed proceeding to give the Sultan the assistance of
the ships which would intervene by force, while giving
the Cretans the assistance of a Commission which could
only intervene by representations. " He repeated this
reply in answer to an alternative proposal that the
Sultan should close the ports, and the ships of the
Powers should watch the ports for him. The balance,
he said, was not even. " It was deeds on one side, and
mere words on the other. The exercise of force would
not be sufficiently balanced by the presentation of
remonstrances." He added that " it was impossible.
that Great Britain should take part in proceedings
intended to paralyze the action of the insurgents, unless
by the exercise of force on the other side also adequate
16 INTRODUC TION.
CTIO
guarantees were taken for the future good government

of the island."
As the British Minister was thus firm , the other
Powers and the Sultan were obliged to give way. The
Porte adopted its usual tactics of delay. Prince
Lobanoff-talked about " a political volcano bursting
out " if the Powers failed to act together, and Count
Goluchowski, down to the middle of August, pressed his
scheme for the blockade, but Lord Salisbury was firm .
In the end a settlement was come to, which received the
signatures of the six Powers on the 25th of August, and
of the Sultan's representative on the 27th ; and on the
5th of September Consul Biliotti wrote that " both
Christians and Mussulmans are very happy to be led
out of the untenable position in which they were
placed." He thought that more good-will was to be
expected on the part of the Mussulmans than of the
Christians themselves in carrying out the new organiza
tion. The consuls of the Great Powers communicated
the scheme to the Christian deputies, and in informing
the Governor of what they had done, made complaint
of the massacre close to the gates of Canea, and close
to a military post, of many unarmed and peaceable
Christians, " who had only returned to their village on
the invitation of the authorities, and on the assurance
that they would enjoy the most complete security."
The Consuls told the Governor that these disorders
made them fear that the Government was powerless
to maintain public order, and threatened to appeal to
the Sultan if this disorder was not stopped at once.
A fortnight later Berovitch Pasha, a Christian, was
appointed Governor, and hope revived. The scheme
INTRODUCTION. 17
he had to administer was one of autonomy. There was

to be a Commission to reform the Tribunals, and
another to reorganize the gendarmerie under European
officers. The elections were to be ordered and the
Assembly convoked within six months.
For a brief month or two there was much exultation
among Lord Salisbury's political friends over this
diplomatic success. It was held by them to condone
his failure in Armenia, and to show what the Concert
of Europe could do when Great Britain was faithful to
it. On paper Crete was free, and yet the integrity of
the Turkish Empire had been kept. In Crete itself
there was a brief period of calm. The Christian
deputies issued an appeal to Christians and Mussul
mans, " children of the same country, belonging to the
same race," to let the work of peace be henceforth
their only strife. The Christians, who had fled to
Greece in thousands, began to return ; and the Mussul
mans, who had taken possession of the abandoned
homes of the fugitives, were urged to restore the
property to its rightful owners. There was some
friction over this restoration, but early in October,
Consul Sir Alfred Biliotti wrote that there was a
strong wish on the part of Mussulmans and Christians
to live in peace. A most productive olive crop was
gathered in, and the towns began to assume their
usual aspect. There was, however, an uneasy feeling
that the proposed reforms would never be carried out.
The Christian Governor soon found that he was no
body, and that the commander of the Turkish troops
was supreme. It was nearly Christmas before the
organization of the gendarmerie was begun, or the
*
B
18 INTRODUCTION.
I Commission on the Tribunals was at work. A whisper

went through the Mussulman community that the
reforms were to be resisted, and they openly boasted
that the interference of the Powers in Crete would be
as futile as it had been in Armenia. It was not till
the middle of January, 1897, that the Porte finally
accepted the scheme of the European Commission on
the gendarmerie, and the Mussulmans were advised
from Constantinople not to allow it to be carried out.
At the end of January a well-known Christian was
murdered outside the gates of Canea, and the Mussul
man mob made a night attack on the populous
Christian village of Galata, an hour away, which the
Christians repulsed, though two hundred of their
houses were burned. The Christians in other villages
flew to arms, and in the country outnumbered their
enemies. In the coast towns, however, the Mussul
mans were in the ascendant, and the consuls at Canea
sent for the warships, and offered the Christians of that
place an asylum on board. On the 4th of February,
the Mussulman mob of Canea, aided by the Turkish
soldiers, attacked the Christian quarter, committing
frightful atrocities- in one case baking nine Christians
in an oven and ending by setting fire to the city.
After some hesitation, during which the Christian
quarter was destroyed, the ships sent fire-engines and
stayed the flames, the mob plundering the houses
which the fire spared. At night there was not a
Christian in the town, but the ships were crowded
with Christian refugees. All over the island the
Mussulman population were in arms against the
Christians ; and the Turkish military authorities, who
INTRODUCTION. 19
had pushed the Governor aside, supplied their co

religionists with arms, or gave them active co- opera
tion. It was the Constantinople massacre on a
smaller scale.
On the day after the burning of Canea a meeting of
Cretan deputies and chiefs at Halepa proclaimed the
union of the island with Greece. The Christians every
where fought under the Greek flag, and the Christian
Governor of the island took refuge at the Hellenic
consulate at Halepa. These events roused indignation
all over Europe, and excited the Greek people to
frenzy. The Porte made arrangements to send troops
to Crete, and the Greek Government resolved to stop
them. The time had come which Count Goluchowski
had anticipated, when the Greeks could no longer be
prevented from intervening. The Concert of Europe
had failed. Another specious scheme of autonomy had
broken down, and the Cretans had called on the mother
country to aid them in effecting complete emancipation
from their treacherous tyrant. The Christian insurgents
had found the Powers unwilling or unable to give them
the slightest security, and they had taken their defence
into their own hands. In this supreme crisis they called
on the Greeks to help them. Greece flew to their aid,
and its Government explained and justified its action in
a few dignified words
Events in Crete have brought that unfortunate island to a state

of anarchy, and the lives and possessions of the Christians are
exposed to the fury of a fanatic populace. The Greek Government
could no longer tolerate this lamentable situation of the Christian
population to whom we are united by the sacred ties of religion .
They have consequently decided to send an army corps to occupy
the island and re-establish order and peace.
20 INTRODUCTION.
Colonel Vassos, aide-de-camp to the King, was de

spatched with four battalions of Greek troops, and his
instructions were—
You will land with the troops under your orders at the most
favourable point ; you will occupy the island in the name of King
George, and you will raise his flag on the fortress of which you
will take possession. All your actions shall be accomplished in
conformity with Greek laws in the name of King George, and on
the responsibility of his Government. As soon as you have landed
you will publish a proclamation announcing to the Cretan people
the occupation of the island by the Greek troops.
This heroic step was resented by the Powers. They

could not keep order, nor prevent the most revolting
atrocities, but they preferred anarchy and massacre to a
peace and quiet secured by Greeks. Prince George and
his ships were warned off, but despised the warning,
and though Colonel Vassos was allowed to land, he
was regarded as an enemy. He met with an enthusiastic
welcome from the whole Christian population, who
rallied at once to his standard and hailed him as a
national deliverer. Everywhere in the interior the
Greeks and Christians were successful, and drove the
Turks towards the sea. By the 20th of February the
Turks were sorely pressed, and the five admirals sent
an ultimatum to the victorious patriots, threatening to
fire on them if they approached Canea. On Sunday,
the 21st, the patriots joined issue with the Turks on the
hills east of the town. " The Turkish reply," said the
Daily News correspondent, who was present, "was feeble,
and it was obvious that the Turks must abandon their
position if pressed." The fleets, however, interfered to
save them. The ships fired seventy shells, forty of
INTRODUCTION. 21
which were from British guns. Three Cretans were

killed and fifteen wounded, among whom were three
nuns. " The Turks, encouraged by the fleets, now
opened a lively fusilade, while the Cretans were carry
ing off their dead. The Cretans made no reply. The
whole performance," adds the correspondent, " was a
somewhat melancholy and degrading spectacle." On
the next day a Turkish ship in Suda Bay and the
Turkish soldiers at the arsenal fired at the same body
of patriots though the white flag was hoisted, but the
Cretans did not reply. On Wednesday night an in
cendiary fire, kindled by Mussulmans with the hope of
plunder, broke out at the Government Palace in Canea,
and destroyed that last vestige of Turkish rule.
The agitation which these events produced all over
Europe woke up the slumbering Powers. Their im
pulse was to blame Greece. Mr. Gladstone described
the bombardment as filling up the measure of their
dishonour ; and Lord Salisbury announced that the
Powers had resolved on keeping Crete for the Sultan
by another measure of “ autonomy." The Greeks were
to be compelled to withdraw ; but the Turkish troops
were to stay for a while " for reasons of police." This
proposal to keep the cut-throats to look after the safety
of their victims, met with general disapproval. The
admirals occupied Canea and Candia to keep peace ;
but in the interior the Christians carried all before them .
On the 2nd of March the Powers sent an ultimatum to
Greece. They declared that they could not allow
Greece to annex Crete at present, but would themselves
give it a complete scheme of autonomy. They
"invited" Greece to withdraw her troops from the
22 INTRODUCTION.
island, and her fleet from its waters, and added ,

" In case of refusal " the Powers are irrevocably
determined to hesitate at no measure of compulsion if,
on the expiry of a period of six days, the withdrawal of
the ships and troops be not effected." A courteous note
informed the Porte of the proposed autonomy , and
suggested the concentration of the Turkish troops within
the fortified towns. At the end of the six days, the
Greek Government sent an argumentative reply, but did
not withdraw the ships or the troops, and the six Powers
began at once to hesitate as to the measure of compul
sion to apply. They allowed the consuls to announce
the proposed autonomy to the people of Crete, and the
people at once rejected it. The French Chamber was
told that Crete was to be rigidly blockaded first, and
afterwards certain points on the Greek coast, and that
in Crete itself an additional force of five or six hundred
men was to be landed by each of the Powers. The
blockade of Crete was begun on the 21st of March, but
that of Greece was postponed, and Colonel Vassos held
the whole interior of the island, and at the end of March
was actually governing it in the name of King George.
Fighting, however, went on wherever the Turks and
Christian insurgents met, the admirals always taking
the side of the Turks, and again bombarding the
Christians at Malaxa, near Suda, on the 27th of March.
At Canea the Cretans saw other signs of fraternization
betweentheir ostensible deliverers and their old oppressors.
When the Seaforth Highlanders landed at Canea, the
Turkish soldiers and their officers gave them an effusive
welcome, and conducted them to the Turkish barracks
with musical honours. A few days later an international
INTRODUCTION. 23
force of British, French, Italians , and Russians, marched

out of Canea with the Turkish troops to occupy a fort
above the town. In spite of all this pro-Turkish action ,
Colonel Vassos keeps the interior for King George,
while the international fleets and soldiers hold the coast
for Turkey. The promised autonomy has slipped out
of sight.
Meanwhile the stress of the conflict between freedom
and the vilest despotism on earth has shifted to another
field. Both sides have felt that the interference of the
European Powers in Crete would force them to fight out
the issue on other soil. There were rumours all through
March of the concentration of Turkish troops in Thessaly
and Epirus, and of the gathering of irregular forces in
the interests of Greece. On the 9th of April several
bands of irregulars crossed the Macedonian frontier
after a solemn religious service among the olive trees.
The Greek Government naturally repudiated any
responsibility for their action, and the Powers looked
on incapable or irresolute. Neither the Greeks nor the
Turks wanted war, and there is every reason to believe
that the Sultan and King George were equally anxious
to come to an agreement and be at peace. The Powers,
however, at the dictation of Russia, forbade the negotia
tions ; and on Easter Sunday, Europe was startled by
the news that, on the day before, Turkey had declared
war against Greece, and that a great battle had been
fought on the same night. How this sudden resolution
of the Turks was brought about is at present one of
the secrets of diplomacy. It fell on the European
Concert like a thunderbolt. For months the people of
England, France, and Italy had been assured that their
24 INTRODUCTION.
Governments kept in the Concert with the three despotic

Powers in the interests of Peace. It was to give Crete
her freedom , and to preserve the peace of Europe, that
the guns of Christian nations were fired on Christian
patriots fighting against oppression. But the crime.
against religion and humanity has been committed in
vain. Crete is not free, and war is raging on European
soil. In this war, the Concert of Europe acts for the
Turk by holding Crete in his interest, and the long
struggle of the Christian races, not only for " freedom to
worship God," but for security against the worst crimes
of barbarian passion, might, in Crete at least, come to a
triumphant end, were not the British fleet in Russia's
keeping, and the British people powerless in Lord
Salisbury's subservient hands.
P. W. CLAYDEN.
21 9.22
Serina HINTRIGHTE
Vlakolivado OF
GULF
E ory' s
Mla
o tamon SALONIKA
Kipur Diskata W MAnalipia
NPeazer Tempe
of
Yale
Milia O psani
"Kh T
as HE ELASSONA
i M sia ու M
Kri Merelu Kissavo
Dhokim "? տեր TyrnavoPnd
ներ
Da a s
Metsovo Kalabaka Ra magisi s
Jamina
S
JANINA m b a
the
E
M
SYRAK ala
lon
TRIKHALA
g
R.S LARIRISSA
Ko! alary
Agnanda F Karla
E
71*/01/*7/
1 N
1~/1/0121018
0 Sykia BA Anezi
A
AL
T
Kanali
R
A
Mikalitza
Micopotigat agura Koprona
T
OARTA GU Sat
.Miles
English ephala
ARTA
PREVESA
Punta gra
Conada
20 Yonits GelaVal ery
Bay a
Ke
rv
G ulf KekinoP PlayONIT

as
A
ofr
VALTOS
ta SALoutraks
a
Demata
N ON I TS
PREVES VESA 1.ofPort
Palimbey
d
& VONIT
Mau
3.
MAP
of
the SEAT
WAR
of
.
A SHORT POPULAR
HISTORY OF CRETE.
CHAPTER I.
THE ISLAND OF CRETE : GEOGRAPHICAL AND

PHYSICAL FEATURES.
CRETE, the ancient Crētē, called by the Turks Gireed,

and commonly by Europeans Candia, a name which is
not recognized upon the island itself, is one of the
largest islands of the Mediterranean. In ancient times
it was also called Macaronēsos (fortunate island) and
Aëria (airy) , owing to its fertility and beautiful climate,
and Doliche (long) , from its shape. The etymology of
the ancient name itself cannot be satisfactorily settled.
According to the ecclesiastical historian , Eusebius, it was
so called from its first king, Cres, a son of Zeus ; * while
another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, tells us that
Ammon, hard pressed by famine, took refuge in Crete,
where he married Crētē, and became king of the island ,
which, formerly called Idæa, was afterwards called
" Crete. The Venetian name Candia may be either a
corruption of Khandak,† a name given by the Arabs to
a town built by them soon after their conquest of the
* According to others, he was a Cretan autochthon , or native of the soil.
† Or Khandax.
26 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY OF crete.
island in the early part of the ninth century, or may

allude to the white appearance of its mountains as seen
from the sea. The history of the Greeks or Hellenes
begins upon the sea, and its commencement is the
opening of intercourse between the islands and the
coasts ;but this commencement is marked by kid
napping and piratical expeditions, leading to reprisals,
until at last every man's hand was raised against his
fellow. To prevent the total destruction of the newly
awakened forces, it was necessary to find a central
point from which a new order of things might take its
beginning, and this was found in Crete.
This island is situated between 34° 55' and 35 ° 43′ N.
lat., and 23° 30′ and 26° 20′ E. long. It is about a hundred
and fifty miles in length, from Cape Corycus (now Cape
Buso) in the west to Cape Sidero in the east ; its average
breadth is twenty miles. On the south it is washed by
the Mediterranean , on the north by the sea of Candia ;
on the north-east are the straits of Scarpanto, which
separate it from the island of that name, and on the
north-west the straits of Cerigotto. Situated at an
almost equal distance from Europe, Africa, and Asia,
Crete was as it were the point of contact of these three
continents, and the centre of the ancient world.
The island presents a very irregular outline, especially
on the north coast, which is indented by deep gulfs, the
chief of which are, from west to east, Kissamo, Canea,*
Candia (on the site of the ancient Heraklion, called by
the Greeks Megalo- Castro), Suda, an excellent road
stead, Armyro, Mirabella, and Sittia, and contains a
large number of capes and promontories-Buso, Spada,
* More correctly, Khania.
THE ISLAND OF CRETE. 27
Acrotiri, Retimo, Zuano, and Sidero. On the south

side there is only one deep gulf, Messara, and three
chief capes, Krio, Matala, and Langada. The island is
traversed throughout its whole length by a lofty chain
of mountains, composed of three distinct groups, which
have from time immemorial formed the great natural
or political divisions of the island. On the west, the
Sphakiote mountains, the Leuka Ore of Strabo (modern
Asprovouna-white mountains), so called from their
retaining the snow on their summits through eight or
nine months of the year. In the centre is Mount
Psiloriti, the Mount Ida of the ancients, about eight
thousand feet above the level of the sea. On the east,
Mount Dicte, now Lassiti or Kittia. There are no im
portant rivers in the island. The torrents which descend
from the mountains dry up during the excessive heat ;
but there are numerous springs on the lower slopes of
the mountains, which abundantly supply the absence
of irrigation. Although there are few trees upon the
heights, the whole atmosphere of the island is said
to have an aromatic odour arising from the flowers and
shrubs which grow wild amongst the mountains, and
furnish food for the hares and wild goats. No country
in the world, perhaps, abounds more in natural excava
tions ; granite, schist, and slate are amongst the primary
rocks.
The climate of Crete is mild and healthy ; the
extremes of heat and cold are unknown. Observations
taken during a whole year only showed a variation of
7°. In the height of summer, the heat is tempered by a
breeze that blows from the north. The average tem
perature is 64° ; sometimes, however, the thermometer
28 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY OF CRETE.
reaches 88° in summer. Snow falls on the mountains

for two months of the year, and earthquakes are fre
quently felt in the north part of the island. The only
endemic disorder known is leprosy. The soil is fertile,
but since the wars of Greek Independence, agriculture
has been neglected, and many parts of it remain un
cultivated for want of labourers. Although the olive
plantations have been in great part destroyed, and are
greatly neglected, oil is still the staple production of the
country. The vines produce famous wines, especially
that of Malevisi ; fruits, flax, cotton, silk, and honey
are the other most important productions. The lower
slopes of the mountains are covered with oaks, chestnut
trees, pines, walnut trees, myrtle, wild olives, and carob
trees ; figs, oranges, and pomegranates are plentiful. The
island abounds in slate. The goats of the island are
a remarkably fine breed, and the sheep are highly
´esteemed.
Brandy, oil, fruits, honey, soap, and cheese are the
principal articles of exportation . Silk is raised in small
quantities, but of good quality. About two thousand
tons of carobs are produced ; and oranges and lemons
form a considerable article of export.
In ancient times the island was extremely populous ;
the poets speak of it as containing a hundred cities,
and we may reckon the number of its inhabitants to
have been about 1,000,000. The inhabitants of Crete
under the Venetians were estimated at about 250,000
souls. After the Turkish conquest the population was
for a time greatly reduced, but afterwards gradually
rose ; and at the time of the outbreak of the Greek
Revolution in 1821 , it reached 250,000, of whom about
half were Mohammedans. At the close of the Revolution

the inhabitants had dwindled down to 150,000, of whom
100,000 were Greek rayahs (or subjects), 25,000 Turks,
and 25,000 Greeks from the Morea or the Ionian
Islands. The cause of decrease is to be und in
the war carried on by the Cretans against both the
Sultan and Mohammed Ali, and in the oppressive cha
racter of the Egyptian rule. Since then the population
has again materially increased ; Captain Spratt (Travels
and Researches in Crete) calculated it as amounting to
210,000, less than 40,000 being Mohammedans . It is
to be noticed that very few of these Mohammedans are
Turks ; they are almost entirely of native Cretan origin.
The inhabitants, both Mohammedans and Christian, are,
as a rule, tall and vigorous, and particularly skilful in
the use of the bow, a reputation which they have main
tained from ancient times. Amongst the Mohammedan
part of the population are to be noted the Abadiotes ,
the descendants of the Saracens, who were expelled from
the island by Nicephorus Phocas in the tenth century.
They speak Arabic, and dwell in the neighbourhood of
Mount Ida.
Although a brave and hardy race of men, ever ready
to fight to the last for the recovery of their freedom and
emancipation from Turkish rule, the Cretans, as a whole,
seem to have preserved the national characteristics with
which they have from time immemorial been credited.
Travellers agree in describing them as ignorant, super
stitious, and bigoted . In 1817 there were only three
schools in the island. The Greek dialect spoken is very
corrupt, but is the only language understood by the
rural population. The Kalóyeros, or monk, like his
Russian confrère, is scarcely, if at all, superior to the

peasant. Few of them can read, and, in fact, their chief
claims to distinction lie in their wearing long beards,
their vow of celibacy, and their conventual life in a
monastery. The higher clergy can all read and write.
a little. The native Cretans are of the Greek Church,
and are allowed the free exercise of their religion. The
island is divided into eight bishoprics ; the Bishop of
Gortynia is appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople,
and assumes the title of Archbishop. He wears a triple
tiara, writes his signature in red ink, answers for all the
debts of the clergy —a happy arrangement, hardly likely
to suit his Anglican brethren— and nominates to all the
vacant bishoprics in the island. He resides at Candia,
and is the only Greek who possesses the privilege of
entering that town on horseback.
The only important towns are : Candia (near the site
of the ancient Cnossus), which was for a long time the
capital of the island . It contains about fifteen thousand
inhabitants. The houses are well built, but seldom rise
above the height of two stories. The harbour is a mere
basin formed by two moles, which project about two
hundred and fifty yards into the sea. Canea (the ancient
Cydonia), which has become the capital of the island since
the renewal of the Turkish domination, a fortified town
on the north-west coast, with eight thousand inhabitants ;
and Retimo (ancient Rhithymna), also on the north coast,
a small fortified town with a good harbour. Ierapetra,
on the south coast, on the site of the ancient Hierapytna,
is a poor place, with a scanty population. The port of
Suda, three miles from Canea, is the best in the island .
At the present time Crete forms part of Turkey, and
is under the government of a pasha, and is divided into

three provinces, of which Canea, Retimo, and Candia
are the capitals, these provinces being subdivided into
twenty districts. The annual revenue from the island is
reckoned at about £80,000 ; the rayahs pay a capitation
tax, and other direct and indirect imposts. The garrison
is about four thousand five hundred in number, consisting
chiefly of Arabs and Albanians.
CHAPTER II .
ANCIENT CRETE, TO THE TIME OF ITS CONQUEST BY

THE ROMANS.
IT is in Homer that we first find mention of the ancient

population of the island : " In the midst of the dark sea
is a land called Crete, fair and fertile, surrounded by the
waves ; it contains ninety cities, and a vast number of
inhabitants, who speak various languages-Achæans,
stout-hearted Eteocretans (genuine Cretans) , Cydonians ,
Dorians, and Pelasgians." The period to which Homer
here refers was the reign of Minos, a half-mythical, half
historical personage, who is supposed to have been the
first king of Crete. The earliest history of the island,
like that of most parts of continental Greece, is so mixed
up with mythology and fable that it is impossible to
arrive at any clear conclusions concerning it. The
Cretans themselves claimed that their island was the
birthplace of Zeus (Jupiter), as well as the home of
all the other divinities usually worshipped in Greece as
the Olympian deities. Even when we come to Minos
we are still far from being on firm ground. History is
still legendary, and it is difficult to know how much is
true amidst the mass of tradition by which his name is
surrounded.
* Odyssey, xix. 172, 899 .
ANCIENT CRETE. 33
Before the time of Minos, all interest was centred in

the religious myths ; the people were effaced by the
gods ; there were no indications of political life. With
Minos the gods give place to the heroes, and he himself
marks the transition between the two, belonging to the
former by his birth and origin, and to the latter by his
acts. The son of the god Zeus and the goddess Europa,
he at the same time appears to us as the type of the
ancient legislator and the founder of a great maritime
power. Although we may not believe all that tradition
tells us concerning his laws and adventures, it seems
highly probable that he introduced a certain political
order into Crete, and made the island powerful on sea ;
in fact, stripped of the marvellous, and reduced to his
proper proportions, Minos remains the national hero
and legislator of Crete. The inhabitants of the island,
as given in the passage above quoted from Homer,
differing as they did in origin, language, and religion,
were further kept apart by the natural features of the
island, as are its inhabitants at the present day. Crete
has never attained political unity, it has always been
divided amongst distinct groups of peoples, sometimes
engaged in desperate internecine struggles. But it
approached more nearly to such unity in the times of
Minos, who, from his capital at Cnossus, exercised a
certain amount of supremacy over the whole island,.
with the exception of the western portion, which main
tained a kind of independence. This seems hinted at
by the Greek historian Herodotus, who tells us that
certain of the western inhabitants declined to take part
in an expedition to avenge the death of Minos, as it
had been an event in which they felt no interest.
с
The sea was the natural element of the Cretans ; the

situation of the island , with its extended coasts and
numerous harbours, combined to attract them to it.
Aristotle, in his Politics, says, " Nature seems to have
placed the island of Crete in the most favourable
position for holding sway over the rest of Greece, •
on one side it is close to Peloponnesus, on the other it
touches Asia. This admirable position gave Minos the
Empire of the sea." There seems no doubt about
the maritime supremacy of the island at some distant
period. The impartial historian Thucydides remarks ,
" Of all the rulers of whom we have heard, Minos was
the oldest possessor of a navy. He was master of the
greater part of the sea which is now called Hellenic, he
ruled over the Cyclades, and set up institutions in the
greater part of these islands."
However, this naval supremacy was by no means.
attained without a struggle. At this time piracy and
commerce went hand in hand, no disgrace at all being
attached to the former, and the seas were utterly unsafe,
being infested by corsairs. Most of the islands had
become the haunts of brigands. Minos put an end to
this state of things. He seems to have almost entirely
driven the Phoenician pirates from the Ægean, but not
the Carians, who afterwards appear closely united with
the Cretans, and associated with their enterprises and
colonies. We are told by Herodotus, that " in ancient
times the Carians were the subjects of Minos, and went
by the name of Leleges, dwelling among the isles and
paying tribute to no man. ... They served on board
the ships of King Minos whenever he required ."
The establishment of colonies in the time of Minos is
ANCIENT CRETE. 35
one of the principal events in the history of the Cretans.

Hitherto confined within the limits of the island, they
suddenly spread over the sea that surrounded them, and
sent out in all directions colonies to the coasts of Asia
Minor, the islands of the Ægean Sea, Greece, and even
Italy, Miletus, Tenedos, Colophon, the islands of Chios
and Rhodes, Delphi, and Taenarum in Laconia in
Peloponnesus (the Morea).
But it was not only upon the coasts and islands of the
Ægean that Cretan colonies were established . Minos
undertook an expedition against Sicily, with the object
of extending his empire over the western portion of the
Mediterranean . According to tradition, Dædalus took
refuge in this island from the wrath of Minos, and found
an asylum with Cocalos, King of the Sicanians (Sicilians) .
Hearing this, Minos equipped a considerable fleet, and
put in near Agrigentum, at a place which received from
him the name of Minoa. After having disembarked his
troops, he sent a message to the King, bidding him de
liver up Dædalus. Cocalus, affecting readiness to deliver
up the fugitive, and receiving Minos with apparent
friendship, ordered a bath to be prepared for him
by his three daughters, who, eager to protect Dædalus
at any price, overheated the bath and drowned the
Cretan king in the boiling water. According to another
account, he died fighting against the Sicilians. Cocalus
restored his body to the Cretans, and induced them to
believe that Minos had met his death by accidentally
falling into the bath. Not long afterwards Zeus in
stigated all the inhabitants of Crete (with the exception
of the towns of Polichna and Præsus) to undertake an
expedition against Camicus, the residence of Cocalus,
36 A SHORT POPUlar history of crete.
for the purpose of avenging the death of Minos. They

besieged Camicus in vain for five years, until they were
compelled by famine to return . On their way along the
coast of Iapygia, they were overtaken by a storm , which
shattered their vessels. Being thus deprived of the
means of returning to their native land, they remained
where they were, and founded the town of Hyria.
Thereafter they took the name of Iapygian-Messenians,
and became inhabitants of the mainland in the place of
islanders . This colony subsequently founded others,
such as Brundusium . It also occupied Tarentum and
its territory, for, when Phalanthus came to settle there
with a band of Lacedæmonians, he was obliged to drive
the Cretans from it. Part of the Iapygian colony left
Southern Italy in consequence of internal dissensions,
advanced along the Adriatic Sea, penetrated into
Macedonia, and established itself in Bottiæis, so called
from the leader of the band of emigrants. The Cretan
name was for a long time preserved in Macedonia, for
John Cantacuzene (a Byzantine emperor and historian)
mentions a place called Cretensium, in the neighbourhood
of Thessalonica, and consequently not far distant from
the ancient Bottiæis.
The reign of Minos was the highest point of heroic
royalty in Crete and of the power of the island ; after
him, both began to decline. According to tradition ,
Crete took a considerable part in the Trojan War, in
which the Cretan Idomeneus even claimed to share
the command of the Greek forces with Agamemnon.
Although the Greeks assembled at Aulis rejected his
claim, he nevertheless joined in the expedition at the
head of his forces. " Idomeneus, famous with the spear,
ANCIENT CRETE. 37
led the Cretans, and those who inhabited Cnossus and

Gortys surrounded by walls, and Lyctus, and Miletus ,
and white Lycastus, and Phæstus, and Rhytium, populous
cities, and the other dwellers in Crete, the island of a
hundred cities." * According to one tradition, Idomeneus
and Merion , the two grandsons of Minos, returned to their
country after the Trojan War, and were buried with great
honour, and venerated as national heroes. Another story
is, that when Idomeneus set out on the expedition against
Troy, he entrusted the administration of the kingdom
to his adopted son, who slew his wife and daughter and
seized the throne. Idomeneus, on his return, was obliged
to take refuge on the coast of Calabria, where he founded
Sallentum, which became the mother of several other
colonies.
The Trojan Wart produced the same effect upon \
Crete as upon all the other Greek states. One cause
of the increasing weakness of Crete was, that it had N3
discharged the best part of its population upon the
coasts of Asia Minor ; a second cause was that, in the
absence of its princes, the political bonds, which had
more or less united its different peoples under the sway
of Minos, became relaxed. During the troubles which
followed the return of Idomeneus, after the fall of Troy,
this bond was broken completely, and in Crete, as in the
rest of Greece, royalty disappeared in the midst of
general anarchy and confusion. In addition, plague
and famine ravaged the island, and ended by depopu
lating it.
* Homer, Iliad, ii . 645.
† This is merely used as a convenient name, without the intention of
vouching for the truth of the original story ; we are still in the unhistorical
period.
Such was the situation of Crete when the Dorians ,

led by the Heraclidæ, or descendants of Hercules,
invaded Peloponnesus (circa 1104 B.C. ). This invasion
caused a general movement of the Hellenic peoples,
who left Greece and established themselves on the
islands and neighbouring continents. Crete was naturally
one of the first to receive the dispossessed inhabitants of
Greece, who were in search of a new home.
The first of these colonies was founded under the
leadership of Pollis and Delphus. It set out from the
environs of Amycle in Laconia, where the Minyans,
who had been driven from the islands of Lemnos and
Imbros, had settled, revolted against the Dorians, and
migrated anew from Laconia to Crete, accompanied by
a number of Spartans, and made themselves masters of
Gortyna and nearly the whole of the region of Dicte.
Lyctus was the most important of their establishments,
and was the great Dorian city.
A second expedition to Crete proceeded from Argos,
in consequence of domestic feuds in the family of
Temenus, the King of Argos. It was conducted by one
Althæmenes, and consisted chiefly of those Dorian
adventurers who, after the failure of their enterprise
against Athia, found themselves without a home and
without employment .
This colonization changed the aspect of the island. It
S
became entirely Dorian. Its language, manners, political
constitution, and social organization henceforth bore the
impress of the Dorian race. This rapid transformation
was materially assisted by the weakened condition of
the island at the time of the arrival of the immigrants.
The towns were almost deserted, and the population
ANCIENT CRETE. 39
was exhausted by the calls that had been made upon it

during the time of Minos and by subsequent internal
dissensions.
From 1049 B.C. (circa ) until 190 B.C. the island re
mained Dorian ; but as the occupation had not been
simultaneous, but spasmodic, the result was the formation
of isolated settlements, which never united politically.
Each colony with its own territory formed as it were a
distinct separate state. This will in great measure
account for the fact that, although, as Aristotle re
marked, the situation of the island was most favourable
for exercising a predominant influence over Greece
generally, it sank to insignificance during historical
times. From this time forth we hear little of it except
as a recruiting-ground for mercenary soldiers, and a
haunt of pirates. Beyond serving any one who was
willing to pay them, the Cretans took no part in events
taking place in other parts of Greece. When envoys from
Greece came to ask aid from them against Xerxes, they
sent messengers in the name of their state to the famous
oracle of Delphi, and asked whether it would be well
for them to lend assistance to the Greeks. " Fools ! "
replied the Pythoness, " do ye not still complain of the
woes which the assisting of Menelaus, in the Trojan
War, cost you at the hands of angry Minos ? How
wroth was he, when, in spite of their having lent you no
aid towards avenging his death at Camicus, you helped
them to avenge the carrying off by a barbarian of a
woman from Sparta ! When this answer was brought
from Delphi to the Cretans, they thought no more of
assisting the Greeks." *
* Herodotus, vii. 169 (Rawlinson's translation).
Again, they took no interest in the terrible struggle

for supremacy between Ionian Athens and Dorian .
Sparta-the Peloponnesian War. They only appeared
once, when, during the Sicilian expedition, they fought,
although Dorians themselves, on the side of Athens.
The Cretans took part in the war, not on the side of
their own Dorian colony [ Gela ], but against it, not from
choice, but simply in order to get money. *
The isolation of Crete from the Hellenic world con
tinued ; and it is not until the last period of the political
existence of the Greek peoples that we find her taking
part in their affairs, during the intestine struggles in
which Greece exhausted her remaining strength. At
the commencement of the second century B.C. , the island
contained seventeen distinct settlements. Of these,
Cnossus, Gortyna, Cydonia , and Lyctus were the most
considerable, but none of them was sufficiently powerful
to make itself master of the island . The whole island
was divided into two camps. Polybius, the historian,
gives the following description of the condition of
things : " And indeed the whole island of Crete has
lately been the scene of very great disorders, which were
occasioned in the following manner. The Cnossians
and Gortynians, having united their forces, had made
themselves masters of the whole of Crete, with the
exception of Lyctus. And when this single city still
refused to submit, they resolved to conquer it by force,
and to punish the inhabitants severely, that thus they
might strike terror into the rest of Crete. At first all
the people of the island took part in this enterprise, and
turned their arms against the Lyctians. But, after some
* Thucydides, vii. 57.
ANCIENT CRETE. 41
time, discontent and jealousy, which had arisen- as was

often the case amongst the Cretans, from small and
inconsiderable causes-grew at last to an open and
declared dissension, and broke the force of this con
federacy. For the Polyrrhenians, the Ceretæ , the
Lampaans, the Oreans, and the Arcadians separated
themselves with one consent from their alliance with the
Cnossians, and resolved to support the Lyctians. Among
the Gortynians also, while the old men still firmly
adhered to the Cnossians, the young men, on the other
hand, contended with equal warmth in favour of the
Lyctians. The Cnossians, becoming greatly alarmed by
this sudden revolt of their chief allies, called in to their
assistance a thousand mercenary soldiers from Ætolia.
As soon as they arrived, the oldest of the Gortynians,
having first gained possession of the citadel, and intro
duced the Cnossians and Etolians into it, killed or
drove out all the young men, and delivered their city to
the Cnossians. Not long afterwards, when the Lyctians
had led out all their forces, to make incursions into the
territory of their enemies, the Cnossians, having received
information of their absence, marched in haste and took
possession of Lyctus, when it was left undefended.
Having sent the women and children away to Cnossus,
they set fire to the city, pillaged, and razed it to the
ground. The Lyctians, on their return from their ex
pedition, perceiving what had happened, were so struck
with consternation and despair, that not one among them
had the courage to set foot within the city. But when
they had marched all round it, deploring with loud
groans and lamentations the ruin of their country and
their own unhappy fate, they retired and took refuge in
the territory of the Lampeans, who received them with

all the marks of friendship and affection : and having
thus become, in a single day, strangers without laws or
city instead of citizens, they continued afterwards to
carry on the war against the Cnossians, in conjunction
with the rest of the allies. Thus, in a most strange and
astonishing manner, Lyctus, a colony from Lacedæmon,
the most ancient city of the island, the inhabitants of
which, descended from the Spartans, were confessed to
be the bravest of all that were produced in Crete, was
at once sunk and lost in irrecoverable ruin.
" The Polyrrhenians, Lampæans, and the rest of the
allies, having considered that the Ætolians, from whom
the Cnossians had received their mercenary forces, were
at this time engaged in war against the Achæans and
King Philip [of Macedonia ], sent some deputies to these ,
to desire that they would enter into an alliance with
them and send some troops to their assistance. To
this request both Philip and the Achæans readily con
sented ; and, having received them into the general
confederacy, they soon afterwards sent to their assistance
four hundred Illyrians under the command of Plator,
two hundred Achæans, and a hundred Phocæans.
The Polyrrhenians, having obtained these successes, were
now able to maintain the war with so great vigour, that
they soon forced the Eleuthernæans, the Cydoniatæ,
and the Apteræans, to keep close behind their walls,
and at last compelled them to join their party and
desert the alliance of the Cnossians. After this success,
they sent in return to Philip and the Achæans, five
hundred Cretans, as the Cnossians also, not long before,
had sent a thousand of their troops to the Ætolians,
ANCIENT CRETE. 43
to assist them severally in the war in which they were

engaged . The young men likewise, who had been
driven from Gortyna, having gained possession of the
port of Phæstia, and afterwards of their own harbour
also, maintained their posts with the greatest intrepidity,
and from thence carried on the war again without inter
mission against the old Gortynians, who were masters
of the city. Such was the state of affairs in Crete." *
Some time afterwards, the rival parties seem to have
become reconciled, and to have both accepted the pro
tection of Philip . But the Macedonian influence did
not last long. Philip, when at war with the Rhodians ,
vainly solicited the aid of the Cretans. The latter
subsequently made common cause with Nabis, the
tyrant of Sparta , and admitted him to partnership
in their piratical expeditions, and furnished him with
mercenaries, who served as a body-guard.
In the mean time the island continued a prey to
internal disorders. Apparently, however, attempts at
political association were sometimes made. In the
presence of common danger, when the island was
threatened by an enemy from without, the inhabitants
combined in a kind of federation, known as syncretism,
although it is not known at what date it first came into
existence. But no sooner was the danger past, than
civil dissensions broke out afresh ; and, as it came to be
recognized that national unity was impossible, partial
associations were formed , consisting of the cities whose
territories adjoined. But even these attempts at partial
unification failed . The island , split up by its mountains,
inhabited by a population which lacked national spirit or
* Polybius, iv. 5 (Hampton's translation) ,

any other feeling of combined interest, except defence

against the attack of an enemy from without, was
doomed to perpetual division in itself ; and it was only
in the last days of its independence that, for a brief
period, it united against the Romans .
It has been said that the latter, who were then
rapidly rising to the position of the greatest power
in the world, attacked Crete for no other reason than a
simple desire of conquering this celebrated island . But,
besides this, there were other reasons. The conquest of
Crete was necessary to the absolute dominion of Rome
in Mediterranean waters ; and , in addition , it offered an
excellent military position.
Excuses for attack were not wanting. During the
course of their wars in the East, the Romans had met
the Cretan bowmen on nearly every field of battle.
Philip of Macedonia, and Nabis the tyrant of Sparta,
had recruited their forces from these mercenaries.
From that moment the fate of Crete was decided .
In the treaty dictated by the victorious Flamininus to
Nabis, it was stipulated that " he should not keep under
subjection any city in the island of Crete, and that he
""
should not enter into any alliance with the inhabitants.'
After the defeat of Antiochus, King of Syria, the
Prætor Quintus Fabius Labeo undertook an expedition
to Crete, and succeeded in securing the liberation of
four thousand Roman prisoners, who were being kept
there in the condition of slaves. Civil dissension was
still raging upon the island, and in 184 B.C. an embassy
was sent from Rome, with the object of reconciling the
two rivals, the Cnossians and Gortynians. The Romans,
who had again intervened in 174, now began to change
ANCIENT CRETE. 45
their attitude, and, whereas they had formerly been

content to play the part of mediators between the
conflicting factions, commenced to assume an air of
authority. In the year 170, during the war between
the Romans and Perseus, King of Macedonia, it was
found that the Cretans had furnished a larger number
of mercenaries to Perseus than to the Romans. They
thereupon hastened to send an embassy to Rome to
make apologies, and received the reply that, if they
desired to preserve the friendship of the Romans, they
must without delay recall all their mercenaries who
were serving under King Perseus. In 155 hostilities
broke out between the Cretans and Rhodians, in which
the latter do not seem to have had the advantage, since
we are told by Polybius that they sent their admiral
as an ambassador to request the intervention of the
Romans, which was granted, and peace was concluded
between the belligerents.
The state of anarchy on the island still continued,
and the inhabitants had returned to their old profession
of piracy. They made common cause with the Cilicians
and other adventurers who infested the Mediterranean,
and even furnished assistance to Mithridates, King of
Pontus, against the Romans. To punish this insolence ,
as they regarded it, the Romans sent a fleet against
Crete (71 B.C.). So confident was the commander of
success, that he took more chains than arms on board
with him. But he met with an unexpected reverse :
the Cretans destroyed the greater part of his fleet,
hung their prisoners to the yard-arm, and regained their
harbours in triumph. This secured for the Cretans an
honourable peace, but as it had been concluded by
the prætor without the consent of the Senate and the

people, the Romans refused to recognize it. The
Cretans, understanding this , sent an embassy to Rome,
with the request that the prisoners might be taken back
and the old alliance re- established . They had almost
obtained a favourable decree of the Senate, but Lentulus
Spinther prevented its being carried into effect. In the
end a decree was passed to the effect that the Cretan
communities, if they wished to avoid war, should not
only hand over the Roman deserters, but also the
authors of the outrage perpetrated off Cydonia * -the
leaders Lasthenes and Panares -for punishment ; should
deliver up all ships and boats of four or more oars ;
should furnish four hundred hostages, and pay a fine of
four thousand talents (£975,000) . When the envoys
declared that they were not empowered to enter into
such terms, one of the consuls of the next year was
appointed to depart for Crete, in order to receive satis
faction of the Roman demands or to begin war.
The Cretans thereupon held a council. The most
prudent were in favour of submitting absolutely to
the Senate ; but Lasthenes and Panares, who were
afraid of being sent to Rome for punishment, stirred
up the people to defend themselves by force of arms
rather than submit to these excessive demands. Ac
cordingly, the Proconsul Quintus Metellus, on his
arrival in Cretan waters, was met with a refusal. At
Cydonia, where Metellus landed, an army of twenty
four thousand men was ready to meet him, and, after a
desperate engagement, victory rested with the Romans.
Metellus took possession of Cydonia, Cnossus, Lyctus,
* The defeat of the Prætor Marcus Antonius.
ANCIENT CRETE. 47
and other places. He treated the besieged with the

utmost cruelty, who preferred to kill themselves rather
than surrender to him. At last (67 B.C. ), after a
struggle which lasted two years, " Metellus became
master of the whole island, and the last spot of free
Greek soil thereby passed under the control of the
dominant Romans ; the Cretan communities, as they
were the first of all Greek commonwealths to develop
the free urban constitution and the dominion of the
sea, were also to be the last of all those Greek
maritime states that formerly filled the Mediterranean ,
"' *
to succumb to the Roman continental power."
Although the political existence of Crete had been
inglorious since the general disturbances caused by the
Trojan War and the Dorian migrations, it at least dis
tinguished itself at the last by a brave effort to retain
its independence ; and its defeat, after a three years'
resistance, was considered of sufficient importance to
secure for its conqueror, Metellus, the surname of
" Creticus," to commemorate his success.
* Mommsen, History of Rome, vol . iv. p. 353 (Eng. trans.) .

CHAPTER III.
THE HISTORY OF CRETE, FROM THE TIME OF ITS

CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS TO ITS CAPTURE BY
THE TURKS.
THE island of Crete was now reduced to a Roman

province, and united, for administrative purposes, with
the district of Cyrenaica, or the Pentapolis, on the
opposite coast of Africa-an arrangement which con
tinued unchanged until the time of Constantine. From
that time it was created a separate province under a
governor of consular rank, and continued to form part
of the Byzantine Empire until the ninth century.
Under Roman rule we hear of no events of impor
tance connected with the island. It may be noted that
Christianity early made its way there. St. Paul, on his
journey to Rome, landed in Crete, effected some con
versions, and left his disciple Titus to continue his
work.
About 670 the Caliph Moawyah conceived the idea .
of the conquest of the Roman Empire, and a powerful
expedition was sent to besiege Constantinople. While
the greater part of his forces were employed against this
city, Moawyah sent a division of his troops to invade
Crete, which had already been visited by a Saracen
army in 651. The island was compelled to pay tribute,
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 49
but the inhabitants were treated with mildness, as it was

the policy of the Caliph at this time to conciliate the
good opinion of the Christians, in order to pave the way
for future conquests. A few years later (678 ) peace was
concluded between the Caliph and the Roman Emperor.
In 715, during the reign of Anastasius, a celebrated
Arab chief ravaged the coasts of the island ; but it was
not until about the year 825 that the island came
definitely under Mussulman rule. During the reign of
Michael Balbus (the Stammerer) the island was left in
an unprotected state, owing to the disturbances which
had arisen consequent upon the rebellion of Thomas,
who had set himself up as a rival emperor to Michael.
In the year 815 about fifteen thousand Spanish Arabs
had been obliged to emigrate from Cordova, during the
reign of El Hakem, the Ommiade Caliph of Spain , and
settled in Alexandria. A band of these fugitives, taking
advantage of the situation, invaded the island, and
established a settlement upon it in 823. Shortly after
wards, the remainder of the Andalusian Arabs were
forced to quit Alexandria ; and , under the command of
Abou Hafs, who collected a fleet of forty vessels, they
ravaged the Cyclades, and joined their countrymen in
Crete. Delighted with the climate, and allured by the
fertility of the soil, they decided to settle permanently ;
it is said that the Mussulman leader, enchanted at the
aspect of the island, declared, on landing, that here at
last was the land " flowing with milk and honey " which
had been promised by Mohammed to the true believers.
The eminent historian , Mr. Finlay, remarking upon the
comparative ease with which Crete and Sicily fell into
the hands of Saracens, without offering any appreciable
D
resistance, considers it due to the fact that the change

of rulers was welcomed by the inhabitants, who found
the government of the Byzantine emperors more
oppressive than that of their Arabian conquerors.
At first Abou Hafs confined himself to ravaging the
island, and then returned to Spain for reinforcements.
In the following year he returned, and, in order to make
the settlement permanent, he burned his ships,* and
constructed upon the coast a strong fortified camp
surrounded by an immense ditch, from which it received
the name of Khandax ; the town which was erected
upon this site preserved this name, which was after
wards modified into Candia, and in course of time
was bestowed upon the island itself. As the result of
the conquest, Mohammedanism was everywhere estab
lished, the churches were converted into mosques, and
the greater part of the ignorant population embraced
the religion of the conquerors. When the rebellion of
Thomas had been crushed , the Emperor Michael made
an attempt to regain possession of Crete. An expedi
tion was sent out under Photinus, commander of the
armies of the East, and Damianus, Comes Stabuli (or
Count of the Imperial Stables), but it was completely
defeated. Damianus was slain, and Photinus made his
escape with a single galley, to carry the news of the
* " When the invaders came down to the seashore, ready to embark
with their plunder, they accused their general, who confessed that he had
done this, of madness or treachery. Of what do you complain ? ' said he.
' I have brought you to a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is your
true country ; repose from your toils, and forget the barren place of your
nativity.' ' And our wives and children ?' 'Your beauteous captives
will supply the place of your wives, and in their embraces you will soon
become the fathers of a new progeny.' "-Gibbon, ch. 52.
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 51
disaster to Constantinople. Basil, the Bishop of Crete ,

made good his escape to Constantinople, and exhorted
the Emperor to do his utmost to prevent so important
a possession passing into the hands of the infidels .
Michael thereupon sent out a fresh expedition, con
sisting of seventy vessels of war, under the command of
Craterus, the Governor of the Kibyrræot theme, or
district. At first the Roman commander met with
success, and, on landing, defeated the enemy in a
desperate engagement. But he did not know how to
take advantage of his victory. His soldiers abandoned
themselves to rejoicings during the night, and, in the
midst of the confusion, the Saracens invaded their camp,
cut their troops to pieces, and captured the fleet.
Craterus himself escaped in a merchant vessel, but was
pursued and taken near Cos, where he was crucified by
the Saracens. The island remained in the possession of
the latter for a period of one hundred and thirty-five
years, until the reign of Romanus II ., when his general,
Nicephorus Phocas, afterwards Emperor, drove them out
of the island .
During this period Crete became a great slave-mart ;
and at this time the slave-trade was the most profitable
branch of commerce in the Mediterranean. A large
portion of the Greek inhabitants of Crete, having em
braced Mohammedanism and established communi
cations with the Christian slave-merchants in the
Byzantine Empire, carried on a regular trade in pur
chasing Byzantine captives of wealthy families, and
arranging exchanges of prisoners with their relations.
A proverb, which occurs in the works of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, a literary Byzantine Emperor, shows
the evil repute in which the island was held : " There are
three abominable kappas (i.e. names commencing with
the Greek K) , Kappadocia, Kreta, and Kilikia." The
Saracens undertook several piratical expeditions from
Crete against various parts of the Byzantine Empire, in
particular against Thrace, where they gained a decided
victory near Thasos, during the reign of Theophilus, in
the year 831. Ten years later, the Greeks made
another attempt to recover the island, which proved
equally unsuccessful. The Empress Theodora, mother
of Michael III., sent out a numerous fleet with that
object ; but while the commander Theoctistus was
engaged in the siege of Candia, he suddenly left his
army and withdrew to Constantinople. The troops
suffered severely after they had been thus left to them
selves, and at length followed their general. At this
period the Mussulman fleets were overrunning the
Mediterranean. In 881 , during the reign of the
Emperor Basil, after the conquest of Syracuse, an Arab
expedition left Crete, and, after having ravaged the
islands of the Ægean, advanced as far as Proconnesus,
in the Hellespont ; but their fleet was destroyed by the
Greek admiral Nicetas with " Greek fire." In spite of
this reverse, the Cretan Arabs put to sea with a fresh
fleet, and ravaged the coasts of Peloponnesus . Nicetas
hastened up, and, on his arrival at the port of Cenchreæ ,
the harbour of Corinth, was informed that the enemy
were in the neighbourhood of Patras. Instead of going
all round the peninsula, he transported his ships in a
single night over the isthmus of Corinth, surprised the
Saracens, and defeated them with great slaughter. The
prisoners, especially the renegades, were treated with
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 53
excessive cruelty. In 958 the Saracens again repelled

an attack made upon the island of Crete during the
reign of Constantine VII . (Porphyrogenitus). This
attack was conducted by a worthless Paphlagonian
named Constantine Gongyles, whose negligence and
incapacity caused its total failure. However, the end of
the rule of the Arabs was at hand : two years later,
during the reign of Romanus II., Nicephorus Phocas ,
subsequently Emperor, and at the time one of the most
capable generals of the Empire, resolved to wrest the
island from its Mohammedan conquerors .
The injury inflicted on Byzantine commerce by the
Saracen corsairs fitted out in the numerous ports on the
north side of the island, compelled the inhabitants of
many of the islands of the Archipelago to purchase
protection from the rulers of Crete by the payment of
a regular tribute. The trade of Constantinople and its
supplies of provisions were constantly interrupted, yet
several expeditions, fitted out on a large scale, had been
defeated. Besides that undertaken during the reign of
Constantine VII . , the Emperor Leo had attempted (912)
to put down Cretan piracy. A powerful army was as
sembled at Samos for the purpose of besieging Candia ;
but, after eight months, the expedition was defeated with
great loss by the Saracens off the coast of that island .
The Emperor Romanus II ., immediately on his acces
sion to the throne, resolved to wipe out the disgrace of
the defeat of Gongyles, to conquer the island of Crete,
and expel the Saracen population. The latest victory
of the Saracens had inspired them with greater audacity,
and they continued to ravage the coasts with redoubled
energy. Accordingly, when Nicephorus Phocas, who
was commander of the army of the East, proposed to

attack Crete, he was met with the most decided oppo
sition, and the difficulties of the undertaking were
exaggerated in every possible way. Attempts were
also made to arouse the jealousy of the Emperor, by
representing to him that his own reputation might be
eclipsed by the glory which would accrue to Nicephorus,
in case he met with success in carrying out so important
an undertaking. However, he at last succeeded in
obtaining the consent of the council to the expedition,
and immediately set about making preparations, which
were on a larger scale than anything that had hitherto
been attempted, thereby showing how great was the
terror inspired by the Cretan Saracens throughout the
Empire, and how formidable a foe they were considered
to be.
Troops were gathered together from Asia, Thrace ,
and Macedonia, together with Russian and Sclavonian
mercenaries. A large fleet put to sea, accompanied by
a number of " fire- ships," fitted with tubes for launching
Greek fire, and transports loaded with provisions ,
engines of war, and arms of all kinds. Nicephorus set
out in the month of July, and made for Phygela, near
Ephesus, where the fleet was to assemble. Having
learnt that the island was in a state of great alarm and
disorder, consequent upon the news of his expedition,
he immediately set sail for Crete, where he landed his
forces without meeting with any opposition. At his
first attack the Saracens fled, and Nicephorus marched
straight upon Khandax ( Candia), the capital of the
island . When he came in sight of the town, he dis
tributed his troops in different positions to blockade it,
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 55
and sent out detachments in pursuit of those of the

inhabitants who had fled for refuge into the mountains.
They were discovered, and taken from their retreat,
together with their cattle and belongings, to the Greek
camp. Before leaving his ships, Nicephorus had taken
the precaution of putting them in a place of safety, and
had distributed them round the coast in such a manner
as to intercept the supplies. His plan was to starve out
the city, which was too strongly fortified to be taken
without a regular siege ; in the mean time he kept
sending out detachments in all directions, which gradu
ally effected the conquest of nearly the whole of the
island during the siege of its capital.
Kurup, the Saracen Emir of Crete, shut up in the
town, and despairing of breaking through a camp so
strongly protected as that of Nicephorus, appealed for
outside help to Africa and Spain. The two Caliphs,
before complying with his request, sent persons to
examine the state of affairs on the island . The unfa
vourable report which they took back to their masters
-that the Greek fleet, which was very numerous and
admirably posted, effectually cut off all access by sea,
while the land forces were invincible-decided the latter
to abandon the Cretans to their fate.
The fortress of Khandax itself appeared impregnable.
On one side it was defended by the sea, on the other by
an inaccessible rock on which it was built. The walls—
built of sun-dried bricks, the mortar of which had been
kneaded with the hair of goats and swine into a mass
almost as hard as stone- were very high, wide enough
for two chariots to drive abreast upon them, and sur
rounded by a double ditch. Nicephorus surrounded
the place with a strong palisade, extending from one

shore to the other, in order to cut off the besieged from
all communication with the outside world.
It is related that Nicephorus, having heard that a
force of forty thousand Arabs, who had taken up a
position on a mountain in the interior of the island,
intended to attack him whenever a favourable oppor
tunity offered, himself took the initiative, surprised them
one night when the moon was at its full, and cut them
to pieces. The heads of the slain were cut off by his
orders, carried back to the Greek camp in bags, and stuck
upon the points of spears in sight of the ramparts, while
others were cast into the place by means of catapults,
that the besieged might realize the extent of their loss.
During the winter Nicephorus occupied the time in
drilling his soldiers, and preparing engines necessary to
carry out the projected attack. The besieged already
felt the pinch of hunger, while the besiegers themselves
were not too well supplied with provisions, the stores
which they had brought with them being almost ex
hausted. The soldiers, who felt the effects of the cold
and rain, began to murmur, and demanded that they
should be allowed to return home. Even the officers
lost heart, and Nicephorus was only able to control them
by sharing their labours himself. "Shall we show
ourselves less courageous than our enemies ? " he said to
them , " They are suffering far greater hardships, with
out any hopes to sustain them. The Emperor is certain
to send us fresh supplies. I have informed him of our
need of them. Shall Christians, whom Heaven and
earth protect, allow themselves to be outdone in patience
by Saracens, who cannot expect assistance from either
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 57
gods or men ? " Encouraged by these words, they

shouted, " We are ready to suffer all and to die with
you ." Shortly afterwards an abundant store of pro
visions for the besiegers arrived from Constantinople.
After a blockade of more than ten months, Nicephorus
learned from deserters, who were continually flocking to
his camp, that the majority of the inhabitants had died
of starvation, and that the rest, reduced to desperate
extremities, would be unable to resist an attack, although
they had made up their minds to die rather than sur
render. He thereupon decided to deliver the assault.
On the 7th of May, at daybreak, he ordered his troops
to take up arms, a breach was effected, and the place
was taken by storm . Most of the defenders fell fighting ;
the survivors, who had taken refuge in flight, were pur
sued and massacred by the Greeks ; some few threw
themselves down from the top of the wall. Nicephorus
ordered quarter to be given to those who laid down their
arms. The city was full of booty, the accumulated
wealth of piratical expeditions.
The choicest part of this
was reserved for the Emperor, while the soldiers were
permitted to divide the rest. The fortifications of
Khandax were razed to the ground, and a new fortress,
called Temenos, was built on a high and inaccessible
hill, and garrisoned by Armenian and Byzantine troops.
The " fire-ships " were left in the harbour, to protect the
fortress. After the complete subjugation of the island,
Nicephorus returned to Constantinople with a rich
booty and a large number of prisoners. He celebrated
a triumph in the circus, amidst the acclamations of the
people, who gazed with admiration upon the gold, silver,
precious stuffs, carpets, jewels, gold -bedecked arms, and
AR RY
58
T
A SHOR POPU
L HISTO OF CRETE .
the throng of prisoners clad in white. The Emir

Kurup and his son formed part of the triumphal
procession.
During the hundred and fifty years of Mussulman
rule in Crete, the islanders had embraced the religion
of their conquerors. On the reconquest of the
island, an Armenian monk, named Nicon, was sent
thither by the Emperor, and succeeded in reconverting
numbers of the inhabitants to Christianity. The con
quest of Crete by Nicephorus Phocas replaced the
island under Byzantine rule until the time of the Fourth
Crusade (1204). In 1092, during the reign of Alexius
Comnenus (the father of Anna Comnena, of whom we
read in Sir Walter Scott's Count Robert of Paris), it
revolted, owing to the oppression of the Byzantine
administration. Two Cretans, Carycas and Rhapso
mates, raised the standard of revolt, the one in Crete ,
the other in Cyprus, urging the inhabitants to declare
themselves independent. John Dukas, the Empress's
brother, set out for Crete, but on his arrival he found
the island prepared to submit. The Cretan leader was
deserted by his followers, and put to death as soon as
the imperial fleet came in sight.
The Fourth Crusade never reached Palestine at all, but
turned aside to take possession of the Byzantine Empire.
The leader of these so -called Crusaders, Baldwin, Count
of Flanders, was placed upon the throne of the East,
and thus founded the Latin Empire of Constantinople,
which lasted for fifty-six years. When the French and
Venetians apportioned the Greek Empire, Crete was
assigned to Boniface , Marquis of Montferrat, and King
of Thessalonica. Boniface, however, had previously
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 59
entered into a private treaty with the Venetians to cede

to them all his possessions acquired by the Crusaders.
Pretending to have received a promise of the island of
Crete from the Emperor Alexis IV., he ceded both
Crete, Thessalonica, and his other territories to the
Venetians, who bound themselves to pay him the sum
of a thousand marks in silver, and to put him in
possession of territory in the Western part of the Empire
from their share ofthe partition, which should bring him
in a certain annual revenue.
Crete remained subject to the Venetians for more than
four hundred years. It was the most valuable posses
sion that the great republic had acquired by the Fourth
Crusade, both on account of its commercial importance
and its position as a naval station . The Venetians,
however, were not destined to retain undisputed posses
sion of it, although at first it submitted after one cam
paign. The Genoese, jealous of their rivals, but not
wishing to engage in open war against Venice, induced
Henry Count of Malta, a military adventurer, to put
himself at the head of the Cretan malcontents, and
secretly furnished him with assistance.
The first insurrection compelled the Duke of Candia,
as the Venetian governor was called, to re- embark.
The Republic sent out fresh troops, and the Count of
Malta abandoned the insurgents, and the Venetians
soon gained the upper hand. In order to familiarize the
islanders with their new owners, the Venetians sent
out considerable bodies of colonists at different periods ;
and, by way of further securing the goodwill of the in
habitants, they confiscated half the insurgents' land, and
distributed it amongst the new settlers.
A second revolt soon broke out. The Governor of

Crete summoned to his assistance the Prince of Naxos,
a vassal of the Republic. The Prince responded to the
call, but, disgusted at the haughty behaviour of the
governor, he fomented a fresh insurrection, forced the
governor to take refuge in his palace, and made himself
master of the island. In spite of the despatch of fresh
troops from Venice, the revolt still kept smouldering,
and the Senate of the Republic recalled its governors
one after the other, until at last one of them succeeded
in establishing peace for a period of two years. *
The system of continually changing the provincial
governors naturally led to unsatisfactory results ; it did
not allow time for repairing errors or successfully carry
ing out happily conceived reforms. The colonists had
just reasons for complaint ; the governor was tempted
to abuse a power which he knew he was not destined to
retain for long, in order to make the most of his oppor
tunity, while his subjects were equally ready to seize
every chance of regaining their liberty.
In Crete, the brothers Cortazzi headed a revolt in
1242, in which the governor was killed . In 1243 another
inhabitant of the island , Alexis Calergo, a man of rank
* P. Daru, in his History of Venice, gives fourteen insurrections of

the Cretans between the years 1207 and 1365. In 1207, the revolt sup
ported by the Count of Malta ; 1220, the revolt of the Agiostephanitæ ;
1226, a fresh insurrection ; 1228, revolt supported by John Vatatzes,
Emperor of Nicea ; 1242, revolt of George and Theodore Cortazzi ;
1243, eighteen years ' revolt by Alexis Calergo ; 1324, three unimportant
revolts ; 1324, revolt of Varda Calergo ; 1326, revolt of Leon Calergo ;
1327, insurrection put down by Giustinian Giustiniani ; 1341 , revolt
punished by Guistiniani and Morosini ; 1361-4, revolt of the Venetian
colonies ; 1365, revolt of the brothers Calergo, put down in the following
year.
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 61
and influence, made preparations for obstinately resisting

the conquerors. The Senate attempted to seize him,
but he made good his escape, and the insurrection
became a war, which lasted no less than eighteen years,
and was carried on with varying success. At last,
neither the Republic nor the island being unable to gain
any decided advantage, negotiations were entered into.
Calergo was granted various honours and privileges, and
exemption from taxation, and was raised to the dignity
of a Venetian nobleman. In order to make the peace,
if possible, a lasting one, a fresh colony was sent into
the island, which founded the town of Canea, on the site
of the ancient Cydonia.
The Venetian system of colonization deserves atten
tion. The island was divided into three parts : the first
for the Republic, the second for the Church, the third for
the colonists ; the last portion was divided into 132 lots
for the knights or nobles, and 405 for the foot soldiers.
The distribution of the lots was not on equal terms : the
larger were obliged to provide, in case of war, one
horseman and two squires, with arms and horses ; the
others had to furnish ten foot soldiers. Later on, the
colony was governed after the model of the mother city,
by a duke or vice-doge and a grand council.
In 1361 the most important revolt broke out, which
was not a revolt of the natives against the rule of their
Venetian masters, but a general revolt of the colonists,
the Venetian population of the island , who were highly
indignant because none of the ancient families who had
been transplanted from Venice into the colony were
summoned to fill any of the magisterial offices of the
Republic. They had demanded that twenty wise men
should be chosen from their number, who should repre

sent them in the Great Council and look after their
interests. The question put to them by one of the
(( ‫در‬
governors, Are there any wise men amongst you ?
only served to irritate them still further. The different
way in which the Romans and Venetians treated their
colonies has been remarked upon as giving an explana
tion why the Roman colonies were so much more
attached to their mother country than the Venetians ;
whereas the Romans granted their colonists fresh rights
as citizens of the mother city, the Venetians deprived of
their ancient privileges the citizens whom they sent to
Crete. On this occasion, the latter alleged as their
excuse for revolt the establishment of an impost, which
was to be levied for the repair of the harbour. They
took up arms, attacked the governor, threatened his life,
flung him into prison, together with his counsellors, and
chose as their leader one Gradenigo.
The rebels were so determined upon absolute separa
tion from the mother Republic that they even abandoned
their allegiance to the Latin Church ; they embraced the
Greek form of worship and doctrine, and substituted St.
Titus for St. Mark. Meanwhile, the whole population
was supplied with arms, the prisons were flung open, and
the indiscriminate aid of the criminal classes solicited ;
those who ventured to disapprove of the insurrection
were massacred.
The Republic acted feebly at first. Three commis
sioners were sent to exhort the rebels to return to their
allegiance, but they were not allowed to land, and finally
were forced by threats to return.
Next, five other deputies were sent, but met with an
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 63
3333
even more insulting reception. They were allowed to

land , and conducted before the governor of the island,
through the midst of large bodies of soldiers and an
excited population, which pursued them with jeers and
hooting. Such a reception was not likely to lead to any
favourable result.
On the return of the embassy, the Republic, despair
ing of bringing back the Cretans to allegiance by per
suasion, wrote to the Italian powers, the kings of France
and Naples, and the Greek Emperor, begging that they
would not render any assistance to the rebels. Even
after the required promise had been given, some
members of the council were in favour of simply
blockading the island, instead of attacking it.
One of the causes of the apparent feebleness and un
willingness to act displayed by the Venetians was the
lack of men from which to recruit her army, her popu
lation having been exhausted by two serious wars.
She was accordingly obliged to have recourse to the
mercenary soldiers of fortune, who traversed all parts
of Europe where war was going on, ready to sell their
services to the highest bidders.
The expedition was not got ready until 1364. Its
commander was a Veronese captain named Luchino dal
Verme, who was at the time commander of the troops
of the Duke of Milan ; and on the 10th of April a fleet
of thirty-three galleys set out, with six thousand men on
board. The insurgents had failed to make the best use of
the time during which they had been left unmolested .
They had assassinated a number of the islanders who were
suspected of preferring Venetian rule, and their leader
himself did not escape their fury. A certain party was
in favour of handing over the island to the authority of

the Genoese ; but the latter, being in the throes of civil
dissension, did not venture to recommence war against
the Venetians.
The army disembarked, without meeting any re
sistance, on the 7th of May. On the 10th dal Verme
set out on his march, forced the passage of a defile in
which the islanders were posted, and made his way to
the gates of the capital, the outskirts of which he burned,
while at the same time the fleet made its appearance at
the entrance of the harbour. The rebels were surprised
by this vigorous attack, and were unable to resist the
assault. They sent deputies to Michieli (the Venetian
admiral) to implore forgiveness. The admiral ordered
the gates to be thrown open, took possession of the
harbour, and entered the capital with his troops, who
immediately proceeded to the work of plundering it.
Some of the rebels perished on the scaffold , some
made good their escape to the neighbouring islands, and
others fled to the mountain fastnesses. The conquest
of the island had only lasted three days ; the news was
received at Venice with manifestations of delight, and
celebrated by public festivities.
We now come to the last revolt, which broke out as
early as the following year ( 1365). The rebels, under
the command of three brothers belonging to the dis
tinguished family of Calengo, instead of attempting to
gain possession of the capital, fortified all the easily
defensible strongholds of the island, and established
themselves in positions where it would be difficult for
the Venetians to attack them. In 1366, after a desperate
struggle, victory remained with the Republic ; nearly
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 65
all the chief movers in the insurrection were put to

death ; even the wife and children of the leaders were
not spared. The following extract from a letter from
Paolo Loredano to the Doge showed the stringent
measures which were taken to prevent the possibility
of any future outbreak : " The rebels have no longer
any leaders ; terrible examples have been made in order
to frighten those who might be inclined to put them
selves at their head. Their strongholds and fortresses,
which we have not thought it desirable to occupy our
selves, have been razed to the ground ; the inhabitants
have been removed elsewhere. The surrounding country
will remain uncultivated ; it is prohibited, under pain
of death, even to approach it. All regulations tending
to keep up the pride or the spirit of independence of the
colonists have been abolished. The native inhabitants
will have no further share in the administration or
public magistracies, and their obedience to you will be
guaranteed by the close watch kept over them by your
faithful representatives."
For about the next three hundred years the island re
mained peaceful, if not contented, under Venetian rule.
The government of Crete by the Venetian oligarchy
was, like that of their other dependencies, very arbitrary
and oppressive, and, as we have seen, numerous in
surrections were the result. But, with all its defects,
their administration did much to promote the material
prosperity of the country, and to encourage commerce
and industry ; and it is probable that the island enjoyed
during this period greater prosperity than at any subse
quent time. Their Venetian masters at least secured
to the island external tranquillity, and it is singular that
E
the Turks were content to leave them in undisturbed

possession for nearly two hundred years after the capture
of Constantinople.
We now approach the critical period in the history of
the island.
Up to the middle of the seventeenth century, Crete had
resisted all the intermittent attempts of the Ottoman
Turks to gain possession of it. It was at this period
that the Ottoman Empire reached its greatest geo
graphical extent : with the exception of Podolia, which
was ceded to the Turks by Poland , Crete was their last
European acquisition . We will now proceed to give
an account of the Turkish attack upon Crete, and of
the siege of Candia, one of the most memorable in
history, as it was certainly the longest. The town
did not fall until it had sustained a war of twenty-five
years, a blockade of thirteen years, and a siege, during
which the trenches remained open for two years, three
months, and twenty-eight days.
At this time the occupant of the Ottoman throne was
Ibrahim, a vicious and feeble ruler ; but his vizier,
Mohammed Pasha, was an able and enterprising man,
and it was his ambition that inspired him with the idea
of depriving the Venetians of the island. The following
was the alleged cause of hostilities. In the year 1644
some Maltese galleys seized a Turkish vessel which had
been despatched by the Sultan to Mecca, and a fleet of
merchantmen which was on its way to Cairo. There
were on board the Sultan's vessel one of his favourite
sultanas, and a son whom she had borne him. In spite
of remonstrances, the Maltese not only refused to sur
render the captives, but anchored off the coast of Candia ;
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 67
subsequently, the captives were taken to Malta, where

the mother died of grief, and the boy was handed over
to the monks, and became a Dominican. This incident
enraged the Sultan, who held the Venetians, as masters
of the island, responsible for what had taken place.
The Vizier Mohammed took advantage of his master's
rage to propose to him, not the destruction of Malta,
upon which the Turks had already made an unsuccessful
attempt, but the conquest of Crete, the possession of
which they had long eagerly desired. This island was
nearly all that remained to the Venetians of the divided
Empire of the East ; after more than twenty revolts,
it had at length submitted, and was, if not contented,
at least peaceful ; in any case, they could hardly have
desired to exchange the rule of the Venetians for that
of the Turks.
The latter, well aware of the difficulties of the enter
prise which they were undertaking, made elaborate
preparations to ensure its success, and assembled a large
army and fleet. The Venetians, alarmed at this, de
manded an explanation ; but the Porte reassured them ,
by declaring that they were merely intended to threaten
the Order of Malta. The Venetians, not being com
pletely satisfied with these protestations, equipped a
squadron of twenty-three galleys at Candia, and called
out and drilled the militia, who had become disorganized
owing to long-continued peace. However, all doubts
as to the object of the Turkish preparations was soon
set at rest ; the Sultan declared that the expedition
was intended for Malta, and in March, 1645 , the fleet,
* At this time Malta was in the possession of the Order of the Knights
of St. John of Jerusalem.
consisting of 348 vessels of war, left the Dardanelles,

accompanied by a large number of transports, with
50,000 men on board. When the Grand Vizier thought
the fleet was not far from Crete, he caused the baile, or
ambassador, of Venice to be arrested at Constantinople,
and gave him a detailed list of grievances which the
Porte declared it had against Venice. This arrest was
not known at the latter place when, on the 24th of June,
the news arrived that the 50,000 Turks, under the
command of Yussuf, had landed on the west of the
island, near Canea, and, immediately after disembarking,
had taken possession of the fortified position called St.
Theodora. The Turkish general established his head
quarters at Casal Galata, and proceeded to lay siege to
Canea, into which the governor had hastily thrown a
few thousand men.
At this time there were several fortified points on
the island, all on the north side : Grabusa, some strong
holds on the islands off the extreme west of Crete ;
Canea ; and, close to the latter place, at the bottom
of a deep bay, Suda, where the Venetian fleet was
assembled, under the command of Antonio Capello.
Further towards the east was Retimo ; then Candia, the
capital of the island, and the residence of the governor,
Antonio Cornaro. Opposite Candia was the little island
*
of Standia, which afforded good anchorage for large
ships. To the east of Candia was the fortress of Spina
Longa, on the extremity of a cape, jutting far out into
the sea. Lastly, at the eastern extremity of the island ,
was the strong position of Sittia.
The Venetians were thrown into a state of great
* A contraction of Es tan (ten) Dia.
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 69
consternation at the news of the Turkish attack, and

were especially indignant at having been deceived .
They made great efforts to save the island ; the clergy
gave up part of their revenues, and patrician dignities
were bestowed upon simple citizens on payment of
sums of money. A pressing appeal was sent to all the
Catholic powers to ask their assistance, but it did not
meet with a very hearty response. The Pope, the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, and the Order of Malta furnished a
fleet of twenty galleys ; France secretly offered a subsidy
of 100,000 crowns, and Spain confined herself to lavish
promises. In the mean time, while the Venetians were
occupied with these preparations, Canea had capitulated,
after a siege of fifty-seven days, during which the in
habitants had defended themselves with the greatest
courage. This success gave the Turks the command
of a harbour, and a headquarters for their troops. In
1646 Retimo was carried by assault. In 1648, after
having gained a firm footing on the island , they laid
siege to Suda, before the gates of which they had erected
pyramids made of the heads of 5000 Christians, and
commenced the siege of Candia ; a line of circumvalla
tion was drawn round the place, and the trenches were
opened.
Then commenced a succession of assaults, sallies, and
cannonades unexampled in history. The repeated
attacks were resisted with the utmost bravery by the
inhabitants, under the leadership of Morosini. For more
than twenty years the struggle continued with varying
success, both on land and sea ; but the Venetians, in
spite of their maritime superiority , were unable to pre
vent the Turks from sending assistance to the besiegers.
Towards the end of 1666, the Grand Vizier, a man

of great energy and activity, arrived on the spot, with
the intention of personally directing operations. With
an army of 80,000 men, on the 22nd of May in the
following year, he established his headquarters close to
Candia, the garrison of which consisted of only 10,000
soldiers, under the command of Francesco Morosini, and
the flower of the Venetian nobles. From the 23rd of
May to the 18th of November thirty-two assaults and
seventeen sorties took place, during which the garrison.
lost about 4000 officers and men, the Turks more than
20,000. In May, 1668, the Marquis de Ville, commander
of the infantry of the defenders, was replaced by the
Marquis de Saint André Montbrun, whom the Venetians
had selected with the object of flattering Louis XIV. ,
king of France, and inducing him to take an active part
in the defence of Crete. The result was that Louis sent
some money to the Venetians, and allowed them to
levy troops in France. Inspired by his example, the
Pope and the knights of Malta sent assistance, while
the forces of the Venetians were largely increased by
volunteers, amongst them the Duc de la Feuillade, who
led out 500 men of high birth, and paid all their expenses
out of his own purse.
The campaign, which had by this time cost the
Turks 23,000 men, had exhausted the Venetians. At
the pressing entreaties of the Venetian ambassador,
Louis XIV. was roused to greater interest in the affairs
of Crete, and promised to send a considerable number
of reinforcements, amounting to 6000 men, under the
command of the Duc de Beaufort and the Duc de
Navailles ; but when the fleet appeared off the coast of
MEDIEVAL CRETE. 71
the island, on the 6th of June, 1669, Candia was almost

at the end of its resistance. Unfortunately, again,
although the arrival of the French troops revived, in
some measure, the failing hopes of the defenders, the
new-comers were inclined to rashness, and unwilling to
listen to the more prudent counsels of Morosini. Much
against his will, the latter consented to a general sally,
the result of which proved disastrous. The defenders
lost 500 men, and, what was worse, the ill-success of
the sortie caused dissensions amongst the defenders.
An unsuccessful attempt at a bombardment of the
enemy's camp, and the blowing-up of a French warship,
induced the admiral, the Duc de Navailles, to return in
disgust to France, which led to the withdrawal of the
remainder of the naval forces which had hitherto been
assisting the Venetians, together with the volunteers,
and the besieged found themselves reduced to a force
of 3000 men. The Turks delivered a general assault,
and Morosini, seeing that the idea of further resistance
was hopeless, offered to capitulate. The Grand Vizier
eagerly accepted the proposal, and, respecting the heroic
resistance that had been offered by the garrison, granted
them honourable conditions, in no wise dishonourable
for the Republic.
The capitulation was signed on the 6th of December,
1669. It was agreed that the Venetians should abandon
Candia within twelve days ; the inhabitants were to be
at liberty to take their belongings and follow the
garrison. The island itself was to be ceded to Turkey,
the Venetians being allowed to keep three ports
Grabusa, Spina Longa, Suda, and the dependent
islands. In exchange for this, the Republic was to retain
possession of its conquests in Bosnia and Dalmatia. The

treaty was received with disapproval at Venice, but was
ratified, since it was felt that it was impossible to con
tinue the war. Morosini was accused in the Senate of
having entered into negotiations with the Turks without
having previously been authorized to do so, and would
probably have been condemned had not his services
been required elsewhere. Venice did not long retain
possession of the points on the island that had been left
to her by the treaty ; before the end of the seventeenth
century Grabusa was handed over to the Turks by
the treachery of the governor, who accepted a bribe of
a thousand sequins ; and in the commencement of the
following century, by special arrangement, Suda and
Spina Longa were abandoned.
Thus Venice lost possession of Crete, after having
had possession of it for nearly five centuries. Its govern
ment had been modelled on that of the Republic . The
island was governed by a proveditor-general from Venice,
who had under him the four proveditors of Canea,
Candia, Retimo, and Sittia. For judicial matters there
were Rettori, or judges, also sent from Venice, each of
whom was assisted by two counsellors, who were natives
of the island. The municipal administration was in the
hands of the Cretans ; taxes were very moderate. The
native nobility enjoyed feudal privileges, and were bound
to have a certain number of militia from among their
vassals and tenants ready when called . As already
mentioned, the period of Venetian rule was probably
the period during which the island enjoyed the greatest
prosperity ; agriculture was encouraged , the island sup
plied Venice with corn , and its commerce was important
and profitable.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF THE ISLAND , FROM ITS CAPTURE

BY THE TURKS TO THE PRESENT TIME .
IF the inhabitants of Crete had chafed under the govern

ment of the Venetian Republic, they soon found that
they had not profited by the exchange of masters.
Several attempts to shake off Turkish rule were re
pressed with pitiless severity, and the people were
handed over to the tender mercies of an insubordinate
soldiery, who sometimes rose even against their own
commanders. Thus we learn that, in 1688, Soul Fikar
Pasha, the governor of the island, was massacred by his
own soldiers. The pashas do not appear to have made
any attempts to restrain the excesses of the Turkish
troops, but rather to have encouraged them ; besides,
the governorship of the island , being one of the most
important and lucrative of the Turkish possessions, was
generally bestowed upon one of the Sultan's favourites,
who extorted as much as he could from the unfortunate
inhabitants . It is true that the Porte sometimes could
not help punishing those whose cruelties and exactions
went beyond all bounds : thus, in 1728, in the reign of
Ahmed III ., the defterdar * of the island , not content
* A title formerly given to a kind of finance minister.
with having disorganized the system of rents, had forged

four firmans, or imperial rescripts, counterfeited the
official signatures, and even that of the Sultan. For
these offences he was put to death. But, even if a high
official was now and again punished, the Mussulmans
individually exercised a tyranny over the inhabitants
of the island that was almost unbearable. They carried
off at pleasure the daughters of Greek households who
had taken their fancy, and the injured parents had no
redress. Even as late as the end of the eighteenth
century, no Greek, with the exception of the archbishop,
was allowed to enter any of the towns on horseback. The
Bishop of Canea on one occasion ventured to do so ;
the janissaries who were on guard at the gate called the
soldiers together, related what had taken place, and
decided to burn the bishop and all the priests. They
were on the point of carrying out their purpose, when
the pasha intervened, and appeased the excited soldiery
by publishing an edict forbidding any Greek to pass
the night within the walls of Canea ; only the women
were allowed to remain. The result of the Turkish
oppression was, that the cultivation of the soil was
abandoned, commerce was at a standstill, and poverty
prevailed throughout the island ; the inhabitants, forced
to support life by a diet of olives, salt fish, and cheese,
were attacked by leprosy, which for a period of eighteen
months claimed hundreds of victims.
A few words may be added as to the Turkish .
administration introduced into the island after its
conquest. It was divided into three districts , under
three pashas, who resided at Candia, Canea, and
Retimo. The first took precedence of the other two :
MODERN CRETE. 75
he was inspector of the forts and arsenals, and ap

pointed the beys who were charged with the care of
the different strongholds of the island. The pasha's
counsellors consisted of a kiaya, or general administrator
of affairs ; the agha of the janissaries, captain of the
troops and head of the police ; two artillery officers ;
a defterdar ; and an officer whose duty it was to guard
the imperial treasury. The legal authorities were the
mufti, whose office it was to lay down the law on all
cases submitted to him, and the kadi : the former
interpreted the laws dealing with the division of property,
rights of inheritance, and marriages ; while the kadi
received the declarations and complaints of those who
considered themselves aggrieved, and decided between
plaintiff and defendant. In 1785 the Turkish garrisons
of these three places amounted to about 15,000 men ;
the Mussulman population of the island was nearly
200,000 ; the Greek, the number of which diminished
nearly every year, not more than 150,000 : whereas,
in its prosperous times, the inhabitants had numbered
more than 1,000,000. The taxes imposed upon the
Christians were of two kinds- one-seventh of the
product of the soil, and the kharaj , or capitation-tax,
paid by all male Christians above sixteen years of age ;
this tax was equivalent to about thirteen shillings. The
land-tax could be paid in kind,—in corn, flax, or cotton.
A tax was imposed upon silk. The following was the
ecclesiastical government of the island : the Patriarch
of Constantinople nominated the archbishop, who in
turn nominated the bishops, who appointed the parish
priests. The archbishop, in addition to the revenues
of his diocese, received every year a certain sum from
the bishops, who in turn exacted a tax from the Christian

families, in order to pay the archbishop's tribute to the
Sultan. The income of the bishops was made up
partly by voluntary contributions, and a fee was paid
for every celebration of marriage. The numerous
religious taxes, and those established by the Turks,
caused a large number of Christians to renounce their
religion, and the traveller Pococke informs us that, a
hundred and twenty years after the Turkish conquest,
on the occasion of his visit to the island, the number
of renegades was very considerable.
At the commencement of the nineteenth century, the
Turkish oppression in Crete reached its height. The
island had hitherto remained faithful to the Sultan, and
had manifested no desire to imitate their countrymen
in the Morea,* where revolt had broken out ( 1821 ) .
Embassies from various parts of Greece did not succeed
in rousing the Cretans to an attempt to shake off the
yoke, although they were even worse off than the
Christian subjects of Turkey on the mainland. This
seems somewhat surprising ; it would appear that the
oppression from which they had suffered had made.
them apathetic, and led them to underrate their strength.
A Greek enjoyed no civil rights in the island. If
he were a landowner, he was deprived of his income
by the governor, or even by any Turk who happened
to be his neighbour, and he had no redress or right to
complain. If he had ventured to summon his spoiler
before a legal tribunal, he would not even have gained
a hearing ; in any case, it was not worth his while to
do so, as it meant the destruction of himself and his
* See next chapter.
MODERN CRETE. 77
family ; accordingly, there was nothing left for him but

to suffer in silence. A Turk who wanted money had
recourse to a very simple expedient for procuring it : he
went into the first Greek shop he came to, and demanded
from the proprietor the payment of the money which
he had lent him a year ago. In the majority of cases,
the shopkeeper had never seen his pretended creditor
before ; but he was obliged to hand over the money,
since refusal would probably have meant death.
Four or five years before the outbreak of the revo
lution, all the Turks throughout the Empire had been
ordered by the Sultan to give up the practice of
carrying arms. All regretfully submitted, with the
exception of the Cretans, who continued to carry
their yataghans and fire-arms, the authorities of the
island being afraid to employ force to compel their
obedience. The Cretan Mussulmans-the sons of Greek
women by Turkish fathers—were the most bitter per
secutors of the Greeks. The papádes, or priests, were
in particular the object of their attacks. When they
met an unoffending ecclesiastic, it was a common thing
for them to fire upon him, by way of testing their aim ;
and the Greeks of the quarter were obliged to pay a
certain sum , before they were allowed to take up the
corpse. This was called "the law of blood," and the
amount thereby raised was handed over to the chief
mosques. When a Greek was executed, the sentence
was carried out in any place that the authorities con
sidered suitable. After the criminal's head had been
cut off, all the Greeks of the neighbourhood were
obliged to subscribe a large sum, in order to procure
the removal of the headless trunk from their midst.
When a man was condemned to be hanged, the punish

ment was carried out at the door of a shop - a grocer's
being generally chosen, as being most frequented by
customers—and the unhappy proprietor was obliged to
spend three days with the body under his nose, and was
unable to get rid of it without disbursing a considerable
amount.
We have mentioned the ruling Turks and the subject
Greeks as constituting the two main divisions of the
population of the island ; we must now mention a
separate class, who had for a long time resisted all
attempts to bring them into subjection, even during
the period of Venetian rule. The hardy mountaineers
of the north-west part of the island retired into the
gorges of the long chain of mountains terminating in
Capes Buso and Spada, which from the snow on its
heights was called the " White Mountains," and for
more than a century resisted the attacks of the
Venetians. They were called Sphakiotes, from Sphakia,
the chief township. Even when the Venetians sent out
their colony, of which we have already spoken, they
refused to consort with the new arrivals, and avoided
all contact with the Venetians, as they had formerly
avoided the Greeks and Saracens. At last, their resist
ance ceased, and they were left in peace ; but they
continued to carry on the practice of piracy, with the
authorization of the Venetian magistrates, who con
tented themselves with exercising a general supervision
over them, and treated them with the greatest con
sideration .
The Turkish rule did not bring about any change in
their position or manner of life ; they continued to live
MODERN CRETE. 79
in the mountains, speaking a dialect more related to the

primitive language than that of the rest of the inhabi
tants, supporting themselves by piracy, hunting, and the
sale of milk- cheeses. For a long time they were the
most skilful archers on the island, and later they showed
themselves equally skilful in the use of the gun. At the
end of the eighteenth century, travellers relate that they
still kept up the Pyrrhic dance, a mimic war- dance,
representing attack and defence in battle, the origin of
which is traced back to the Dorian inhabitants of the
island. For a long time the Sphakiotes escaped the
kharaj ; but about 1770 the Mussulmans attacked
them, on the pretence that they intended to hand over
the island to the Russians. They would doubtless have
offered as effectual a resistance as they had hitherto
done, had not some of the younger Sphakiotes been in
duced by bribes to lead the enemy over the mountains.
The Sphakiotes were surprised ; a number of villages
were destroyed, a number of the inhabitants massacred,
and the women and children carried off and sold as
slaves.
We have noticed the apparent apathy of the Cretans
at the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, and their lack
of eagerness to respond to the invitation of their fellow
subjects on the mainland. In the month of June, 1821 ,
however, they began to rouse themselves. During this
month, the Cretan Turks, the most desperate villains
in the Empire, who inhabited the strongholds of the
northern part of the island, had assassinated a large
number of Christians, hanged several dignitaries of the
Church, and profaned the churches ; and, on the 24th of
June, after a general massacre of the Greeks at Canea,
80 A SHORT POPULAR History of crete.
they thought themselves strong enough to demand that

all the inhabitants of the south of the island should lay
down their arms. This demand irritated the Sphakiote
mountaineers, who, although they had paid tribute to
the Porte since the disaster of 1770, had never looked
upon themselves as its subjects. Accordingly, as soon
as the Sphakiote chiefs heard of the intentions of the
Turks, they sent a deputation to their neighbours, the
Abadiotes, in order to induce them to sink all petty
differences, and make common cause with them against
the Turks.
The Abadiotes were descended from a military
colony, which had been sent by the Saracens to Crete
in the ninth century, under the leadership of a sheikh
named Abadia, and preserved the primitive religion of
Mohammed, which is a pure deism. However, as it is
probable that the new converts to Mohammedanism did
not at once renounce Sabeanism, * many traces were to
be found among the Abadiotes of the ancient worship
of the stars. They were similar in appearance to
the Bedouins, with their tawny skin, beautiful teeth,
brilliant, deep-sunken eyes, and slender form . When
the Sphakiote deputies informed them of the object of
their mission, they swore to forget the past, and to join
the Sphakiotes against the Turks. Meanwhile, the
Sphakiotes, not feeling sure about the issue of their
negotiations with the Abadiotes, gave the following
reply to the Pasha of Canea, who demanded that
they should lay down their arms. They pointed out
the necessity, under which they were, of being con
tinually on their guard, so as to be able to defend
* The worship of the fire, sun, and stars.
MODERN CRETE. 81
themselves and their flocks from the attacks of wild

beasts ; and, finally, while renewing their oath of sub
mission to the Porte, and swearing that they were
ready to fight for the Sultan against the insurgents ,
they insisted that it was an absolute necessity for them
to retain their arms. This reply enraged the pasha,
who sent a fresh message to the Sphakiotes to the
effect that, if they did not lay down their arms at
once, they would be treated as enemies and rebels.
The Sphakiotes returned the following answer : " Since
the Mussulmans do not believe our promises, and are
asking for our arms in order that they may afterwards
have our heads, let them come and take them. "
The Sphakiotes, together with the Abadiotes, de
scended into the plain, in number about nine hundred.
The Turks marched out to meet them, but were defeated
and obliged to retreat and shut themselves up in Canea.
As soon as the insurrection of the Sphakiotes became
known, the whole island raised the standard of the Cross,
and took up arms. Courmoules, a Cretan of noble
family, a pretended convert to Mohammedanism, tore
off his turban, proclaimed himself a Christian, and put
himself at the head of the insurgents of Retimo. The
Turks were everywhere defeated in the open field, and
obliged to shut themselves up in their strongholds. In
less than a month, the Cretans were masters of nearly
the whole island, and the pashas were blockaded in
Candia, Canea, and Retimo.
These results were partly due to the energy and
courage of a young Cretan named Antonios Melidones,
who, as soon as he heard of the rising in Crete, had
hastened from Asia Minor at the head of all the Cretans
F
22 A CHORT POPULAR BI OF CRECE
who were vottered about that part of the world. Em

Videned by the first success of the insurrection, he
conocived the Wa A making his way through the
northern part of Crete, which was still guarded by the
Turks, and, obliging the enemyto retire to the shelter of
their fortresses, various places fell into his hands. On
one occasion, he was surprised and surrounded by the
army ofthe Pasha of Megalo Castro ; in an instant he
put himself at the head of his men, routed and pursued
them back to the fortress. On the following day a
Turkish detachment which ventured to leave it was cut
to pieces. The pasha, struck with admiration at the
gallant exploits of the young Cretan, sent a message to
him , expressing a wish to see him. The reply was, “ In a
few days you will be a prisoner in my tent, and then you
will have an opportunity of examining me at your leisure."
The increasing reputation of Melidones aroused the
envy of Roussos, chief of the Sphakiotes. Desiring to
get his rival out of the way, the latter sent a message to
Melidones that a division of the enemy's forces was
encamped at Abadia. He reckoned upon the rashness
of Melidones and the superior numbers of the enemy to
ensure his destruction ; but Melidones laid his plans so
well that, although he only had three hundred men at
his command, he gained a decisive victory, and brought
back a large booty consisting of stores of biscuits and
powder. This only increased the animosity of Roussos ;
he invited his rival to dinner, and the latter, suspecting
nothing, accepted the invitation . The Sphakiote leader
took the opportunity of insulting him, and accusing him
of ulterior motives ; but Melidones, in a few dignified
* Candia.
MODERN CRETE. 83
words, completely justified himself, and left the table

amidst the applause of the Sphakiotes themselves, who
declared themselves ready to fight and die for him.
Roussos, enraged at the turn events had taken, pre
tended to desire a reconciliation , invited Melidones to
an interview, and treacherously slew him.
The assassination of Melidones was a great blow to
the insurgent cause. Roussos, although a brave soldier,
was by no means a competent general. Under these
circumstances, an appeal was made to headquarters, and
Michael Comnenus Afendallos was sent from the Morea
to take his place. This officer, who was of unprepos
sessing appearance, proved incapable. He drew up a
military code and a form of oath, and addressed
several proclamations to the people ; but he took no
decisive measures, and thus allowed the enemy, who
were still blockaded in their strongholds, time to
recover. Full of ambitious ideas, and claiming descent
from the ancient royal family of the Comneni, members
of which had formerly occupied the throne of the Byzan
tine Empire, he arrogated to himself the position of
viceroy of Crete, and expressed his intention of claiming
the taxes and tribute paid by the islanders and Sphaki
otes to the Government of Constantinople. Such conduct
did not tend to increase the popularity of Afendallos,
and the Sphakiote chiefs demanded that he should be
superseded. His place was taken by a French officer of
distinction, and an ardent supporter of the Greeks,
named Baleste, who arrived on the island, accompanied
by a number of enthusiasts. Baleste, on his arrival,
learning that the Turks were fitting out a fleet at Alex
andria, intended to carry on operations against Crete,
84 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY Of Crete.
carried on the siege of Canea with increased vigour,

defeated the Pasha of Retimo, and forced him to shut
himself up in the town. On the 27th of April, 1822 , he
defeated the Turks both on land and sea. In the middle
of May, the Egyptian fleet landed twelve thousand
Turks on the island. Baleste united all his forces, and
advanced to meet the enemy. He was on the point of
gaining a complete victory, when Afendallos took to
flight, accompanied by the Cretans, who were carried
away in panic by his example. Baleste, who in vain
endeavoured to rally his forces, was surrounded and
killed.
After his death all went badly for the Cretans ; he
was succeeded by a Spartan, who did not prove a
success as a commander. Retimo was revictualled by
the Egyptian fleet, and the place was relieved. With
the troops thus set at liberty, the Egyptian commander,
*
Ismail, marched against the Greek army which was
besieging Candia, and forced it to retreat with heavy
loss. For some unknown reason , Ismail was recalled in
the height of his success, whereupon the Turks aban
doned the offensive, which was resumed by the Greeks.
Mano, the commander of the Greek army which had
been besieging Candia, descended into the plains, and
recommenced the siege of Retimo. Candia was block
aded, the intention of the Cretans being to starve it out.
Early in October the Christians were practically masters
of the island. Candia, Retimo, and Canea were block
aded both by land and sea, and it is confidently asserted
that if the Greek authorities had despatched a force of
Surnamed " Gibraltar, " because he was the first Turk who sailed
beyond the Straits of Gibraltar.
MODERN CRETE. 85
artillery and engineers, the whole island might have

been won over to the Greek cause. But the incapable
Afendallos was still in command , and there were
reasons to believe that he had been bribed by the
Turks. For the third time the Greeks demanded that
he should be replaced by another commander ; the
authorities sent out Tombazes, a chieftain of the island
of Hydra, to take his place with the title of Harmost.
His arrival mended matters for a time ; he cleared
the open country of the Turks, and laid siege to Canea.
In February, 1823 , the place would have capitulated,
had it not been for the appearance of a Turkish fleet,
which caused the siege of Canea to be abandoned . In
the mean time, an Egyptian squadron on its way to
Constantinople had touched at Casos, a small island
about forty miles north-east of Crete, massacred the
inhabitants, and then directed its course towards the
latter. Unobserved by the Christians, the fleet entered
the roadstead of Candia, and disembarked six thousand
men, who were joined by the garrisons of Retimo and
Canea. They marched into the interior, surprised a
large number of villages, and massacred Christian men,
women, and children , to the number of nearly twenty
thousand. Eight hundred Sphakiotes, who had sought
refuge in a large cave, were suffocated by the Turks,
who piled up a heap of combustible matter before the
entrance . Tombazes, despairing of rallying the dis
couraged Sphakiotes, fell on a small Turkish detachment
with the Peloponnesian reinforcements and cut them to
pieces. Encouraged by this success, the inhabitants
came down again from the mountains, attacked the
Turks as they were retiring to Retimo, and killed seven
thousand of them . Tombazes applied for reinforce

ments, and three thousand men were sent to him , with
whose aid he resumed the siege of Canea and Retimo.
On his part, the Sultan's powerful vassal, Mohammed
Ali, Pasha of Egypt, made vigorous preparations for an
attack upon Crete. The Turks in the island were rein
forced by a fresh Egyptian expedition of ten thousand
men, with a large squadron, under the command of
Ismail Gibraltar. Ismail ravaged the island of Casos
for the second time, and then disembarked his forces at
Retimo. He incorporated with the reinforcements the
troops which had been guarding Canea and Retimo ,
renewed the garrisons of these places, and, at the head
of about twelve thousand men, advanced against the
Sphakiotes. The latter fled to the mountains, and were
followed by Ismail, who endeavoured to induce them to
submit. His efforts were on the point of being com
pletely successful, in spite of the opposition of a small
minority of the Sphakiotes and Tombazes, when the
news arrived that Sakhtoures had destroyed the Egyptian
fleet, and had disembarked on the island ; at the same
time, a disturbance had broken out amongst the forces
under Ismail's command. This caused negotiations
between Ismail and the Sphakiotes to be broken off ;
hostilities were renewed, and lasted for eight days. The
Greeks proved victorious ; Ismail's army managed with
great difficulty to make good its escape to Retimo,
which was blockaded by Sakhtoures, and Sphakia was
delivered from the invader. After another victory over
a fresh Turkish fleet off Cape Spada, Sakhtoures was
recalled. His recall proved disastrous to Crete ; Ismail
resumed the offensive, and Tombazes in vain asked for
MODERN CRETE. 87
reinforcements from home. His own forces were too

weak to continue the struggle, and, after making a final
desperate effort which proved unsuccessful, he abandoned
the island and returned to Hydra. He subsequently
died at Anaphi (or Nanfi ), one of the Cyclades, in
September, 1824. A number of Cretans also left the
island and repaired to Greece, where they fought
bravely in the common cause.
The island submitted almost entirely, and became
the arsenal of the Egyptians, who assembled there the
troops with which they intended to attack the Morea.
After the battle of Navarino ( 1827) a fresh insurrection
broke out. An expedition set out from Nanphi under
the command of Manuel Antoniades and Demetrius
Calerges, and gained possession of Grabusa and Kissa
mos. In the mean time, the Christian inhabitants of
the island retired to the mountains, watching for an
opportunity to resume hostilities. Their hopes of
annexation to Greece were overthrown by the action
of the European Powers, who decided that Crete should
not be included amongst the islands annexed to the
newly formed state of Greece ; * like Samos, it was
restored to Turkish rule. Mohammed Ali, Pasha of
Egypt, who had probably entertained ambitious designs
of his own in regard to the island from the very first,
continued to take a great part in its affairs, and in 1832
the Powers decided that it should be united to his
government.
For a time things went well, Mohammed Ali being
desirous of conciliating the Christians ; but at length the
ruling passion of Turkish governors and officials - that
* Greece was declared independent February 3, 18309,

of extracting as much money out of their subjects as

possible-gained the upper hand, and imposts were laid
in quick succession upon the suffering islanders, who
appealed to the Powers for the fulfilment of various
promises which had chiefly been instrumental in inducing
them to submit. The only result of this appeal was
that orders were sent from Egypt to the governor of the
island to put a considerable number of persons to death,
apparently indiscriminately . From this time ( 1833 )
until 1840 the island was quiet. * In 1841 and 1858
other risings took place. During the latter year a
petition was drawn up to the Sultan, asking relief from
the most oppressive taxes, and, on a promise being
given, the inhabitants abandoned the idea of insurrection.
The promises made in 1850 by Abd-ul Medjid were
repudiated by his successor, Abd-ul Aziz. In 1864
another assembly of the inhabitants was held, and
another petition given to the governor, to be sent on to
Constantinople . This governor, named Ismail, got up
a counter-petition amongst his supporters on the island,
in which it was declared the Cretans were perfectly
satisfied with their lot. " The ensuing winter was one
of great distress, and the spring passed without renewal
of the disturbances or petitions ; but in the autumn of
that year, after my arrival in the island, I heard that
there would be an assembly in the following spring, 1866.
The discontent was very great. New taxes on straw, on
the sale of wine, on all beasts of burden , oppressive
collection of the tithes, together with short crops for two
years in succession , had produced very great distress, and
In 1840 the island was again handed over to the Sultan, in conse
quence of the rebellion of Mohammed Ali.
MODERN CRETE. 89
the governor added to these grievances his own extor

tions, with the most shameful venality in the distribution
of justice, and disregard of such laws of procedure and
punishment as existed. The councils were absolute
"' *
mockeries, and the councillors his most servile tools."
In May, 1866, certain influential Cretans, heads of
villages, met together in the environs of Canea, and the
same thing took place near Candia. But at present there
was no idea of separation from Turkey, or desire for an
nexation to Greece. The governor wrote to Constanti
nople that the agitation was entirely due to the intrigues
ofForeign Powers, especially Russia, and at the same time
endeavoured to arouse the fanaticism of the Mussulman
inhabitants of the island , by declaring that it was against
them that the designs of the Christians were directed ,
and advising them to seek safety in their strongholds.
The Cretans refused to break up their assembly before
they had received the Sultan's answer, and protested
loudly that they entertained no evil designs against the
Mussulmans. But Ismail had succeeded in hoodwinking
the authorities at Constantinople ; and the Sultan, instead
of directing an inquiry into the grievances of the
islanders, despatched eight thousand troops to Crete.
The result of this was to irritate the Christians still
further, and the assembly, increased by the representa
tives of all the villages, held a meeting at Omalos, a valley
surrounded by mountains, at a little distance from Canea.
On the 26th of May, 1866, the assembly drew up the
following list of the grievances which it demanded
should be redressed : The taxes, instead of having been
lessened since 1858, as had been promised, had been
* W. J. Stillman, The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-68.

they thought themselves strong enough to demand that

all the inhabitants of the south of the island should lay
down their arms. This demand irritated the Sphakiote
mountaineers, who, although they had paid tribute to
the Porte since the disaster of 1770, had never looked
upon themselves as its subjects. Accordingly, as soon
as the Sphakiote chiefs heard of the intentions of the
Turks, they sent a deputation to their neighbours, the
Abadiotes, in order to induce them to sink all petty
differences, and make common cause with them against
the Turks.
The Abadiotes were descended from a military
colony, which had been sent by the Saracens to Crete
in the ninth century, under the leadership of a sheikh
named Abadia, and preserved the primitive religion of
Mohammed, which is a pure deism. However, as it is
probable that the new converts to Mohammedanism did
not at once renounce Sabeanism, * many traces were to
be found among the Abadiotes of the ancient worship
of the stars. They were similar in appearance to
the Bedouins, with their tawny skin, beautiful teeth,
brilliant, deep-sunken eyes, and slender form . When
the Sphakiote deputies informed them of the object of
their mission, they swore to forget the past, and to join
the Sphakiotes against the Turks. Meanwhile, the
Sphakiotes, not feeling sure about the issue of their
negotiations with the Abadiotes, gave the following
reply to the Pasha of Canea, who demanded that
they should lay down their arms. They pointed out
the necessity, under which they were, of being con
tinually on their guard , so as to be able to defend
* The worship of the fire, sun, and stars.
MODERN CRETE. 81
themselves and their flocks from the attacks of wild

beasts ; and, finally, while renewing their oath of sub
mission to the Porte, and swearing that they were
ready to fight for the Sultan against the insurgents,
they insisted that was an absolute necessity for them
to retain their arms. This reply enraged the pasha,
who sent a fresh message to the Sphakiotes to the
effect that, if they did not lay down their arms at
once, they would be treated as enemies and rebels.
The Sphakiotes returned the following answer : " Since
the Mussulmans do not believe our promises, and are
asking for our arms in order that they may afterwards
have our heads, let them come and take them."
The Sphakiotes, together with the Abadiotes, de
scended into the plain, in number about nine hundred .
The Turks marched out to meet them, but were defeated
and obliged to retreat and shut themselves up in Canea.
As soon as the insurrection of the Sphakiotes became
known, the whole island raised the standard of the Cross,
and took up arms. Courmoules, a Cretan of noble
family, a pretended convert to Mohammedanism, tore
off his turban, proclaimed himself a Christian, and put
himself at the head of the insurgents of Retimo. The
Turks were everywhere defeated in the open field, and
obliged to shut themselves up in their strongholds. In
less than a month, the Cretans were masters of nearly
the whole island, and the pashas were blockaded in
Candia, Canea, and Retimo.
These results were partly due to the energy and
courage of a young Cretan named Antonios Melidones,
who, as soon as he heard of the rising in Crete, had
hastened from Asia Minor at the head of all the Cretans
F
who were scattered about that part of the world . Em

boldened by the first success of the insurrection, he
conceived the idea 4 of making his way through the
northern part of Crete, which was still guarded by the
Turks, and, obliging the enemy to retire to the shelter of
their fortresses, various places fell into his hands. On
one occasion, he was surprised and surrounded by the
army of the Pasha of Megalo Castro ; * in an instant he
put himself at the head of his men, routed and pursued
them back to the fortress. On the following day a
Turkish detachment which ventured to leave it was cut
to pieces. The pasha, struck with admiration at the
gallant exploits of the young Cretan, sent a message to
him, expressing a wish to see him. The reply was, "In a
few days you will be a prisoner in my tent, and then you
will have an opportunity of examining me at your leisure."
The increasing reputation of Melidones aroused the
envy of Roussos, chief of the Sphakiotes. Desiring to
get his rival out of the way, the latter sent a message to
Melidones that a division of the enemy's forces was
encamped at Abadia . He reckoned upon the rashness
of Melidones and the superior numbers of the enemy to
ensure his destruction ; but Melidones laid his plans so
well that, although he only had three hundred men at
his command, he gained a decisive victory, and brought
back a large booty consisting of stores of biscuits and
powder. This only increased the animosity of Roussos ;
he invited his rival to dinner, and the latter, suspecting
nothing, accepted the invitation . The Sphakiote leader
took the opportunity of insulting him, and accusing him
of ulterior motives ; but Melidones, in a few dignified
* Candia.
MODERN CRETE. 83
words, completely justified himself, and left the table

amidst the applause of the Sphakiotes themselves, who
declared themselves ready to fight and die for him.
Roussos, enraged at the turn events had taken, pre
tended to desire a reconciliation , invited Melidones to
an interview, and treacherously slew him.
The assassination of Melidones was a great blow to
the insurgent cause. Roussos, although a brave soldier,
was by no means a competent general. Under these
circumstances, an appeal was made to headquarters, and
Michael Comnenus Afendallos was sent from the Morea
to take his place. This officer, who was of unprepos
sessing appearance, proved incapable. He drew up a
military code and a form of oath, and addressed
several proclamations to the people ; but he took no
decisive measures, and thus allowed the enemy, who
were still blockaded in their strongholds, time to
recover. Full of ambitious ideas, and claiming descent
from the ancient royal family of the Comneni, members
of which had formerly occupied the throne of the Byzan
tine Empire, he arrogated to himself the position of
viceroy of Crete, and expressed his intention of claiming
the taxes and tribute paid by the islanders and Sphaki
otes to the Government of Constantinople. Such conduct
did not tend to increase the popularity of Afendallos,
and the Sphakiote chiefs demanded that he should be
superseded. His place was taken by a French officer of
distinction, and an ardent supporter of the Greeks,
named Baleste, who arrived on the island, accompanied
by a number of enthusiasts. Baleste, on his arrival,
learning that the Turks were fitting out a fleet at Alex
andria, intended to carry on operations against Crete,
carried on the siege of Canea with increased vigour,

defeated the Pasha of Retimo, and forced him to shut
himself up in the town. On the 27th of April, 1822, he
defeated the Turks both on land and sea . In the middle
of May, the Egyptian fleet landed twelve thousand
Turks on the island. Baleste united all his forces, and
advanced to meet the enemy. He was on the point of
gaining a complete victory , when Afendallos took to
flight, accompanied by the Cretans, who were carried
away in panic by his example. Baleste, who in vain
endeavoured to rally his forces, was surrounded and
killed.
After his death all went badly for the Cretans ; he
was succeeded by a Spartan , who did not prove a
success as a commander. Retimo was revictualled by
the Egyptian fleet, and the place was relieved. With
the troops thus set at liberty, the Egyptian commander,
Ismail, * marched against the Greek army which was
besieging Candia, and forced it to retreat with heavy
loss. For some unknown reason , Ismail was recalled in
the height of his success, whereupon the Turks aban
doned the offensive, which was resumed by the Greeks.
Mano, the commander of the Greek army which had
been besieging Candia, descended into the plains, and
recommenced the siege of Retimo. Candia was block
aded, the intention of the Cretans being to starve it out .
Early in October the Christians were practically masters
of the island. Candia, Retimo, and Canea were block
aded both by land and sea, and it is confidently asserted
that if the Greek authorities had despatched a force of
* Surnamed " Gibraltar," because he was the first Turk who sailed
beyond the Straits of Gibraltar.
MODERN CRETE. 85
artillery and engineers, the whole island might have

been won over to the Greek cause. But the incapable
Afendallos was still in command, and there were
reasons to believe that he had been bribed by the
Turks. For the third time the Greeks demanded that
he should be replaced by another commander ; the
authorities sent out Tombazes, a chieftain of the island
of Hydra, to take his place with the title of Harmost.
His arrival mended matters for a time ; he cleared
the open country of the Turks, and laid siege to Canea.
In February, 1823 , the place would have capitulated ,
had it not been for the appearance of a Turkish fleet,
which caused the siege of Canea to be abandoned. In
the mean time, an Egyptian squadron on its way to
Constantinople had touched at Casos, a small island
about forty miles north-east of Crete, massacred the
inhabitants, and then directed its course towards the
latter. Unobserved by the Christians, the fleet entered
the roadstead of Candia, and disembarked six thousand
men, who were joined by the garrisons of Retimo and
Canea. They marched into the interior, surprised a
large number of villages, and massacred Christian men ,
women, and children, to the number of nearly twenty
thousand. Eight hundred Sphakiotes, who had sought
refuge in a large cave, were suffocated by the Turks,
who piled up a heap of combustible matter before the
entrance. Tombazes, despairing of rallying the dis
couraged Sphakiotes, fell on a small Turkish detachment
with the Peloponnesian reinforcements and cut them to
pieces. Encouraged by this success, the inhabitants
came down again from the mountains, attacked the
Turks as they were retiring to Retimo, and killed seven
thousand of them. Tombazes applied for reinforce

ments, and three thousand men were sent to him, with
whose aid he resumed the siege of Canea and Retimo.
On his part, the Sultan's powerful vassal, Mohammed
li, Pasha of Egypt, made vigorous preparations for an
attack upon Crete. The Turks in the island were rein
forced by a fresh Egyptian expedition of ten thousand
men, with a large squadron , under the command of
Ismail Gibraltar. Ismail ravaged the island of Casos
for the second time, and then disembarked his forces at
Retimo. He incorporated with the reinforcements the
troops which had been guarding Canea and Retimo,
renewed the garrisons of these places, and, at the head
of about twelve thousand men, advanced against the
Sphakiotes. The latter fled to the mountains, and were
followed by Ismail, who endeavoured to induce them to
submit. His efforts were on the point of being com
pletely successful, in spite of the opposition of a small
minority of the Sphakiotes and Tombazes, when the
news arrived that Sakhtoures had destroyed the Egyptian
fleet, and had disembarked on the island ; at the same
time, a disturbance had broken out amongst the forces
under Ismail's command. This caused negotiations
between Ismail and the Sphakiotes to be broken off ;
hostilities were renewed, and lasted for eight days. The
Greeks proved victorious ; Ismail's army managed with
great difficulty to make good its escape to Retimo,
which was blockaded by Sakhtoures, and Sphakia was
delivered from the invader. After another victory over
a fresh Turkish fleet off Cape Spada, Sakhtoures was
recalled. His recall proved disastrous to Crete ; Ismail
resumed the offensive, and Tombazes in vain asked for
MODERN CRETE. $7
reinforcements from home. His own forces were too

weak to continue the struggle, and, after making a final
desperate effort which proved unsuccessful, he abandoned
the island and returned to Hydra. He subsequently
died at Anaphi ( or Nanfi), one of the Cyclades, in
September, 1824. A number of Cretans also left the
island and repaired to Greece, where they fought
bravely in the common cause.
The island submitted almost entirely, and became
the arsenal of the Egyptians, who assembled there the
troops with which they intended to attack the Morea.
After the battle of Navarino ( 1827) a fresh insurrection
broke out. An expedition set out from Nanphi under
the command of Manuel Antoniades and Demetrius
Calerges, and gained possession of Grabusa and Kissa
mos. In the mean time, the Christian inhabitants of
the island retired to the mountains, watching for an
opportunity to resume hostilities. Their hopes of
annexation to Greece were overthrown by the action
of the European Powers, who decided that Crete should
not be included amongst the islands annexed to the
newly formed state of Greece ; * like Samos, it was
restored to Turkish rule. Mohammed Ali, Pasha of
Egypt, who had probably entertained ambitious designs

of his own in regard to the island from the very first,
continued to take a great part in its affairs, and in 1832
the Powers decided that it should be united to his
government.
For a time things went well, Mohammed Ali being
desirous of conciliating the Christians ; but at length the
ruling passion of Turkish governors and officials - that
* Greece was declared independent February 3, 1830.
of extracting as much money out of their subjects as

possible-gained the upper hand, and imposts were laid
in quick succession upon the suffering islanders, who
appealed to the Powers for the fulfilment of various
promises which had chiefly been instrumental in inducing
them to submit. The only result of this appeal was
that orders were sent from Egypt to the governor of the
island to put a considerable number of persons to death,
apparently indiscriminately. From this time ( 1833 )
until 1840 the island was quiet. * In 1841 and 1858
other risings took place. During the latter year a
petition was drawn up to the Sultan, asking relief from
the most oppressive taxes, and, on a promise being
given, the inhabitants abandoned the idea of insurrection .
The promises made in 1850 by Abd -ul Medjid were
repudiated by his successor, Abd-ul Aziz. In 1864
another assembly of the inhabitants was held, and
another petition given to the governor, to be sent on to
Constantinople. This governor, named Ismail, got up
a counter-petition amongst his supporters on the island,
in which it was declared the Cretans were perfectly
satisfied with their lot. " The ensuing winter was one
of great distress, and the spring passed without renewal
of the disturbances or petitions ; but in the autumn of
that year, after my arrival in the island, I heard that
there would be an assembly in the following spring, 1866.
The discontent was very great. New taxes on straw, on
the sale of wine, on all beasts of burden, oppressive
collection of the tithes, together with short crops for two
years in succession, had produced very great distress, and
* In 1840 the island was again handed over to the Sultan, in conse
quence ofthe rebellion of Mohammed Ali .
MODERN CRETE. 89
the governor added to these grievances his own extor

tions, with the most shameful venality in the distribution
of justice, and disregard of such laws of procedure and
punishment as existed. The councils were absolute
mockeries, and the councillors his most servile tools."*
In May, 1866, certain influential Cretans , heads of
villages, met together in the environs of Canea, and the
same thing took place near Candia. But at present there
was no idea of separation from Turkey, or desire for an-
nexation to Greece. The governor wrote to Constanti
nople that the agitation was entirely due to the intrigues
ofForeign Powers, especially Russia, and at the same time
endeavoured to arouse the fanaticism of the Mussulman
inhabitants of the island, by declaring that it was against
them that the designs of the Christians were directed ,
and advising them to seek safety in their strongholds.
The Cretans refused to break up their assembly before
they had received the Sultan's answer, and protested
loudly that they entertained no evil designs against the
Mussulmans. But Ismail had succeeded in hoodwinking
the authorities at Constantinople ; and the Sultan, instead
of directing an inquiry into the grievances of the
islanders, despatched eight thousand troops to Crete.
The result of this was to irritate the Christians still
further, and the assembly, increased by the representa
tives of all the villages, held a meeting at Omalos, a valley
surrounded by mountains, at a little distance from Canea.
On the 26th of May, 1866, the assembly drew up the
following list of the grievances which it demanded
should be redressed : The taxes, instead of having been
lessened since 1858, as had been promised, had been
* W. J. Stillman, The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-68.
increased. The dishonesty of the tithe-farmers. Taxes

had been imposed upon salt, tobacco, wine, fish, butchers'
meat, the sale of cattle, etc. , and were collected with
great harshness. The great lack of communication
between different parts of the island, which had hindered
the transport of the products of the interior. The various
councils, which were supposed to be representative of
the population, were really formed without the wishes.
of the latter being in any way consulted. The hard
bargains made by the oil-merchants with the owners of
olive trees. The arbitrary administration of justice.
Although Greek was the universal language of the
Cretans, both Mussulmans and Christians, all public
documents were written in Turkish, and justice ad
ministered in that language. The evidence of Christians
was practically invalid . The entire absence of schools
in the agricultural districts. The reduction of the
number of ports open for commerce to three. Religious
intolerance. Lastly, the signatories declared that they
had no idea of rebellion, and that they trusted to the
Sultan to redress their grievances.
The Porte, after its usual dilatory fashion, sent no
reply to this petition until the 23rd of July. It contained
a refusal, and at the same time reinforcements were sent
to the island, and Ismail Pasha was directed to use force,
if necessary, in order to disperse the assembly. Mean
while the Christians prepared to resist, and mustered, ten
thousand strong, at Apocorona, to oppose the Turkish
force, which now consisted of double that number.
When hostilities had actually taken place, the assembly
appealed (August 28) to the Consular representatives of
the Powers, expressing their desire to be united to the
MODERN CRETE. 91
mother-country, and on the 2nd of September declared

the Turkish government abolished, and the island united
to Greece. The Turkish arms had, in the mean time,
suffered two reverses-at Apocorona and Selino. A
message was sent from Constantinople, ordering all the
inhabitants to lay down their arms. The firm front
exhibited by the insurgents caused the Porte to recall
Ismail, and replace him by the old governor, Mustapha
Pasha Kiritli (the Cretan), as commissioner- extra
ordinary for the re-establishment of order. He also
brought reinforcements with him, and soon had no less.
than forty thousand men at his disposal. The news of the
outbreak of hostilities caused great excitement, not only
at Athens, but throughout the East. Volunteers set out
to join the insurgents, and committees were formed at
Athens, with the object of supplying them with arms and
provisions. On the 24th of October Mustapha utterly
defeated the insurgents at Vafé, but hesitated to follow
up his victory. The arrival of Coroneos, the ablest of
the Greek chiefs, gave a fresh impetus to the insurrec
tion, after the first feelings of despondency had worn
off. 66 Seeing the danger the insurrection was in, and
the dissidence of its chiefs, he moved at once into the
central provinces, and, collecting together such Cretans
as he could find, surprised and cut off two small Turkish
detachments, reawakened the enthusiasm of the islanders,
gained for himself the prestige of victory, and rapidly
recruited a considerable force." He established his
headquarters at Arcadion, " whence he harassed the
detachments which issued from Retimo, and kept alive
the movement in the district between Sphakia and
Mount Ida." In November Mustapha Pasha attacked
the Monastery of Arcadion , in the east of the island .

After an heroic resistance, the inmates were forced to
capitulate ; it is said that the Hegoumenos, or Abbot,
made an attempt to blow up the monastery, but the
explosion only caused a breach in the walls, through
which the Turks poured in, and massacred men, women,
and children.
This incident aroused great enthusiasm, and increased
the sympathy felt for the Cretans in Europe—especially
in France, England, and Russia ; the insurgents were at
the same time encouraged to persevere by the attitude
adopted towards them by the diplomatists, who led
them to hope for the intervention of the Powers in their
favour. It seemed to be generally admitted that there
was only one permanent solution of the question—the
incorporation of Crete with the recently established
kingdom of Greece ; although, at the present crisis, it
seems difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion as to
how far the inhabitants of Crete are themselves anxious
to form part of the mother-country. In any case, in
1866 it was suggested that Crete should be made an
independent state, under the suzerainty of the Porte, like
the Danubian principalities.
In January, 1867, Lord Stanley, the English Foreign
Minister, who had previously expressed suspicion of the
motives of Russia, issued a despatch, in which he
pointed out that the great difficulty in regard was the
problem of the intermixture of races and creeds. Its
case was different from that of Samos, which had an
exclusively Christian population. He suggested that
a Christian governor should be appointed, who was
to be assisted by a council, in which Christians and
MODERN CRETE. 93
Mohammedans should have an equal number of votes ;

but the suggestion proved fruitless.
Disgusted at Mustapha Pasha's failure to put down
the insurrection, the Turkish Government sent Server
Effendi to Crete, and commissioned him to invite both
religious parties to send deputies to Constantinople, and
to offer the island a constitution similar to that of the
Lebanon. The Sphakiote Christians scornfully rejected
the proposal, and declared that any of the popular
representatives who went to Constantinople would be
looked upon as traitors to the cause of their co
religionists.At the same time, they set up a govern
ment of seven members in the name of King George of
Greece ; and Zimbrakakes, a Greek officer and Cretan.
by birth, who had been educated at the French school
at Metz, issued a manifesto, in which he declared that
the union of Crete to Greece was a matter that con
cerned the whole world. A suggestion that the question
should be submitted to a plebiscite of the Cretans was
declared to be impossible, in a remarkably vigorous
circular addressed to the Powers by Fuad Pasha, the
Turkish Foreign Minister, in which he declared that, if
the Powers decided upon the annexation of Crete to
Greece, another Navarino would be necessary. Finding
attempts at negotiation useless, the Turkish Government
decided to entrust Omar Pasha, its commander- in-chief
and most experienced general, with the suppression of
the insurrection. Russia and France again intervened ,
and endeavoured to prevent Omar Pasha beginning
hostilities, and also again brought forward the question
of a plebiscite ; but the Sultan, who at first seemed
inclined to assent to the proposal, afterwards refused,
and there was nothing left for it but the continuance of

hostilities. Omar Pasha was not very successful in his
operations. His plan of campaign was to drive the
insurgents back into the mountains of Sphakia, surround
them , and cut them to pieces ; but his attempt failed .
What materially contributed to the prolongation of
hostilities was the introduction of supplies and war
materials from Greece. In spite of the efforts of Hobart
Pasha, an Englishman who commanded the Turkish
Navy, the Greek steamer managed to run the blockade
successfully more than twenty times. At last, its
captain, rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the
Turks, set fire to it. It was replaced by another vessel
which was called Enosis ( Union).
On the 27th of August, 1867, the ambassadors of
Russia, France, Prussia, and Italy, in Constantinople
proposed a three months' cessation of hostilities, and
the meeting of an international commission, to inquire
into all the circumstances. The Porte agreed to a
month's (not three months') cessation of hostilities,
during which the blockade of Crete was to be continued ,
declared that it was impossible for it to discuss the
question of its incorporation with Greece, although it
was ready to listen to any other requests of the islanders,
and promised to grant extensive reforms. On the 13th
of September, an amnesty was proclaimed to those
Cretans who were willing to lay down their arms and
return to their homes ; any of the inhabitants were to
be at liberty to leave the island, provided they sold their
property, and did not return without special permission
from the Turkish Government. But the Cretans still
hankered after the plebiscite, in view of the fact of the
MODERN CRETE. 95
impending special investigation by the Powers . At last,

Ali Pasha, the grand vizier, decided to go to Crete in
person, with a brand new constitution in his pocket,
which contained even more concessions than had been
demanded ; he met with anything but an enthusiastic
reception, and his advances were repulsed, probably
through the intrigues of Russia.
On the expiration of the armistice, Ali Pasha promul
gated his programme of reforms, which contained the
following provisions : * There was to be a Governor
General at the head of the civil administrative govern
ment, and a general at the head of the military garrison.
The Governor- General was to be assisted by a council,
formed of Mussulmans and Christians. Subordinate to
the Governor-General were to be the governors of the
sandjak, who were to be half Christian and half
Mohammedan, while they were to have assistants of
different religion to themselves. The districts were to
be administered by sub-governors, and all these officials
were to be nominated by the Government. Every
governor was to be assisted by an administrative
council, in that of the Governor-General, his two
advisers, the president of the legal tribunals, the Greek
metropolitan, the treasurer, and three Christian and
three Mussulman representatives, chosen by their re
spective communities, were to have a seat and vote.
No fresh tax was to be imposed without the sanction of
* The preamble is instructive in the light of subsequent events. " The

losses and sufferings experienced by Crete, and which have been the sad
result of disorders occurring in the island, have filled my heart with sorrow.
Wishing before all things to remedy these evils, to secure to all the
inhabitants indiscriminate happiness and prosperity," etc.
the general assembly ; and all taxes to be remitted for

two years. An annual Government grant to be made
to the orthodox schools. Official correspondence was
to be carried on in Greek and Turkish. All commercial,
civil, and criminal cases between Christians and Mussul
mans were to be decided by a mixed tribunal. A General
Assembly was to be held yearly, to which every canton
was to send two representatives. Crete was divided into
twenty-two communes, each returning four deputies, two
Christian and two Mohammedan ; Sphakia returned four
Christians. Every deputy was to be of Cretan birth,
and a Turkish subject. The Assembly to meet in the
Governor's house at Canea, and the session to be limited
to forty days. These reforms were called the " Organic
Statute," which, enlarged and modified eleven years later
by the Convention of Halepa, is still supposed to be
. the constitutional charter of Crete.
On the 22nd of November, Ali Pasha opened the
sitting of the Assembly of Deputies, in which there were
only twenty-five Christians out of seventy-five members.
Omar Pasha, disgusted with his ill success and the
incapacity of his generals, had retired from the command
of the troops in the same month, and had been replaced
by Hussein Avni Pasha ; and towards the end of the
year hostilities recommenced. The situation remained
practically unaltered throughout the year 1868, neither
Turks nor Cretans being able to gain any decisive
advantage. On the 11th of December, an insult offered
to the Turkish Ambassador gave the Porte an oppor
tunity of delivering an ultimatum to Greece, demanding
the disbanding of the volunteers, the disarming of the
piratical vessels, the punishment of attacks upon Turkish
MODERN CRETE. 97
subjects, and the discontinuance of the sending of

supplies and ammunition to Crete. In the event of
refusal , the Porte threatened to blockade the ports
of Greece, bombard her commercial cities, and expel her
merchants from the Turkish Empire ; at the same time,
Omar Pasha was appointed commander-in- chief of the
forces destined to operate against Greece . The Greek
Government refused to accede to the terms of the ulti
matum, the Turkish Ambassador left Athens , Greek
subjects were ordered to leave Turkey, and war seemed
inevitable. But, in view of the serious possibilities
of the situation, the Powers (chiefly at the instance of
Germany) proposed that a conference should be held in
London and Paris ; the Porte accepted the proposal, on
condition that its own ultimatum to Greece should form
the basis of discussion. Towards the end of the year,
the insurrection in Crete had come to an end, Petro
poulakes, the Greek colonel, having surrendered. The
conference, which was held in Paris early in 1869, * con
cluded its deliberations with a warning to Greece, that
she should observe the same rules of conduct in dealing
with Turkey as with the other Powers. It declared that
Turkey had a just cause of complaint against Greece,
but expressed the hope that the danger of war was
over ; it was decided that Crete should continue a
portion of the Turkish Empire, and not be annexed
to Greece.
By an Imperial irade, a kind of constitution was
bestowed upon the island, and a fixed system of taxation
introduced. At the same time, in accordance with the
stipulations of the Conference, a general amnesty was to
* February 18th.
G
be granted to all Cretan Christians. The Porte expressed

its willingness to agree to this, but added a clause to its
proclamation, to the effect that those who had not
submitted and laid down their arms immediately after
the promulgation of the " Organic Statute or Law" of
1868 , as the constitutional charter of Crete was called,
should be deprived of the benefit of it. As none of the
insurgents had laid down their arms at the time, they
found themselves excluded from the amnesty. The
result was confiscation, imprisonment, fines, and insults
of various kinds directed against the Christians. During
the next four years, nothing of importance took place
in the island.
In 1873 , the Porte decreed a land-tax. The Cretans
protested energetically, and threatened to take up
arms. As the insurrection in Herzegovina had broken
out about this time, the decree was revoked . From
this time, periodical disturbances occurred in the
island, the Porte attempting to evade the bestowal
of the privileges which had been granted, and the
islanders as vigorously claiming their rights. The Russo
Turkish War was the signal for a general rising, which
was not suppressed without considerable difficulty.
In 1876, certain demands for administrative reform
were submitted to the Porte, but the latter refused to
grant them. The demands were as follows : That the
Governor- General should be a Christian ; that public
offices should be held by Christians in proportion to the
total number of inhabitants ; that all public officials,
whether Christian or Mohammedan, should be
sively Cretan ; that all public documents should be
published in Greek as well as in Turkish ; that the
MODERN CRETE. 99
police should contain a preponderance of Christians in

proportion to the population ; that the system of the
administration of justice should be improved by the
appointment of a supervising arbiter ; that a system of
independent, municipal organization tending to decen
tralization should be established ; that the General
Assembly should have the right to control the Agri
cultural Bank, and the erection of public buildings out of
its profits ; that no taxes should be imposed in addition
to those mentioned in the Organic Statute ; that reforms
should be introduced in the system of public instruction ;
that the seaports should be repaired, and means of
inland communication increased ; the debt question to
be settled ; the decree of exile against apostates to be
cancelled, and liberty to be granted to restore and
build places of Christian worship.
The debt question requires explanation. The Cretan
farmers sell their olive oil to dealers at the seaports,
who dispose of it at a large profit to the local exporters.
The olive growers were careless about counting the
amount they received in payment, being content to
trust to the honesty of the dealers. These small pro
prietors, when in want of money, borrowed it from the
dealers, at the same time pledging themselves to supply
no one else. The tithe farmers also found themselves
in arrears with the sum of money which they had con
tracted to supply to the Government ; they were
compelled to offer it in small instalments, and, in order to
provide these, had to apply to the dealers. Also , institu
tions called the " Orphans' Banks " were in the habit
of advancing funds to the Cretan farmers at fifteen per
cent., later, twelve per cent. interest. To the original
100 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY OF CRETE .
sum must be added compound interest. In May, 1866,

the private debts of the Cretans were said to have
reached a total of 150,000,000 piastres, more than two
thirds of which were owing to Mussulman creditors.
Some of the debtors abandoned their whole property to
their creditors ; but in most cases the Government took
possession of the property and sold it by public auction,
reserving a dwelling and small piece of land for the
owner. Hence, property became greatly depreciated
in value, owing to the glut in the market, and frequently
the amount realized by the sale was not enough to
cover the amount of the debt.
As stated, the Porte refused to grant these demands,
and it was with great difficulty that an insurrection was
avoided. In 1877 , the delegates of the Assembly renewed
their petitions, and on receiving an unsatisfactory answer,
withdrew to the mountains, and declared that they
would not return to the towns until their demands were
granted ; they remained in the mountains for more than
a year, and forced all the Christians and some of the
poorer Mohammedans to join them ; to add to the con
fusion, the law courts were closed . About Christmas,
1877, Hadji Mikhali landed in the island , and proceeded
to levy taxes, enrol a police force, and administer
justice. A few days later, Costaki Pasha arrived with
the object of conciliating the insurgents, but they
refused to treat with him except on their own terms.
At the end of January, 1878, the Assembly demanded
that Crete should be made into a principality, and re
quested an answer within a week. No answer being
received, the Committee broke off all negotiations on
February 15th, and referred the case to the Powers, at
MODERN crete. IOI
the same time informing the Consuls that they had no

intention of provoking hostilities. About a fortnight
later, desultory hostilities having in the mean time broken
out, a truce was arranged, and on March 26th the
Assembly announced the election of a Provisional
Government for the maintenance of order. The Turks ,
however, broke the truce, and the fighting continued .
By Article XXIII. of the Treaty of Berlin , “ the
Sublime Porte undertook scrupulously to apply in the
Island of Crete the Organic Law of 1868, with such
modifications as may be considered equitable." The
Cretans were greatly disappointed that nothing more
was done for them, and they solicited the intervention
of England, at the same time declaring that the Organic
Law was inadequate, and petitioning for a new form of
government : either that their island should be placed
under English protection , or, if that were impossible, be
made a principality on the model of Samos.
On the 1st of September, Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha
arrived as High Commissioner, and, after numerous
conferences, a settlement, called the Pact or Convention
of Halepa, was arrived at (October 25 , 1878). Its
articles were as follows :- *
I. The Special Statute of the island of Crete is in
force as heretofore ; certain provisions only of this
statute shall be modified and completed as hereinafter
stated. The Constitution shall not annul this statute.
II. The Governor- General is named in accordance
with the Organic Statute of the island of Crete. The
duration of his functions shall be for five years.
* See Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, vol. iv. p. 2810.

III. The General Assembly shall be composed of

eighty members, of whom forty-nine shall be Christians
and thirty-one Mussulmans.
IV. The annual session of the General Assembly
shall last forty days as heretofore. Nevertheless, if the
Assembly cannot terminate the labours of this year
within that time, the first session may be prolonged
for twenty days in addition. The sittings shall be
public. *
In order to supplement the deficiencies which exist
in the Ottoman legislation now in force, the General
Assembly shall have the right immediately to draw up
a Code of Civil and Criminal Procedure, and a Communal
Statute formulated by the Assembly, which shall be
sanctioned by the Porte, provided they do not interfere
with the rights of the Imperial Government, and if they
are not contrary to the principles which govern the
Ottoman laws and regulations.
If it be subsequently necessary to make modifications
of a nature to supply deficiencies in regulations which
are now in force, and which are demanded by require
ments of purely local interests, the General Assembly
shall have the right to submit, for the approval of the
Sublime Porte, the modifications decided upon by a
majority of two-thirds.
V. The number of the Christian Caïmakams † shall
exceed that of the Mussulman Caïmakams, according
to the requirements of the localities.
VI. The formation of the Administrative Councils
shall take place as heretofore. Nevertheless, for the
* Previous to 1879 debates were held with closed doors.
† Sub-governors,
Modern CRETE. 103
future, no Government official shall be a member of

them , with the exception of the Vali, or Governor
General, the Governors, and Caïmakams, who will
preside as a matter of right.
VII . The judicial power shall be distinct and separate
from the Executive ; the composition of the Tribunals
shall be the same as heretofore. Nevertheless, the
Assembly may submit, for the approval of the Sublime
.
Porte, a project of reorganization, which, while being
more economical, will ensure a better administration of
justice.
VIII. The Governor- General shall henceforth have
an adviser, who shall be a Christian if he be a Mussul
man, and vice versa.
IX. The general correspondence of the Vilayet, the
procès verbaux of the Tribunals and Councils, shall be
drawn up in two languages. But, as in general the
Mussulman and Christian inhabitants of the island speak
Greek, the deliberations of the General Assembly and
the Tribunals shall take place in that language.
X. All he officials, with the exception of the Vali,
shall be nominated subject to the laws and regulations
in force. Natives, however, having the required quali
fications, shall have the preference.
XI. Should the Assembly have to establish a new
method of assessing the tithes, to protect more com
pletely the interests of the Treasury and of the population
at the same time, they must submit it to the sanction of
the Government.
XII. Natives to be preferred in the formation of the
gendarmerie, and recourse to be had to other inhabi
tants of the Empire in the event of an insufficiency of
native candidates. The chief of the gendarmerie to be

appointed by the Porte. The other officers to be chosen
from both Christians and Mussulmans. A pension fund
to be established for officers and soldiers, and a special
regulation drawn up on the subject.
XIII. There shall be economy in the expenditure ,
The following items shall not be inserted in the budget
of the island : The cost of the regular army ; the customs
duties ; the taxes on salt and tobacco ; as also the receipts
and expenditure on account of the " Vacouf " lands.
which are now administered by the local authorities
and shall henceforth be administered separately .
After the cost of local administration has been
deducted from the revenue, the surplus shall be divided
in equal parts between the Imperial Treasury and works
of public utility, which shall be determined by the
Assembly in the following order :
1. Houses of detention,
2. Schools.
3. Hospitals.
4. Harbours and roads.
The Assembly shall have the right of examining
whether the receipts and expenses have been applied
according to the provisions of the budget for the year.
In the event of these revenues not covering the ex
penditure, the Imperial Government will give to the
administrative of the island a sum of money not ex
ceeding the half of the import duties of the current
financial year to meet the deficit in the salaries.
XIV. Paper money shall not be current in the
island. The salaries of the officials shall be paid in
specie.
MODERN CRETE. 105
XV. It shall be lawful for the inhabitants to found

literary societies, printing presses, and newspapers, in
conformity with the law of the Empire.
XVI. If Ministerial Ordinances are transmitted con
trary to the independence of the tribunals, to the laws
in force, and to the Organic Statute of the island, these
ordinances shall not be put into execution.
Special provisions were also added , to the following
effect : A general amnesty shall be proclaimed. The
arrears of taxes shall not be exacted from the cultivators.
The inhabitants shall be permitted to keep their arms,
but no one shall have the right to carry them without
permission of the authorities. A definitive arrangement
shall be adopted for debts contracted previous to 1866.
Special offices shall be established in the island for
agreement, and for all acts of sale of real property other
than the acts of transfer, as well as for the registration
of mortgages and deposits.
The firman was issued on the 28th of November, 1878,
and the delay was taken as an indication of Turkish bad
faith. On the 27th of November, a new governor,
Caratheodori Pasha, arrived, but in less than three
weeks was superseded by Photiades Pasha (14th of
December).
He was a man of large sympathies, conciliatory, and
proved himself a most capable official. The terms in
which he addressed the Assembly are worth quoting, as
showing his enlightened views. " One of your first duties,"
he said, " is the elaboration of a code of civil and criminal
procedure and of a municipal law, the organization of
the legal tribunals, the introduction of a better system
of taxes, and the administration and regulation of the
finances ; it will be your duty to deliberate concerning

works of public usefulness, the regulation of the debts
of the agricultural population, and other matters pro
vided for by the ' Organic Law."" After Photiades had
governed the island for seven years, he resigned in
1885 , owing to a dispute about the question of vakoufs,
that is to say, tithes for the benefit of Mussulman
religious establishments, which were exacted from
certain Christian villages. He was succeeded by Savas
Pasha, an orthodox Epirote Greek. The inhabitants
at first refused to accept him as governor ; the Christian
members of the Assembly issued several proclamations,
decided to refuse to pay the taxes, declared all magis
trates traitors who took orders from Savas, and pro
visionally intrusted the Christians with the maintenance
of public order. The agitation did not subside until
Savas, after the consular representatives had intervened ,
solemnly promised, in the presence of the Cretan
parliament assembled in the Episcopal church, to
govern in accordance with the laws, and further, to
resign his office, in case any serious dispute should arise
.
between him and the majority of the representatives.
In September, 1885 , the Roumelian revolt took place,
and the Cretans determined to demand union with
Greece, if the union of Bulgaria and Roumelia was
maintained . On the 21st of December, the Cretans
addressed to the representatives of the Powers at Con
stantinople a memorandum, in which they asserted that
the Powers had on several occasions recognized their
right to union with the mother-country ; that the
circumstances seemed favourable for carrying it out ;
and that the local institutions were insufficient and
MODERN CRETE. 107
lacked the necessary authority. Two requests, formu

lated by the Assembly, were unfavourably received at
Constantinople. According to the existing arrange
ment, laws proposed to the Assembly were passed by
a majority of votes, but did not become law until the
sanction of the Sultan had been obtained ; and when
it was a question of amending laws already in existence,
two-thirds of the votes were necessary. The deputies
demanded that a simple majority should be sufficient
in the case of amendments, and that the approval of
the Sultan should not be delayed longer than three
months. They also demanded certain changes in the
financial administration of the island, especially in
regard to custom- house duties.
We do not hear much of the island until 1889, when
an outbreak took place, which had its origin in quarrels
amongst the Christian population, who subsequently
united against the Turks. The insurgents demanded
the appointment of a new governor, and the reform of
the constitution. A new governor was ordered by the
Porte to establish a state of siege in the island, to
institute courts-martial, and to call upon the rebels
to lay down their arms. Towards the end of the year
the disturbances quieted down, and the Porte pro
claimed a general amnesty ; but this amnesty was found
to be deceptive, since all who had been imprisoned were
excluded from participation in it, and all the Christian
judges of the Court of Appeal resigned as a protest. The
Sultan was afterwards induced to alter it, and all the
inhabitants, with few exceptions, were allowed to be
included in it. Later on we have the usual tale of out
rages and massacres. In 1891 the mayors of several
eparchies informed the British Consul at Canea that the

Turkish Government was entirely unable to maintain
order, and that the Christians would be obliged to take
up arms in self-defence. There was some fighting
between the Turkish troops and a band of insurgents.
In 1892 disturbances arose in consequence of infrac
tions of the Organic Statute ; meetings were held, and
dispersed with violence. Owing to the intervention of
the Bishop of Sphakia, hostilities stopped ; but the
seizing of several Cretans on a charge of conspiracy
by the Government caused a renewal of the rising.
Matters went on in much the same way until 1894,
when the execution of four Christians led to serious
disturbances, chiefly because certain Mussulmans, who
had also been sentenced to death, had been pardoned,
with the exception of one. The Assembly of Representa
tives from all parts of the island met at Canea, and
addressed a petition to the Sultan, begging him to
alter the system of taxation, to convoke the General
Assembly, and to nominate a Christian governor
whose appointment should be a permanent one. The
Turkish governor was shot at, and on the same day
superseded.
Early in 1895, in answer to the petition addressed
to him, the Sultan issued a firman, ordering elections for
the General Assembly to take place. The number of
deputies was reduced from eighty to fifty- seven, and
included thirty-five Christians and twenty-two Mussul
mans ; in the same year another petition was drawn up ,
demanding the restoration of the "Organic Statute ” * and
* The Pact of Halepa had practically been abrogated by an Imperial

Firman of November, 1889.
MODERN CRETE. 109
the reorganization of the system of taxation and police.

Measures were immediately taken to break up, by force
of arms, the meeting which had drawn up this petition.
This and the seizure of a number of Christian notables
led to a rising, a reform committee was formed, and an
engagement took place between the Turkish troops and
the insurgents, followed by acts of plunder and pillage,
which were unchecked by the Turkish authorities. At
length, the ambassadors at Constantinople induced the
Porte to publish an edict, convoking the National As
sembly at Canea ; Georgios Berovitch Pasha, a Christian,
was appointed Governor- General with Hassan Pasha as
vice-governor. A proclamation declaring a general
amnesty was issued (July 2), and the Constitution or
Pact of Halepa was restored. The National Assembly
was opened on the 13th, and petitions and counter
petitions were drawn up by the Christians and Mus
sulmans. As the island still continued in a highly
disturbed condition, it was suggested that it should be
blockaded, so as to prevent assistance being sent to it
from Greece ; but the project was dropped, owing to the
refusal of England to co -operate. The Reform Com
mittee, which had been formed in the early part of the
year, gave place to a Revolutionary Assembly, which was
headed by one of the prominent leaders of the 1868
revolution. Later on, the Sultan expressed his willing
ness to carry out any reforms which the ambassadors of
the great Powers might demand. The following pro
posals were put before him as indispensable : The
appointment of a Christian governor for five years,
subject to the approval of the Powers ; the reorganiza
tion of the police system ; the island to be autonomous,
except that it was to pay an annual tribute to Turkey ;

and both civil and military powers to be united in the
hands of the governor ; it was also suggested that
two-thirds of the public appointments should be given
to the Christians, and one-third to the Mussulmans.
The Sultan approved the scheme, which was also
accepted by the deputies, and it seemed as if at last
a definite settlement had been found. Georgios Bero
vitch was appointed as the first Christian Governor
General on the 11th of September. The hopes of the
diplomatists were, however, doomed to be disappointed .
The usual delay on the part of the Turks in carrying
out the promised reforms, the want of a regularly
organized police force, and the non-administration of
justice, caused a feeling of discontent amongst the
people, and fresh disturbances took place.
The intervention of Greece and the events of the last
six months are too familiar to need description ; at
present it is impossible to foresee the result of events
upon the island. The Powers have offered almost com
plete independence to the insurgents, who, as far as can
be ascertained, refuse to accept it, and declare that they
will be satisfied with nothing less than annexation to
Greece, which the great Powers are unwilling to permit.
In spite of the landing of Greek forces in Crete, hostili
ties have not as yet broken out between Turkey and
*
Greece, although, at the moment of writing, it is reported
that a band of Greek insurgents has crossed the Turkish
frontier, and that severe fighting has taken place. Who
knows whether this may not be the spark destined to
set the powder-magazine of Europe ablaze, and to bring
* Written April 12th.
THE ETHNIKE HETERIA. 113
influence materially contributed to the triumph of

Sparta over Athens in the Peloponnesian War. In the
times of the Byzantine Empire, the word Hetaria was
used to denote certain " regiments " or " companies " of
the imperial guard, composed exclusively of foreigners ;
their special duty was to guard the Emperor's person ,
and attend him on the occasion of important cere
monials.
During modern times, the national aspirations of the

Greeks, encouraged by the events of the French Revolu
tionary period, and the downfall of the Turkish power
promised by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, gave birth
to a "political " Hetaria, founded by Constantinos Rhigas ,
the Tyrtæus of Modern Greece, at the end of the last
century, a most accomplished man, and the author of
several literary works. He was born at Velestino (the
ancient Phera), in Thessaly, and was for some time in
*
the service of the Hospodar of Wallachia. The French.
Revolution inspired him with the idea of bringing about
a general rising of the Greeks, with the object of shaking
off the Turkish yoke. In pursuance of this idea, he
travelled through Greece and formed a numerous
association of patriots, who were recruited from all
classes of society, and even included some Turkish
pashas. His first adherents were the Greek Klephts,
for whom he composed a number of warlike songs. †
Everything was ready for the outbreak of a national
movement, when the entry of the French into Italy
highly excited the hopes of the Greeks. Rhigas re
solved to apply directly to Bonaparte, with whom he
* A title formerly borne by the vassal princes of Moldavia and
Wallachia.
† See a specimen in chap. vi.
H
carried on a correspondence for several months. After

the French had reached Venice, he left Vienna, where
he had been living for some time, with the intention of
having a personal interview with Bonaparte. Shortly
before his departure for Trieste, he sent on to one of his
friends there a box containing some copies of his poems 1
and his correspondence with Bonaparte. On his arrival

at Trieste, he was arrested and taken to Vienna. After
he had been imprisoned for some time, he was handed
over to the Turkish Governor of Belgrade. Fruitless
efforts were made to save his life, for he was beheaded,
or, according to others, drowned in the Danube by the
Pasha's order. His last words are said to have been :
"I have sown the seed in the furrow ; the hour is
approaching when my people will reap the harvest. "
The death of Rhigas for a while checked the movement
which he had inaugurated .
We ought here to mention the name of Adaman
tinos Corass, a native of Chios ( 1748-1833 ), a dis
tinguished literary man. His wide reading of ancient
Greek literature inspired him with a love of free
dom and hatred of Turkish rule. He decided to
leave his native island and travel. In 1788 he went to
Paris. The Revolution created a deep impression upon
him, and he decided to remain in France and preach
the doctrine of Greek independence. For this object he
recognized that it was of great importance to bring
home to the Greeks their glorious past, to purify their
language, and make them act in a manner calculated to
win for them the sympathy of Europe ; and to this task
he devoted the remainder of his life. He died and was
buried at Paris ; the following inscription, composed by
THE ETHNIKE HETÆRIA. 115
himself, was written upon his tombstone : " Here lies

Adamantinos Corass ; a foreign soil covers me, but I
loved Paris as dearly as I loved Greece, my native
land."
In 1812 was founded the Hetaria Philomousos, which
may be translated " the literary," or " liberal education "
society. Its object was to found schools throughout
Greece, to collect funds for the preservation of ancient
monuments and for carrying on fresh excavations, to
establish a library and a museum at Athens, to publish
editions of the Greek classics, and to assist young Greeks
with sums of money, in order to enable them to complete
their education at the universities. This association
obtained a considerable success, and counted amongst
its members a number of learned men from all parts of
Europe, notably Count Capo d'Istria : it is said to have
numbered eighty thousand members. It was a praise
worthy and perfectly harmless institution, but not likely
to be of much practical use in assisting Greece to regain
her freedom , if it had ever entertained any such idea.
During the revolution of 1821 the Hetaria almost
disappeared : it was re- established in 1824, but was
rendered unnecessary by the formation of Greece into
an independent kingdom.
Two years after the foundation of the "Hetaria
Philomousos " another league was formed ( 1814) , called
the " Philike Hetaria," or " friendly society." It was
founded in Odessa by a Greek merchant, Scouphas, of
Arta, and two young men, one of whom was a free
mason. The warning afforded by the fate of Rhigas
caused the strictest secrecy to be observed . The society
was national and political, and had for its object nothing.
less than the total overthrow of the Ottoman dominion

with the assistance of Russia, and the setting-up of a
Greek kingdom , with Constantinople as the capital : at
the same time, the heads of it were clever enough to
shelter themselves behind the "Hetaria Philomousos,"
pretending that it was merely a branch of it. It was
framed on the model of a freemasons' lodge ; even the
initiated did not know who was at the head of it, but
there were not wanting mysterious hints that it was no
less a personage than the Czar of Russia himself, which
gained for the society a considerable reputation. In
1818 it changed its locale to Constantinople, brought its
organization to a high state of efficiency, and despatched
emissaries throughout all the countries inhabited by
Greeks : several influential personages, Prince Nicolas,
Georgios and Demetrios Ypsilantes, Prince Alexander
Mavrocordatos, and the Patriarch of Constantinople
became members of it.
In a very short time the society had extended its
influence far and wide, even to the savage tribes of the
mountainous country in the neighbourhood of Sparta.
It felt the necessity of having a publicly -recognized head
of ability and distinction. The management fixed its
choice upon one of two persons- Count Capo d'Istria,
minister of the Russian Emperor, and the young prince
Alexander Ypsilantes, son of a former hospodar of
Wallachia, who had fought with distinction for Russia,
and was at the time in high favour with the Czar. Capo
d'Istria refused, but Ypsilantes accepted the position,
believing that he would be acting in accordance with the
wishes of Russia. This was on the 20th of June, 1820.
He immediately sent out secret proclamations to all the
general- ephors, or superintendents, asking for arms and

money. The rising of Theodore Vladimiresko, one of
the lesser boyards, or nobles, of Wallachia, against the
oppression of the superior boyards and Fanariotes, was
regarded by the Hetærists as the signal for a rising
against Turkey. In the eighteenth century the Turks
had introduced, in regard to its Wallachian vassals, the
system of selling the office of voivode, or hospodar, to the
highest bidder at Constantinople, to be farmed out.
The princes were mostly Greeks from the Fanar
quarter of Constantinople, hence the name Fanariotes,
who had been dragomen, or held some court office.
Before he had received any definite proof of the
sympathetic co-operation of Russia, Ypsilantes found
himself committed to the dangerous undertaking of
raising the standard of revolt in Moldavia ; and he could
not draw back since one of his messengers had been
arrested in Servia, and the whole undertaking had been
betrayed. Together with his brother and a small
following, he crossed the Pruth, and, at Jassy, informed
the Moldavians of the resolve of the Greeks to shake
off the Turkish yoke, invited them to keep quiet, but
summoned all the Greeks to follow the banner of
freedom. According to his plan of operations, the
Greeks throughout the whole of Turkey were to rise
at the time of his advance into Moldavia. This general
rising did not, however, take place, as the Porte had
received previous information of the designs of the
Hetærists, and had taken the utmost precautions to
foil them. Russia, on whose direct assistance Ypsilantes
had counted, and which he had already promised to
the Greeks, expressed disapproval of his proceedings ;
he was excluded from the military service of Russia, all

help definitely refused him, and the entire responsibility
for anything that happened was laid upon himself. The
troops in the Pruth and in Bessarabia were ordered
to observe the strictest neutrality, and the Russian
ambassador at the Porte expressed the Czar's dis
approval of the revolutionary attempt. Ypsilantes and
the Hetarists were thus thrown entirely upon their own
resources. The Hospodar of Moldavia, Michael Soutzo ,
certainly declared in their favour, but the Boyards
remained loyal to Turkey, and Vladimiresko at Bucharest
looked upon them as no better than Fanariotes, against
whose oppressions his rising in Wallachia had been mainly
directed, and he therefore refused to have anything to do
with them. However, Ypsilantes marched to Bucharest,
whence he issued an appeal to the Wallachians, with the
object of winning them over to the cause of freedom .
But he failed in the attempt ; the revolution in the Morea,
which broke out during this time, and the terrible scenes
which took place in Constantinople, where thousands of
Greeks lost their lives in the attempt to secure for
themselves an independent nationality, discouraged the
Moldavians and Wallachians, who were, further, disgusted
with the scandalous behaviour of certain persons in the
Prince's suite and the want of discipline amongst his
troops. A number of Ypsilantes' own adherents began to
waver. Finding himself, therefore, obliged to act strictly
on the defensive , Ypsilantes took up his position at Ter
gorisht, in the centre of Wallachia, where he threw up
entrenchments, and declared that he would await the
advance of the Turks, who had assembled in considerable
forces, and met with no serious opposition in marching to
Jassy and Bucharest. Vladimiresko, who had succeeded

in regaining possession of Bucharest, now threw off the
mask, and entered into negotiations with Kara Mustapha,
Pasha of Silistria, to whom he handed over the city. He
was accused of treachery and put to death by Ypsilantes.
After the Turkish victory at Dragashan, in which the
Hetærist corps called the Sacred Band distinguished
itself by the greatest bravery, the insurrection was at an
end. Ypsilantes fled to Austria, where he was detained
as a prisoner until 1827, when he was released, but died
in the following year. " The flight of Ypsilantes was the
last scene of the drama enacted by the Philikē Hetaria
in the provinces, where the rash ambition of its supreme
head and the utter incapacity of its members brought
great calamity on the people, and laid the foundations
of an anti-Greek feeling, which resulted [at that time] in
depriving the Greeks of all political power in those
provinces, but was not entirely without good effect , since
it contributed to develop projects of national indepen
dence. It was reserved for the native land of the
Hellenic race to prove that Greece could still arm heroes
in her cause." * When the war of independence resulted
in the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece, the
Philike Hetaria lost its influence as a political factor for
a time.
But, although less demonstratively, it still continued
its work- a work which cannot be said to be com
plete while so many thousands of Greek- speaking
people, both on the mainland and in the islands, such
as Crete and Samos, remain more or less directly subject
to Turkish rule. The avowed object of the society was,
* Finlay, History of Greece, vol. vi . p. 134.
and is, to promote the knowledge of Greek literature,

and to restore, as far as possible, the language of Ancient
Greece in place of Romaic, which is a mixture of Greek,
Turkish, and Italian . Its efforts have certainly been
crowned with success as far as the written language of
newspapers, etc. , is concerned, although, in spite of
assertions to the contrary, this pseudo-classical tongue
is a broken reed for the ordinary traveller to depend
upon. In addition to this, the society does its utmost,
not unnaturally, to imbue the rising generation with a
patriotic hatred of the Turks. The society, which now
appears to be called Ethnikē ( National ), numbers amongst
its members the most influential and wealthy of the
Greeks. It is stated that the King and his ministers
are members of it, and if so, it is easy to understand how
difficult it is for him to hold them back ; in fact, we may
say that, at the present moment, the ruling power in
Greece is the Ethnike Hetaria. The distinctive dress is
a round cap without any peak, on the front of which is
a small gold-embroidered device—a cross with the letters
E.E. beneath, and a globe above. Special correspondents
have recently given interesting accounts of the manner
in which the bands organized by the society were sent
on their mission across the frontier, accompanied by the
solemn blessings pronounced by the priests. As the
Greeks have probably by this time lost all confidence
in the disinterestedness of Russia, the society will find
new scope for its energies in endeavouring to prevent
the realization of the designs of that power, designs
which have as their goal Constantinople, the ancient
capital of the Byzantine or Lower Empire, which it is
the dream of the Greeks to revive, as their inheritance
by right,
It is generally considered that the rebellion of Ali

Pasha of Janina against the Turkish Government, and
the intrigues of the Philikē Hetaria and Russian
agencies, were the chief causes of the Greek Revolution.
Mr. Finlay, who dissents from this view, has the
following remarks upon this society : " The power of
secret societies is very apt to be overrated , and in no
case has the influence of a secret political society been
more unduly magnified than in the case of the Philike
Hetæria. Many of the best Hetærists were more
directly under the influence of Russian orthodoxy than
of Hellenic independence, and many of the best men
who distinguished themselves in the Greek Revolution
were not Hetarists. The first members of the Philikē
Hetaria were bankrupt merchants and intriguing
adventurers , possessed of some cunning and great
enthusiasm. Turkey was supposed to be on the eve of
dissolution, and Russia to be on the point of gaining
possession of Constantinople. The Hetaria was formed
when these ideas were predominant, and it prospered. In
all probability it would soon have expired of inanition
had it not been kept alive by its members making use of
the name of the Czar of Russia, who was generally sup
posed to grant it his secret protection. The influence
of secret societies or national movements can only be
powerful when these movements coincide with the
general impulse to which the societies owe their own
impulse. The schemes of the Hetærists of Odessa
were wild and visionary-the object of the inhabitants
of Greece was definite and patriotic. The Hetærists
proposed to set fire to Constantinople, to burn the
arsenal, to destroy the fleet, to assassinate the Sultan,
122 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY of crete.
and bring about a general massacre of the Mussulman

population. They overlooked the possibility of millions
of warlike Mohammedans rushing to Constantinople to
defend the Turkish domination, who, when the con
spirators had destroyed the fountain-head of all the
vices of the Ottoman administration, might have laid
the foundations of a new and more powerful Turkish
Empire."
A brief outline of the chief events of the Greek War
of Independence may suitably close this chapter.
The defeat of Ypsilantes and the " Sacred Band " put
an end to the rising in the Danubian Principalities ; but
the fire of revolution was kindled in Greece. In March ,
1821 , Germanos, Bishop of Patras, summoned his
countrymen to arms and made himself master of
Calavryta. The Arcadians rose under Colokotrones,
the Mæniotes under Mavromikhales, and a National
Assembly was formed at Kalamata, called the Senate of
Messenia, to undertake the direction of the movement.
Its rapid success roused the fury of the Turks, and great
cruelties were committed by them in Constantinople
and the cities of Asia. These cruelties caused public
opinion to turn in favour of the Greeks ; the insurrection
became general, and the first campaign was attended
with brilliant results.
Encouraged by this, the Greeks decided to organize
a central Government. In December, 1821 , a National
Assembly of sixty-seven deputies was convoked at
Argos and transferred to Epidaurus. Its first proceed
ing was to declare the independence of Greece ; after
which, it drew up a provisional constitution, called the
" Organic Statute " of Epidaurus. As president of the
new state, a Fanariote prince, Mavrocordatos, was ap

pointed, with a Secretary of State to assist him. The
new government signalized its liberality by a decree for
the abolition of slavery ; it also passed an edict for
compensation for military services, and for a provision
for the widows and orphans of those slain in battle ;
while a third edict regulated the internal adminis
tration of the provinces. A proclamation was issued
to the effect that Greece was now an independent
federal state, and a blockade of Turkish towns was
declared. Europe, however, did not view the action
of Greece with approval ; France was neutral , England
distinctly hostile, while Russia and Austria expressed
an unfavourable opinion of the insurrection. The
Sultan endeavoured to gain the favour of Russia, and
made extensive preparations for war. Ali Pasha of
Janina was killed ; a considerable fleet was assembled
at Constantinople, while Mohammed Ali, Pasha of
Egypt, equipped another. In April, 1822, the Turks
carried out a fearful massacre in Chios (Scio) , butchering
in cold blood twenty-three thousand of its inhabitants ,
and selling forty-seven thousand women and children as
slaves. During this time the Greek fleet was very
successful, under the command of Miaoules and Canares,
whose fire-ships inflicted great damage upon the Turkish
fleet. Mavrocordatos, who had been betrayed by an
Albanian chief and utterly defeated at Peta, reorganized
his army, and entrenched himself at Missolonghi, on
the north side of the Gulf of Patras. Omar Vriones
began the siege which ended with the total destruction
of his army ; he lost his artillery and baggage, was
defeated on the Achelous, and returned to Prevesa with
a decimated army. Unfortunately, dissensions broke

out amongst the Greek leaders, who were divided into
two factions ; the captains or military chiefs, like
Mavromikhales and Colocotrones, and the political
chiefs, like Mavrocordatos and Demetrios Ypsilantes ;
and, in spite of insurgent successes, the insurrection did
not become general, neither Macedonia, nor Thessaly,
nor even Epirus, following the example of Greece.
The intervention of Egypt turned the balance in
favour of Turkey. Mohammed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt,
sent his fleet to the Archipelago ; Ibrahim Pasha, his
son, landed in Peloponnesus with twenty thousand men ,
carried everything before him, and the Greeks lost
nearly everything that they had acquired. Meanwhile,
Reshid Pasha had laid siege to Missolonghi , the outpost
of Hellenic independence . The siege lasted eleven
months, from the 27th of April, 1825 , to the 22nd of
April, 1826 ; its heroic defence excited the impassioned
sympathy of the whole of Europe, and volunteers of
various nationalities flocked to its assistance. It is
hardly necessary to mention the name of Lord Byron,
who was unremitting in his exertions on behalf of the
Greeks, except to state that he always seemed to be
under the impression that the dissensions amongst the
Greek leaders themselves would, in the end, render
their undoubtedly heroic and in the main patriotic
efforts futile. After a lengthened blockade, Missolonghi
was at length taken by assault.
Their good fortune seemed to have deserted the
Greeks in the following year. Athens was taken in May
by the Turks, soon after the arrival of Lord Cochrane,
who was appointed admiral of the Greek fleet. The
resistance of the Greeks seemed broken, and at this

moment the great Powers of Europe thought the time
had come for them to intervene. The accession of the
Czar Nicholas to the throne of Russia, and of Canning
to power in England, were two facts in favour of Greece,
and an arrangement (the Treaty of London) was con
cluded between England, Russia, and France (July 6,
1827) with the object of putting an end to the devastat
ing war, and of establishing the independence of Greece,
under certain tributary stipulations. This treaty was
presented to the Porte on the 18th of August ; in the
mean time the Greek Government proclaimed an ar
mistice in conformity with the Treaty of London ; but
the Turkish Government decided to reject the interven
tion of the three Powers. The Greeks thereupon re
sumed hostilities, and an accident, the " untoward
event " of Navarino, materially assisted their cause.
The fleets of England, Russia, and France were cruising
about the coasts of Peloponnesus, to prevent the
Turkish fleet ravaging the Greek islands. Winter
coming on, the admirals thought it more prudent to
anchor in the bay of Navarino (the ancient bay of
Pylus), on the south-west coast of the Morea. The first
shots were fired from the Turkish side, and two English
men were killed. This was the signal for hostilities.
The Turkish fleet was practically annihilated ; not more
than fifteen vessels escaped without damage, and more
than five thousand Turks were killed . In this manner,
an engagement which had begun in consequence of an
accident, ended in the almost complete destruction of
the naval power of Turkey, which she has never re
covered. Enraged at the battle of Navarino, the Porte
seized all the ships of the Christian Powers that were at

Constantinople, and broke off all communication with
the allied Powers, until an indemnity should have been
paid for the destruction of the fleet ; at the same time
the ambassadors left Constantinople ; the Porte, how
ever, pretended to desire peace, while in reality it was
making extensive preparations for war.
Shortly afterwards, early in 1828 , Capo d'Istria, who
had been in the service of Russia, was appointed Presi
dent of the Greek Government. His first measures
were to establish a high national council and national
banks, and to put the military on a fresh footing. All
attempts at mediation between Greece and the Porte
seemed hopeless, since the latter rejected every proposal ,
In the mean time, France, acting in agreement with
England, sent some troops to the Morea, and an arrange
ment was come to, by which Ibrahim Pasha undertook
to withdraw his troops and to set at liberty a number
of Greek prisoners whom he had sent as slaves to Egypt.
To defend the Morea from the chance of fresh invasions
by Turkey, the Powers drew up a declaration to the
effect that they intended to place the Morea and the
Cyclades Islands under their protection until a definite
arrangement should have been arrived at in regard to
the provinces of which they had taken possession, and
that the entrance of any military force into the country
would be looked upon as an attack on themselves ; they
also requested the Porte to suggest a definite settlement
in regard to Greece. Hostilities,
Hostilities , in the mean time,
continued, great excesses being committed by the Turks,
who even went so far as to burn down the olive-groves.
The basis of a settlement was, however, at last
agreed upon between the Great Powers. By the

Protocol of London, signed by Russia, France, and
England on the 22nd of March, 1829, it was decided
to limit the boundaries of Greece to a line drawn from
the Gulf of Arta to the Gulf of Volo ; the Greeks were
to pay an annual tribute of one million five hundred
thousand piastres to the Sultan ; a joint commission,
composed of Turks and Greeks, was to be appointed
to determine the question of the indemnification of the
Turks for the loss of property in Greece ; Greece was to
enjoy a qualified independence, under the sovereignty of
the Porte ; the government was to be in the hands of an
hereditary Christian Prince, chosen by the Sultan ; at
every succession of the hereditary prince, a year's
tribute was to be paid, mutual amnesty was to be
declared, and all Greeks were to be allowed a year to
sell their property and leave Turkish territory.
But it was a long time before the state of things in
Greece attained to anything like a settled condition.
Capo d'Istria, the President, found himself in a position
of great embarrassment. He had undoubtedly done his
best for the maintenance of order, the suppression of
brigandage and piracy, and the formation of a regular
army ; the establishment of courts of justice and
schools ; of means for collecting the revenue, and pro
viding for the material wants of the population. His
idea was to organize Greece on the model of a European
state ; but his ideas of government were Russian, and,
ruling with a high hand, he gave great offence to the
masses of the people, who, jealous of all foreign in
fluence, showed themselves determined to resist the
imposts and sanitary measures of the new form of
government. A fifth meeting of the National Assembly

took place at Argos (July 23- August 18, 1829), at
which the Panhellenium , or council of twenty-seven
members, composed of the chief notabilities of Greece,
was replaced by a Senate, which only had a consultative
voice. At this meeting Capo d'Istria delivered a long
address, in which he gave an account of the state of the
country and the measures he had in view for the
organization of the army and finances. It was agreed
that troops should be raised in order to deliver the
whole of Greece from Turkish rule, but there was no
money ; out of sixteen million piastres, the army
estimates absorbed fifteen million , and even this sum
was far from being adequate for its purpose. The
terrible struggle which had been continued for six
years had exhausted the resources of the country ;
nearly a quarter of the population had perished ; the
olive groves had been devastated, and the fields had
remained untilled for several years.
After the issue of the Protocol of London, the Powers
requested that the troops of the Provisional Government
should be withdrawn from Northern Greece, and that
the blockade of the fortresses occupied by the Turks
outside the Morea and the Cyclades should be raised .
The defeat of Turkey by Russia (who had declared
war in April), which culminated in the humiliating
Treaty of Adrianople ( September 14, 1829), led to
the drawing up of a fresh Protocol, relative to the in
dependence of Greece, signed by the representatives
of England, France, and Russia. By this it was decreed
that Greece was to " form an independent State,
and enjoy all the rights, political, administrative, and
commercial, attached to complete independence ; the

Greek Government was to be monarchical and here
ditary, and confided to a Prince who shall not be
capable of being chosen from among those of the
families reigning in the states that signed the Treaty
of the 6th July, 1827 [ ie. Great Britain, France, and
Russia] , and who shall bear the title of Sovereign
Prince of Greece, the choice of that Prince to form the
"'*
subject of subsequent communications and stipulations.'
Euboea and the Sporades Islands were left to Greece,
and its frontier was fixed at a line drawn from the
mouth of the river Achelous or Aspropotamos (White
River) from Vrakhori to the Bay of Zeitun . The National
Assembly refused to agree to these clauses. Prince
Leopold of Saxe- Coburg, who was offered the crown of
Greece, at first accepted it on the 20th of February,
1830, but subsequently refused it, on the plea that the
Greeks themselves were unfavourably disposed towards
him, and that they were dissatisfied with the arrange
ments that had been made as to the boundaries of the
newly-constituted kingdom. The Greeks themselves
were divided . Capo d'Istria, whose desire it was to
organize them off-hand after a European fashion, took
as his model the Russian bureaucracy, apparently under
the idea that, after four centuries of oppression, they
needed a strong hand to make them appreciate
thoroughly the blessings of their recently-recovered
freedom. The country landowners supported him, but
the liberals formed a syntagmatic, or constitutional party.
All opposition was put down by the President with
* For the above somewhat confused wording the language of diplomacy

is responsible.
I
great severity, which only had the effect of irritating

and increasing the opposition . A provisional govern
ment was set up at Hydra by Miaoules, Conduriotes, and
Tombazes ; Ipsara and Syra joined in. The imprison
ment of Mavromikhales provoked an insurrection of the
Mainotes of Peloponnesus, who demanded a constitution .
Miaoules captured the Greek fleet in the harbour of Poros,
and, finding himself blockaded by a Russian squadron ,
set fire to it. The rupture between the old leaders of the
insurrection and the Government was complete ; Miaoules,
Mavrocordatos, and Conduriotes were declared traitors.
On the 9th of October, 1831 , at six o'clock in the
morning, while on his way to church, Capo d'Istria was
accosted by the brother and son of Mavromikhales.
When he was in the act of taking off his hat to return
their salute, one fired a pistol at him and the other
stabbed him in the side ; his wounds immediately proved
fatal. One of his assassins was slain by the people, the
other found refuge in France. It was unfortunate that
the death of Capo d'Istria occurred when it did . In a
few days the Congress would have assembled, and the
decisions of the three Great Powers would have estab
lished a new order of things, which would have allowed
the President to resign with honour an authority which
had been impaired by obstacles and opposition of
various kinds, but which he could not have handed over
to his political opponents of his own free will, without
the risk of increasing the confusion . When their
passions had once calmed down, his fellow- citizens
would have been forced to recognize in him the eminent
qualities which had gained for him throughout Europe
so many friends of distinction. One ofthese, M. Eynard ,
has thus described his character : " The President of

Greece was founded upon an antique model ; he was
austere, strict, and a man of unrivalled honesty ; he
never sought to assert himself, despised criticism when
it was unjust, spent all his fortune for Greece, and
pursued with great perseverance his schemes for the
civilization of his country. No man ever possessed
more valuable qualities ; he was extremely well
informed, an indefatigable worker, loyal, simple in
manner, and free from affectation and ceremoniousness.
To all these admirable qualities he united a perfect trust
in Providence." The Senate, after having succeeded in
calming the fury of the people, which seemed likely to
proceed to violent excesses, nominated a commission of
government consisting of three members- Colettes,
Colocotrones, and Avgoustos Capo d'Istria ; the latter
was elected President temporarily by the National As
sembly convoked at Argos, until a congress should have
been held. The new President was not recognized in
the northern districts, and Colettes called together
another National Assembly at Perakhora . The Rou
meliotes marched upon Argos, and forced the President
to resign (April 13th, 1832 ) . Thiersch, the German
philologist, then instituted a fresh governmental com
mission, until the arrival of Otho of Bavaria, the second
son of King Louis I., who had been appointed to the
throne by the three protecting Powers. The following
was the basis of agreement : In return for an indemnity
of twelve million francs, Turkey undertook to push back
the boundaries as far as the Gulfs of Arta and Volo ;
Otho was allowed to contract a loan of sixty million
francs under the guarantee of the three Powers ; the
King of Bavaria undertook to furnish a body of troops,

to the number of 3,500 men, to take the place of the
troops of the Alliance hitherto stationed in Greece.
Henceforth, Greece has existed as an Independent
Kingdom .
CHAPTER VI.
CRETAN SONGS AND LEGENDS.
THE popular songs of Greece, in which the Greek

nationality through many centuries of oppression has
still preserved itself, may be divided into several classes.
I. Historical. Some of these go back as far as the
tenth century, and deal with the heroic deeds of the
Akritæ, or frontier-soldiers of the Byzantine Empire : the
scene is usually laid in Asia Minor, or Mount Taurus.
It is not, however, until the second half of the eighteenth
century that they become numerous. The Cretan
Revolution of 1770, brought about by the ambition of
the Empress Catherine of Russia, was the origin of a
number of songs, which are practically the only historical
documents extant concerning the heroic struggles of that
period on the island . Amongst them are The Entry of
the Turks into Sphakia, and Daskaloyiannes (Master
John) of Sphakia.
II. Religious. These comprise songs relating to the
Church festivals, the Virgin Mary, the angels and saints,
and, amongst the latter, St. George in particular, one of
the most venerated saints in the Greek Church ; songs
relating to various events connected with the life of
Christ.
III. Romantic. These deal with the exploits of the
Klephts (brigands), and romantic adventures generally.
IV. Myrologia, or funeral songs, of which there is a

very large number.
V. Love Songs and Erotic distichs, the latter almost
exclusively confined to celebrating the charms of the
lady. She is sometimes a rose, a pink, a pomegranate,
an apple-tree loaded with fruit. When she passes along
the street, it is filled with roses ; she is as white as the
snow on the mountains, her head is a vessel of silver, her
hair threads of silk, her eyes blue as sapphires or black
as the Athenian olive, her mouth a half-open lily, her
voice is as tuneful as that of the nightingale ; when she
speaks, she restores the sick to health and brings back
the dead to life ; she is a slender cypress, a flowering .
orange-tree, a hawk swift of flight, an eagle with golden
wings, a ship proudly cleaving the waters. It is, however,
only fair to add that the rejected lover does not, on
occasion, shrink from calling his ladylove a “ rotten
sardine," " an old she-ass," or " a stinking kettle."
Most of the specimens of popular songs here submitted
have their origin in Crete, and have all been translated *
from the original Greek, where accessible.
I.
MASTER JOHN OF SPHAKIA.

A TRUE STORY OF THE YEAR 1770 .
Listen to me, both old and young, that I may tell and
you may learn the story of Master John. Master John
* The translations are not to be considered as slavishly literal ;
abridgments have been made in some cases.
† The word here translated " Master " does not mean necessarily a
" teacher " or "schoolmaster," but, like the Turkish Khoja, a " learned
man," that is, a person who knew how to write.
CRETAN SONGS AND LEGENDS. 135
of Sphakia, with your mighty army, did you not tell me

that you would restore the Greeks ? Every Easter and
Christmas you put on your hat and said to the chief
priest, " I will bring the Russians." *
66
'Master John of Sphakia, " said the priest, " remain
quiet, as becomes us, lest the Sultan hear you and send
the Turks against us." The Vizier † wrote a letter and
sent it to the Sultan. " Long live my Lord ! tell me what
I am to do. Shall I burn Sphakia, or abandon it ? "
" Neither burn it nor abandon it ; no one is to blame but
Master John." " Now, Master John, you must be wary,
that you may finish your work, and not abandon it."
Then the Turks considered the matter, and went
forth to fight, to spoil all that the enemy possessed.
They first gave battle at Seli, in the plain of Crapi, and
the general cried to his standard-bearer, " Pisinakes, take
the standard ! " " No, by God, I will not go forward ;
I am afraid, for they are many. See the Christian dogs,
all with swords in their hands."
One Friday morning, before mid-day, the Turks, sword
in hand, took Sphakia. At Franco - Castello they set up
their tents, and at Aradæna played martial strains.
They set fire to Aradæna, and burned the monasteries :
they had no respect or pity for such buildings. At
Madara they took Master John, with all his family and
his standard. Twelve servants of the Pasha took him,
and bound him and carried him off ; all along the road
he did not cease to entreat them, promised them gifts,
promised them money, which had been coined in his
house during Holy Week : he promised them gifts,
* Then regarded by the Greeks as their natural liberators.
† The governor of the island was then called by this title.
promised them sequins, which lay in his house as thick

as dust. He wept for his daughters, above all, for Mary.
" O Mary, my beloved child, I brought you up on honey ,
but now your food shall be fermented rose-laurel. O
Anthusa,* I clothed your feet with gilded shoes, but
now you shall walk barefooted on the stones." " You
are going, Master John ; when shall I expect you back ?
Tell me, that I may keep the door open and the table
laid." " I am going, Mistress John, but I cannot advise
you ; they are taking me to Castro,† and perhaps I
shall never return." When they led him past his
deserted house, his eyes ran with tears like troubled
streams. " My children," said he, " it would need five
hundred purses to rebuild it as it was before." Then
Pisinakes Achmet Aga turned round and said to them :
" He is going to lose his head, and yet weeps for his
house." When they led him past the Khan ‡ Bambali
he asked for cold water, that he might drink it and die.
And when they led him past the first tent, he asked the
Kahveji § to give him some coffee with sugar ; and they
brought him coffee in a porcelain cup, and a chibouk ||
of jasmin, almost as tall as himself. And when they
led him up the stairs of the Pasha's house, he looked
right and left, and cried aloud : " Children, where are
my friends, and where are my kinsmen ? They are
going to take away my life on the Pasha's gibbet."
* " Flower, " a common female name in Crete.
† Megalo-Castro, the modern Canea.
A kind of inn.
§ Coffee-house keeper.
|| Long pipe.
II.
THE ENTRANCE OF THE TURKS INTO SPHAKIA.
(1770.)
They said that the Turks would not enter Sphakia :

but I see that they have entered it in wrath. On Friday,
the 1st of May, the Turks entered Sphakia, sword in
hand the Turks entered Sphakia, cursed be the hour!
and ravaged our country, as they ravaged every other.
" O valiant towns of Callicrate and Askyfo, where
are your young men, that ey may run like lions ?
Where are your young men, your famous warriors, that
they may run like lions and seize the passes ? " " They
are playing instruments of music down at Franco
Castello ; at Anopolis * they are throwing up en
trenchments : they are awaiting the Turks, and leap
for joy, because they are going to fight and display
their valour." When the Turks reached the market
place, they sent a messenger to the Sphakiotes : “ Come
and make your submission, become rayahs, for we will
take you prisoners, even though you are heroes ; come
and make your submission at the Sultan's feet, that he
may bestow upon you a handsome present, that he may
bestow upon you great privileges, and that you may be
distinguished beyond all other districts. We will exempt
you and your descendants from the laws for all time."
" We know your gifts, that bring naught but woe :
you have bestowed them in abundance upon the rest
of Crete. Wherefore, we would all rather perish than
* The " upper city. "
offer submission and bring dishonour upon ourselves .

O cruel renegades, you have devoured the Christians :
wherefore, we will live in freedom , and will never become
rayahs."
When the Pasha heard these words he was greatly
enraged, and told the Sphakiotes that he would reduce
them to slavery. " Do your will, O Pasha, and wait no
longer ; we will not submit, for we have sworn it. We
will not submit to become rayahs ; we all prefer death."
"Well, then, O Sphakiotes, I will send my army
against you, and we will not depart as long as the
summer lasts. You think that you will be safe upon
the mountains ; I also have foot soldiers : prepare to
receive them. You have concealed your children in
holes, but I will seize them, and carry them off to be
my slaves."
"Take the women and children, take also the maidens ;
you may perhaps succeed, for you are renegades."
Such were their last words ; after which they began
a terrific combat from behind their entrenchments.
When they opened fire and lighted the matches of their
guns the bullets fell everywhere like claps of thunder,
and smote their breasts like hail, and the blood ran in
streams, like water from a spring.
Alas ! how many braves fell, smitten to earth, so
altered that none could recognize them ! They lay on
the ground, beautiful as angels, bathed in blood ; they
* The original word Bourmas signifies one who wears a turban. After
the Turks conquered Crete, the inhabitants took to wearing the turban—
the children who sprang from the union of the Turkish conquerors with the
native Cretan women were, of course, not genuine Turks-and for this
reason the Turks of Constantinople looked with contempt upon the Cretan
Turks, and frequently called them " Bourmades," or " renegades."
CRETAN SONGS AND legends. 139
lay there, and their mothers wept and lamented for

them . With their gloomy tears they moved all hearts ;
uttering mournful lamentations for the dead, with lips
deadly pale they sat by their side, and sang their praises ;
their groans ascended to Heaven, and on that day the
flowers drooped and withered. This is all that they did,
those famous men, to fall like wild beasts upon the
infidels. And when the latter saw the fury of their
enemies they hastened to flee, in peril of their lives.
All the Turks fled to Rethymnos,* to escape from the
terrible slaughter, and the young rayahs asked them ,
"Where are your arms ? " "The Sphakiotes have taken
them , and have them in their possession. " Then they
asked them, " Where are your heroes ? " " The Sphakiotes
have devoured them on the mountains." Then they
asked them, "Where are your commanders ? " " The
Sphakiotes have slain them all ; alas ! poor Agas ! " †
III.
ANTONIOS MELIDONES ( 1822) . ‡
Children, why are the birds so frightened ? Has the

hunter chased and slain them ? No one has slain them,
no one has chased them, no one has slain them . But
they have heard that Captain Antonios has been slain.
When he spoke, how valiant he was ! and suddenly they
slew him unjustly, deeply to be mourned. When the
news was brought to his master he rent his clothes, and
flung them on the ground. " O All- powerful God, what
* Retimo, on the north coast.
† A Turkish word, a general term for " officer.
See chap. iv.
manner of custom is this, to slay a man who has been

guilty of no offence ? O Captain Antonios, you who
were like a flower, why did you not slay him with the
pistol ? O Captain Antonios, you who had no equal ,
why did you not slay him with the dagger ? O Captain
Antonios, beauteous youth, cursed be the Sphakiotes."
IV.
THE SONG OF ST. GEORGE.
(303.)
O holy George, my master, on your beauteous steed,
with your sword girded round you , and wielding your
golden spear, I fain would tell of your goodness and
renown, you who slew the monstrous dragon, the beast
which was at the spring, and devoured a man every
morning and evening for its meal . Every day the lot
decided upon whom it should fall to bring his child as a
present to the monster. And it came about that, one
day, the lot fell upon the King's only daughter, a maiden
of surpassing beauty. When her father heard the
terrible sentence, he was deeply grieved . “ Take all I
have," said he, " but leave me my child, my heart's
delight. " Then sharp swords were drawn , and his
nobles said, " If you do not send your child, at any rate
we will send you ." " Take my child and deck her like
a bride, take her as a present to the monster that he may
feed upon her." Then they went and decked her out,
from morning until evening, all in gold and pearls ; she
was like the sun in countenance, like the sea in her
adornment, her pearls were as numerous as the sand .
And when they led her down the great staircase, her
mother came forth, and exclaimed with a loud cry, and
her father also came forth wearing his golden crown.
The people accompanied her to the fountain, and the
unhappy maiden never hoped to return. She shuddered ,
and her slender form trembled when she thought that the
monster would devour her, poor girl, before her time.
It happened that Saint George was passing along the
street. "What seek you here, O maiden ? why are you
sitting in the forest ? " " Go, young man, leave me, lest
the monster devour you like myself." "Fear not the
monster ; I will slay him ; let me rest my head upon
your knees. When you hear the bellowing of the monster,
fear not to wake me." When the maiden heard the
noise of the monster coming to strangle her, in her fear
she shouted out, " Help, Saint George ! " And when he
heard her, he ran to save her, and deliver her from
the savage monster. Then he said , " Maiden, where did
you learn my name ? How do you know the saint ? "
"While you lay asleep, a dove flew to me with a golden
cross in its right hand , and on the top of the golden
cross was written, ' Saint George, whosoever wins his
favour, never dies. " The Saint sprang up and made
the sign of the cross, hurled his spear at the monster
and cleft his throat ; then the monster fell to the
ground, and the earth shook beneath him. Then he
took off the chain of gold with which her neck was
bound : " Henceforth, from to-day, have no fear of
those fierce monsters." Afterwards he set her upon
his horse, and went to the King's palace, and held
converse with him. " Here is your daughter, O King ;
welcome your child, and from the chambers of your
heart give her your blessing." " Long life to you, my

knight ; but tell me your name, that I may bestow upon
you a royal gift." " Those of Scarpathia call me Soldier
George ; if you would make me a present, build a
church ; and on the left and on the right of it represent
the likeness of a horseman, that all Christians may
worship."
V.
WAR SONG.
BY CONSTANTINOS RHIGAS.
How long, my braves, shall we live in the passes alone ,

like lions on the cliffs and on the mountains ? how
long shall we dwell in caves, and look upon naught but
the forests ? Shall we flee from the world to escape
cruel slavery ? leave parents, brothers, and country,
friends, children, and kinsmen ?
Better is one hour of a life of freedom than forty
years of slavery and captivity. What good is life, if it
is lived in slavery ? Remember how they torture you
every hour. Even though you be vizier, interpreter, or
prince, the tyrant will unjustly compass your death .
You toil as he orders you throughout the day, while
he looks for the chance to drink your blood . Soutsos,
Mourouzes, Petrakes, Skanaves, Ghikas, Mavrogenes
are the mirror in which you may look and see. Brave
captains, priests, laymen, and Agas are slain by the
sword of injustice, and countless others, both Turks and
Greeks, have lost their lives and property without any
reason.
cretan songsS AND LEGENDS. 143
Come, let us all, fired by the same zeal, take an

oath this day upon the cross ; let us select men dis
tinguished for love of their country ; let the law be
our first and only guide ; let one man be the ruler of
the fatherland, for anarchy differs not from slavery,
but one man devours another, like so many wild beasts ;
then, with hands uplifted to Heaven, let us pour forth
our hearts to God.
O King of the Universe, I swear by thee that I will
never submit to the will of the tyrants ; that I will
never serve them, nor be deceived by them ; that I
will never trust their promises, as long as I live in the
world ; my fixed and only aim will be to destroy them ;
faithful to my country, I will break its bonds, and I
will never desert my general. If I violate my oath, may
the heavens thunder and lighten, consume and scatter
me like a vapour.
In the east, in the west, in the north, in the south,
let us all have one heart for our country. Bulgarians,
Albanians, Servians, and Greeks, islanders and dwellers
on the mainland , let us all with one impulse gird on the
sword for the sake of liberty ; let the news go forth,
how valiant we are ; let all who understand the art of
war hasten hither, that they may overcome the tyrants.
Here Greece calls upon them with open arms, offering
them support, a resting-place, rank and honour. How
long will you remain in the service of foreign kings ?
Come, and be the support of your own nation . It is
better to die for your country than to hang golden
tassels on your swords for a foreigner.
Souliotes and Mainiotes, famous lions, how long will
you sleep, shut up in your caverns ? Leopards of the
Black Mountain, eagles of Olympus, hawks of Agrapha,

become one soul. Christian brethren, dwellers on the
banks of the Danube and the Save, present yourselves,
each and all of you, with arms in your hands ; let your
blood boil with just indignation ; both small and great,
vow the destruction of tyranny. Men of Macedonia,
hurl yourselves like wild beasts upon the foe, and shed
the blood of the tyrants at once. Dolphins of the sea,
dragons of the islands, pour forth like lightning, smite
the foe. Sea-birds of Hydra and Psara, it is time
to listen to the voice of your country. You , its worthy
scions who serve in the fleet, the law bids you launch
forth fire. With one heart, with one mind, with one
soul, smite, let the tyrant be uprooted. Let us light a
flame throughout Turkey, that may travel from Bosnia
to Arabia. Raise the cross above your banners, and
smite the enemy like a thunderbolt. Do not imagine
that he is strong ; his heart beats and he trembles like
a hare. Three hundred Klephts showed him that, in
spite of all his cannons, he could not withstand them .
Why, then, do you tarry ? Why stand as if you were
dead ? Awake, be no longer divided, as if you were
enemies. Just as our ancestors roused themselves like
lions, and rushed into the thick of the fight for freedom's
sake, so let us, O brothers, all take up arms at once, and
rid ourselves of this cruel slavery. Let us slay the
wolves who impose the yoke, and dare to tyrannize
cruelly over the Greeks. Let the cross shine over land
and sea ; let justice come, and the enemy disappear ;
let the world be delivered from the frightful scourge
that we may live free, O my brothers, upon the earth .
VI.
THE TWO BROTHERS .*
A merchant was coming down from the heights of

the mountains, leading twelve he-mules and fifteen she
mules. Some brigands met him in the midst of the road,
and seized the mules, that they might unload them and
see whether there was any money concealed in the bags.
But the merchant begged them not to unload the
animals. " Ah ! do not unload my poor mules ! for my
chest is sore from loading and unloading them ! " Then
the chief of the brigands was enraged, stopped, and said
to him : " Look at this son of a dog, who does not weep
for his own wretched life, but weeps for his mules.
Where are you, my braves ? " he cried ; " give him a
thrust with the sword , that he may remain where he is."
But the brigands had compassion upon him because he
was brave. So the captain flung himself upon the man
like a savage lion ; he drew his sword and stabbed him
in the side. Then the merchant groaned deeply, and
cried aloud with all his might, " Where are you, O my
father ? look upon me. Where are you, O my mother ?
weep for me." "Whence comes your mother ? I will
write her a letter." "My mother is from Arta, my
father is from Crete ; and I had an elder brother, who
became a brigand." Then the captain shuddered, and
took him in his arms ; in his arms he bore him, and
carried him to the physician's : " You have healed many
that have been stabbed and wounded ; heal this young
* This little poem explains itself ; it is inserted as being probably of

Cretan origin.
K
man also, for he is my brother." "We have healed

many that have been stabbed and wounded , but wounds
like these none could heal." Then the merchant begged
his brother to take the mules : " Here, take the mules to
our father ! " " Ah, how can I say to our father and our
own poor mother, ' I have killed my brother and taken
his mules ' ? "
VII.
GEORGIOS SCATOVERGA. *
(1806. )
He who is a good listener is also a good story-teller,

if he has a good memory. I also have listened, and
have composed a Georgiad, the subject of which is
66
Georgios Scatoverga of the Plain." As I do not know
how to read, in order that I may not forget this story, I
have put it into the form of a song, that I might be able
to remember it well.
Georgios was born at Mokhos ; his parents were
peasants ; poor, a mere husbandman, he never learned
to read. When he grew up, he repaired to Castro,† swift
and wide awake as the morning star. He grew up in
a foreign land, and became a brave, highly favoured in
strength and boldness. When a Turk provoked him ,
he drew his sword, and returned it to his scabbard with
bloodstained hand. He slew many Turks, and gained
great renown, and he will enjoy immortal glory in
Paradise. Several times he escaped and fled from the
* One ofthe most famous Cretan Klephts. The piece in the original is
an excellent specimen of the Cretan dialect.
Megalo-Kastro , Candia.
CRETAN SONGS AND legenDS. 147
toils, but on one occasion he was thrown into prison,

where he heard the mournful news that Arif Moshoghlu ,
in the plain of Crete, had assembled the young girls to
dance before him, and had ordered his parents, amongst
the rest, to send him their daughter. When the dance
was over, Arif would have carried her off, but she
escaped. Arif went to her father's house in the
morning, and found her father weaving a net ; he sent
him off to perform forced labour,* and in the mean time
threatened his daughter, who felled him tothe ground
and deprived him of his arms. Then the Turk
promised he would do her no harm, and asked her to
give him back his arms ; she had no sooner done so
than the infidel , like a furious serpent, slew her. When
her father returned and crossed the threshold, he saw
his daughter lying dead, and cried out, " What is that ? "
Then the Turk killed him also , and looked about for
others whom he might slay, but, finding none, returned
to Castro. This is what Georgios heard in his prison
in The City, † from which he at last, with great
difficulty, escaped. Collecting assistance from his fellow
countrymen, he purchased arms of good quality, and,
setting out from there, approached the coasts of our
island of Crete, and entered a little harbour, which they
call Malia. He hastened at once to his house, opened
his father's tomb, and from his body took a ball, with
which he loaded his gun ; then he sat down at table,
playing on the lyre day and night, and practising with
his pistols. When Moshoghlu heard of it, he set forth,
intending to kill him, and sent orders to him to visit
* Angaria, the corvée.

† Constantinople, Stamboul.
148 A SHORT POPULAR HISTORY Of crete.
him. Georgios replied that he knew his house too well ,

and that Moshoghlu could come to him if he had
anything to say to him.. Then Arif, taking twelve
other Turks with him to assist him, went in search of
Georgios, who was playing with his brother. They told
him that they also had come to drink. They sat down
at table, and the mother of Georgios poured out wine for
them to drink ; when it was all consumed, they sent to
the inn to fetch more. In the mean time Arif asked him
if he knew him , and told him if he loved him he should
go and find him, and drink. Georgios answered and said
to him, " How could I love him when I see neither my
father nor my sister at home ? " " Poor fool, it is I who
killed them , and I will kill you also." " And I am come
to give you the reward which you deserve." Then
Georgios fired at him with the bullet which he had
drawn from his father's body, and gave it back to him
to whom it belonged ; then he shot him again, this time
through the heart. In the disturbance the lamp went out.
Georgios leaped from the place where he was, dealing
He wounded seven
blows right and left with his sword.
or eight of his assailants, but, his brother being wounded
in the foot, he drew him by the hand, and thrust him .
outside, took him upon his shoulders, and set off for the
woods and mountains. Arif and four others fell dead ,
on the spot where the father and sister had been mur
dered. Georgios went to Ephesus, and , when his brother
recovered, he determined to return home. Hadji
Mustapha, a valiant Turk, famous and renowned for his
deeds of slaughter, heard of it . One day he waited for
Georgios upon the road, with an Arab slave, and the
servant of another Turk. He saluted him courteously,
and invited him to his house that he might enjoy him

self. Mustapha was walking in front, Georgios followed
him, the Arab was next, the Turkish slave last. The
Arab had orders to fire upon Georgios from behind. But
Georgios perceived the raising of the pistol ; he already
had his own in his hand, and, almost before you had time
to turn round to look, he had laid him low, and, with a
second shot, had shot the Aga through the heart. The
Turkish servant fled ; Georgios had been wounded in the
arm by the Arab. He returned to Ephesus to recover
from his wound, where he was put to death by poison.
Thus, I have composed this little history, and I sing it
to the accompaniment of my lyre for my amusement,
and in hope of comforting a sorrowing heart. This
story was composed entirely by Manuel, son of Hierony
mus the priest.
VIII .
GLEMEDHES ALI. *
(1822.)
No man has ever yet been found to discover the truth,
whether the commander at Loutro judged aright. He
sent a firman to the district of Rethymnos, that
Glēmēdhēs Ali, the man of war, should be seized . He
drew his sword, and approached his assailants, who all
attacked him like swallows. A Sphakiote rushed upon .
the foe, swift as a dove, and cut off his head with his
right hand ; he cut off the head of Glēmēdhēs Ali and
held it up in his hand like a flag. The head of the
famous Glēmēdhēs, stained with blood, was carried to
* A native Cretan Mohammedan leader. The dh is pronounced like th
in this, that.
Roussos, who took two sequins, and bestowed it upon

them as a reward, because they had slain Glēmēdhēs
himself. For he had brought sorrow to many hearts
and would have brought yet more ; may he who laments
his death lose the sight of his eyes ! O Glēmēdhēs, alas
for that head which once dared to go out to battle at
Rethymnos and Canea ; O Glēmēdhes, that head which
once you adorned with flowers, is now in the hands
of the Sphakiotes, a mark for their rifles. O Turks
and Janissaries, gather together in the mosque, that you
may look upon Glēmēdhes Ali, the handsome brave.
IX .
THEODOROS.†
(1822, 1823.)
The commander sent him a written order, that no

Turk should remain where the Greeks lived ; his
mother also had bidden him fight bravely, and not suffer
an Arnaout steed to escape. He went down to Servili
and set up his tents, and went down to Gazi, where they
amused themselves with sports. He slew many Turks,
the holy terror of all ; but the Turks were many, and he
was weary. " The men of Mylopotamos, though thick as
the glades in the forest, if you resist them throughout
the day, will flee when the sun goes down. O unhappy
Anœanians and Chrysaniotes, who fight against the
Turks as bravely as the Lakiotes. Woe is me, my poor
brother ! why did I send you away ? You could have
* A Christian captain, from Askyfo.
† A Christian leader, who was slain during the revolt in a charge of the
Arnaout cavalry.
assisted me to gain a refuge. Woe is me, my poor

brother ! would that you could hear how I have been
slain to-day ; but you have no news of it. Greet the
Sphakiotes from me and all the braves, and tell them
how the Arnaouts have overthrown me."
X.
TZELEPES .
(Same date as preceding. )
Sorrow betide that Sunday and accursed be the

Tuesday, when Tzelepes came here to fight. He sought
Gaoures at the height of the cross, and he dragged his
cannon to fight against the Turks. He drew his sword
to pierce the roof, that he might hurl fire upon them and
consume them all. Then Zounalakes fired , and so true
was his aim that the ball entered Tzelepes's breast ;
it entered his breast and reached his throat, and then
Tzelepes cried, " Mercy." " Get up, Tzelepes, that we
may make an attack ; maybe the Turks will come forth
from the house." They went and buried him in the chief
town of the Sphakiotes, because his renown smelt sweet
as a violet. When evening came, the Turks came forth,
not knowing that Tzelepes lay on his bier.
XI.
HADJI MIKHALES.
(1828).
On every Easter and Sunday, on every great festival,

listen, that I may tell you of Hadji Mikhales. The men
of Grabusa sat down and wrote an urgent message, they
sent it to the Morea, inviting Hadji Mikhales. They

also wrote to the Hadji, the ancient of the Morea, that
he should get together horses and go down to Crete.
At Anapli he collected sixty- five horsemen to go down
to Crete, where the Egyptians were. After he had
gathered his men together, he put them on board ships
of war ; he had chosen Roumeliotes, handsome braves.
He went, and, after landing all his men on the deserted
coast of Grabusa, asked the inhabitants whether they
had powder. "We have powder and bullets to fight with ;
we only need your horses to go out into the plain." But
he did not feel confident, and went to his boats, intend
ing to disembark at Loutro, and learn the truth. There
he found the Sphakiotes, valiant men, who were held in
honour for their warlike deeds. " Come, O Sphakiotes,
let the Rhizites come, that we may go and stir up the
Catomerites. Come, O Sphakiotes, you who are braves,
that we may fight against Turkey, and leave your
flocks." When the Pasha heard this, he was sorely
grieved to Castro and Rethymnos came the news.
"Gather together, O foremost braves of Turkey, that we
may go and drive him back into the mountain districts.
For either he will perish on the mountain districts, or he
will fall into the sea, or we will kill him because he has
come to us as it were a gift." When his Kiaya * heard
this, he turned round and said , " O Mustapha Pasha,
this man will not flee, for he is a brave. He is no
Lazopoulos, to make for the mountain districts, but he
is from Roumelia, and brings braves with him. He also
brings youths from Bulgaria, honoured horsemen, and
they will slay us, however cautious we may be." " Hush !
* The Vizier's deputy.
Pasha ; praise not to me sixty horsemen ; I will devour

them like a salad or anchovies." So spake the Pasha,
and that same hour he gathered together all his forces
that he might go forth from the city. He ordered the
Castrians to assemble, and the Rethymniotes to come.
and join the Caniotes ; to come and join them and
form a column, and march to ravage the city of the
Sphakiotes. They marched and collected their forces at
the Hellenic arch ; the sons of Greece heard it and made
for the mountain districts. Then Kyriakoules, a man of
well-proved valour, who was held in high honour for his
warlike deeds, said : “ Grasp your swords, your weapons,
and daggers at once, that we may rush upon the Turks.
Maybe the Turks will fear when we make the attack ;
maybe we shall drive them outside the entrenchments."
And when he came to the mountain heights of Askyfo,
all were decking the Turkish standards with flowers.
And when the Sphakiotes saw them, they all exclaimed ,
both small and great, " O Hadji, go not to battle, for you
are our head. You are our head, you are our honour,
and if they kill you, our lives are lost." " As once I
was born, so once will I die, and once I will bid farewell
to the world above. It is better that they should kill
me ; it is better that I should die, than that I should live
disgraced in the world above. If the Pasha kills me, he
will cut off my head and take it to Canea, and my
honour with him ; or, if I kill him, I will cut off his
head, and take it to the Morea, and take his honour with
me. Saddle my horse, that I may go forth to battle.
I hear the Pasha is coming, let me go and take him."
Then he offered up a prayer, made the sign of the cross,
took his light sword, and hung it round his neck. Then
again he offered up a prayer, took his pistol, and placed

it in his belt. When he had mounted into the saddle,
even his horse wept, and then he knew that he should
die. " To-day I shall be slain, this very day, that they
may remember me in all the fortresses." He again
offered up a prayer, leaped into his saddle, lashed his
horse, and rode out of the gate.
XII.
THE CONDEMNATION OF CRETE.
In the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty

eight-listen, that I may tell you about the distressful
island of Crete. The princes assembled and went to Paris,
that they might hold a meeting to settle what was to
become of Crete. After they had assembled and began
the discussion, they were divided into parties, and gave
it to the Turk. Then they sent a deputy, who went
to bear the news to the Christians. When they were
gathered together, he read the agreement, and told
them how they had handed Crete over to the Egyptian.
The Christians lamented and cried aloud : “ O Lord
commander, go up into the hills and sit in the roads ;
there you will see birds flying with the bones of
Christians in their mouths. Who could tell you, who
could number all who have perished on the mountains
and in the groves ? Listen, O Lord, let me tell you
our sufferings. The Turks have sold our children into
slavery in Arabia : all of us who were left ran to the
hills, naked and barefooted, in order that we might
obtain our freedom. We had confidence in you, the
Kings of the Franks, and now you will do us injustice

and leave us slaves. When the terrible Judge shall
come to judge us all, surrounded by all the hosts of
heaven ; when He hears of the unjust sufferings of
the Christians, when the Cretans come with their
complaints and stand before the terrible Judge, then ,
O France and England , you shall answer before the
terrible Judge, at the second coming.' "What can I
do for you, poor fools ? Why do you not write to the
princes ? They have held a consultation, and agreed
that Crete shall be handed over to the Egyptian. I
am sorry for you, O Christians, I cannot help you : I
cannot alter what has been determined ."
Then came vessels of the Franks to Grabusa , and ex
pelled the Christians who held it. They had on board
Egyptians who overran the island, wearing red dresses
and carrying drums. They settled in various places,
and condemned and tyrannized over the Christians, and
tortured the rayahs.
XIII.
THE LAY OF CHRISTOS MILIONES. *
(Probably end of seventeenth century. )
Three birds, settled on the heights above the haunts

of the Klephts ; the first looked towards Armyros, the
second in the direction of Valtos, while the third, the
best of all, lamented and said : " My Lord, what has
become of Christos Miliones ? He cannot be found at
Valtos or Kryavrysis." † " We have heard that he has
* This song and the five which follow are taken from Klephtic ballads .
† Cold spring,
passed over to Arta, and has taken the Kadi prisoner

with two Agas." The Turkish commander heard of
it, and was greatly displeased . He called for Mavro
mates and Moukhtar of Kleisoura : " If you desire
office, if you desire captaincies, kill Christos, the Captain
Miliones. The Sultan has ordered it, and has sent a
firman." Friday dawned, would that it had never done
so ! and Souleiman was sent to find Christos. He
found him at Armyros, where they embraced like
friends throughout the night they drank, till break
of day : and when dawn appeared, they went over to
the quarters of the Klephts : " Christos, the Sultan
demands your presence ; the Agas also demands it ."
"While Christos lives, he will not surrender to the
Turks." Then they charged each other with their
muskets, fired at the same time, and both fell on the
spot.
XIV.
THE LAY OF GYPHTAKES .
The plains thirst for water, the hills for snow, the
hawks for birds, the Turks for heads. What has be
come of Gyphtakes's mother, who has lost two children,
and her brother as well ? And now she has gone mad,
and walks about in tears. She is never seen, either in
the plains or on the tops of the mountains. We have
been told that she has gone on to Vlakhokhoria, where
the sound of the gun is heard, rolling terribly. The
noise of the firing was not heard at a wedding feast
or religious holiday ; Gyphtos had been wounded in
the knees and the hand. He tottered like a broken

tree, he fell like a cypress ; like the brave that he was,
he cried with a loud voice, " Where are you, oh my
brother, dearly beloved ? Come back, come back, take
my head, that the troops of Yussuf, the Arabian, may
not take it, and carry it to Yanina to that dog,
Ali Pasha."
XV.
MOUNT OLYMPOS AND MOUNT KISSAVOS.
The two mountains, Olympos and Kissavos, quarrelled

as to which of them should pour forth the rain , which
the snow . Kissavos poured forth the rain, and Olympos
the snow. Then Kissavos turned round and said to
Olympos , " Do not quarrel with me, O Olympos , haunt
of the Klephts ; I am Kissavos , famed at Larissa .
Coniaria * takes delight in me, and the Agas of
Larissa ."
Then Olympos turned round and said to Kissavos,
" Listen, Kissavos, listen, unseemly one, home of the
Turks : I am old Olympos, famed throughout the world ;
I have forty-two summits, sixty-two springs ; every
spring has its standard, every branch has its Klepht ;
on my highest peak an eagle has perched itself, holding
in its claws the head of a brave. The eagle said to the
head, ' O head, what have you done to be so despite
fully treated ? ' The head replied, ' O bird, feed on my
youth, feed on my bravery, that so you may make your
wing an ell in length and your claw a span. At Louro,
* i.e. the Turkish nation.
at Xeromero, I was one of the Armatoli ; * at Khasia,

on Olympos, I was for twelve years a Klepht ; I slew
sixty Agas and burned their villages. As for those
whom I left on the spot, Turks and Albanians, they
are too numerous, O bird, for me to count. But at
last my turn has come to fall in battle." "
XVI.
THE KLEPHT'S FAREWELL.
Go down to the beach, go down to the shore : make

your hands oars, your breast a rudder, your slender
body a ship. If God and the Holy Virgin desire that
you should make your way to our quarters, where we
hold counsel, where we once roasted the two goats,
Floras and Tombras, and if the company should ask
you anything concerning me, do not say that. I have
perished, poor unfortunate : say only that I have taken
a wife in a strange country, that I have taken a flat
stone for my mother-in-law, the black earth for a wife,
and the little stones for my brother-in-law.
XVII.
THE KLEPHT'S BURIAL.
The sun was setting when Demos gave his orders :

"Go, my children , fetch water, that you may take your
evening meal. Sit by my side, O nephew Lambrakes ;
* A body of armed Greeks, employed by the Turks to defend the

mountain passes. Their chief officer was called Kapitanos, and the district
guarded by them, Kapitanaton. When they quarrelled with the Turks,
they became Klephts, or brigands.
come, put on my armour, and be a captain and you,

my boys, take my ill-fated sword, cut green branches,
strew them as a seat for me, and go, fetch a confessor
to whom I may confess and tell him all the sins that I
have committed : thirty years I was one of the Armatoli,
and twenty years a Klepht ; and now death has come
upon me and I shall die. Make my tomb, make it wide
and lofty, that I may stand upright and fight, and load
my gun, leaning on my side. Leave a window on the
right, that the swallows may come and bring me news
of the spring, and that the nightingales may herald the
gentle month of May.
XVIII.
ODE TO FREEDOM .
I recognize you by the terrible edge of your sword, I

recognize you by your look, which so rapidly measures
the earth.
Sprung from the sacred bones of the Hellenes, and
vigorous as of yore, hail, Freedom, hail !
There you did dwell, carved with shame and bitter
ness, waiting for a voice to say to you, " Come forth
again."
That day was long in coming, and silence reigned
around ; men's hearts were terrified and oppressed by
slavery.
Unhappy Freedom ! Nothing remained for you but
to tell of your mighty past, and to tell of it with
weeping.
You waited and waited for a freedom- loving voice,

and wrung your hands in despair.
You said to yourself : " Ah ! when shall I lift up my
head from misfortune ? " and, from above , you were
answered by lamentations and groanings and bonds.
Then you lifted up your face, all besmeared with
tears ; blood trickled down your garment, Hellenic
blood in streams.
With blood-stained garments, I know that you
secretly went out to seek in foreign countries other
powerful aid.
Alone you undertook the journey, alone you returned :
doors do not open readily when necessity knocks at
them .
One wept in your bosom, but gave you no respite :
*
another promised you assistance, and mocked you
terribly.
Others-alas, for your pitiful lot !-exulted over
your misfortune : " Go and find your children , go ! "
said the hardhearted wretches.
Your foot started back, and speedily trod the stone
or turf, which preserves the remembrance of your glory.
Your head lies low in the dust, in deep humility, like
the poor man who knocks at the door of the wealthy,
and whose life is a burden to him.
Yes ; but now every son of yours is struggling
valiantly against the foe, seeking, with inexhaustible
courage, victory or death .
Sprung from the sacred bones of the Hellenes, valiant
as of yore, hail, Freedom, hail !
No sooner did Heaven behold your efforts, the which ,
* Catherine II. , Empress of Russia.
† Written in 1824, during the height of the Revolution.
on the soil where you first saw the light of day, caused
flowers and fruit to grow for your enemies
Than it grew calm a voice was heard proceeding
from beneath the earth, and the martial voice of Rhigas
answered you .
All countries saluted you with generous acclamations ,

and out of their hearts their mouths spoke.
The Ionian Islands cried until their voice reached
the stars, and lifted up their hands in token of joy.
Although each of them * was bound with artfully
riveted fetters, and false freedom was engraven on their
forehead.
The country of Washington was stirred to its very
soul, and remembered the fetters in which she had once
been bound.
The Spanish lion roared from his tower, as if saying,
" Hail to you ! " and shook his fearful mane.
The leopard of England trembled with fright, and
suddenly carried his threatening roar towards the
confines of Russia.
He showed, by the rapidity of his movements, the
mighty strength of his limbs ; and darted a fiery look
upon the waves of the Ægean.
The eye of the eagle, which nourishes its claws and
wings on the vitals of Italy, discovered you from the
heights of the clouds.
But woe to him who, having come within reach of
your sword, ventures to offer you resistance ! †
* At that time they were under a British protectorate.
+ The dithyrambic poem, from which the above stanzas are selected, is
by Dionysius Salomos ( 1798-1857 ), a native of Zante. This explains his
antipathy to England . His Hymn to Freedom has been translated into
nearly every language of Europe, no less than four having appeared in
Italy.
L
Space does not permit of specimens of Myriologia,

Love Songs, or Proverbs being given, but the insertion
of the following curious legend (abridged in parts) will,
it is hoped, be excused . It is from the pen of Rhizos
Rhangabes, one of the most prolific and accomplished
writers of Modern Greece, and is well worth reproducing
in English. The translator is not aware of its having
been translated before. Similar stories are current in
regard to the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland, bridges at
Frankfort and Pont à Mousson , and Crowland Abbey
in England.
THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE.
Once upon a time there was a Pasha of Damala, who

wanted to have a bridge made over the river, that he
might be able to cross it when he went hunting. Many
clever architects came from various parts of the Morea,
and asked large sums of money, because the task was
very difficult. Now, there lived at Damala a workman,
who lived on charity, and was an idle and useless fellow.
He envied his fellow-workmen from the Morea, abused
them as strangers, and did not want to let them make
any money. So he went to the Pasha, and told him
that he would build the bridge better for half the money,
and, as he made a great disturbance, the Pasha gave him
the commission, on condition, however, that if he failed
he should lose his head. So the man built the bridge,
and, when it was finished, declared boastfully that there
was not its like in the world.
The same night the rain fell upon the mountains, the
river swelled, and carried away the bridge. The man's
terror was indescribable when he heard the Pasha give

the executioner orders to cut off his head ; he was in
despair, because he knew that the next day would be
his last. He was sitting in front of the fire in his
cottage, when he suddenly heard steps by his side ; on
turning round, he saw a man standing by, clothed in
black, with black eyes, beetle- browed, with a long nose
and chin, and an inkstand in his girdle. The man
humbly saluted him.
"Who are you, and where did you come from ? My
door was shut ! "
" Excuse me. I heard you weeping, and came to ask
you what was the matter, and to see if I could help
you . "
The architect told him what was the cause of his
grief, and what he wanted.
" Is that all ? That is very easy. The bridge shall
be built as you want."
"Alas ! it would be no good if you were to build it as
strong as the citadel of Nanplia. I shall lose my head
to-morrow, because the bridge has fallen in."
"We have the whole night before us," said the man
dressed in black. " The bridge shall be built ; what else
can I do for you ? "
"To tell you the truth, my other desire is to be rich,
and that immediately."
" I am at your orders. Anything else ? "
" I am much obliged for your kindness. And now
tell me how I can serve you."
"You need not trouble yourself," said the other,
politely. How many years longer would you like to
live ?"
" If I could live three years in the manner I desire, I

should be content."
" Three years, then," answered the stranger, with a
deep obeisance. " I have only one little souvenir to ask
of you : after the three years, I will ask you to give me
your soul."
" My soul ! Oh, that is a serious matter. It seems to
me that, even when I am dead, I shall want my soul."
"" Oh , that alters the case. I don't want to force you.
I am sorry I cannot help you or give you the wealth you
desire. However, you have no need of it, for to-morrow
the Pasha will cut off your head."
66
' Ah, you are right ; I had forgotten that," said the
builder, deathly pale. " I don't want to give my head to
the Pasha ; can't you help me ? "
" I am quite ready to serve you ; only—your soul at
the end of three years. Come, I will give you six, to
oblige you."
The builder agreed. Then the unknown pulled a
little book out of his pocket, dipped his finger-nail,
which was long and pointed, into the inkstand instead
of a pen, drew up the agreement, set down the date, the
25th of December, and gave it to the builder to sign.
The builder did not know how to write, and offered to
make the sign of the cross. Then the stranger flew
into a passion, and began to foam at the mouth and
tremble in his rage, and the builder dipped his finger in
the inkstand, and made his mark. The unknown put
the book back into his pocket, saluted the builder
humbly, bade him farewell, and vanished.
The next day the builder went to the mountain , and ,
when he looked up, his amazement was indescribable ;
for, high above his head, where the eagles only could
reach, and where the torrent, even if it overflowed,
would never reach the bridge, where only the spirits of
the air could have been the builders, he saw a bridge
that spanned the two mountains. While descending
the mountain, in his haste to go and tell the Pasha, he
found a jar full of gold pieces. Having stored his newly
found wealth in a place of safety, he ran to the Pasha,
who, when he saw the bridge, marvelled, and declared
him the chief architect in the Morea and the whole world.
From that time the worthy man lived highly
honoured in the midst of luxury, and was made Presi
dent ofthe town. The years went on, and the world was
full of stories of his wealth and extravagance .
One Christmas Day he went out from Damala without
saying where he was going. He was going to take some
gold pieces from his inexhaustible store. He went, and
returned no more. The herdsmen who were feeding
their flocks on the mountains, afterwards related that
they had seen him crossing the bridge ; that a mighty
storm of wind had arisen, that the sky grew as dark as
pitch, the wind howled on the cliffs, and blew as if it
would have torn the mountain up by its roots. Then
rain and hail fell, and the lightning flashed, and in the
midst of the thunder they heard loud shouts of laughter
in the air, and when the sky cleared the architect was no
longer on the bridge, and was no longer to be seen.
When they passed on to the place where they had last
seen him, all that they found was a piece of blackened
paper, with characters written upon it , which not one of
the most learned men in Damala could read.
THE END.
Jarrold & Sons, Printers,
Norwich, Yarmouth, and London.
New 6s. Novels .
Crown 8vo, Art Linen, Gilt Top.
1. The Power of the Dog.
By ROWLAND GREY, Author of " In Sunny Switzer
land," " By Virtue of His Office. " 2nd Edition .
2. Black Diamonds.
(Authorised Edition . ) By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author
of " Midst the Wild Carpathians," " In Love with
the Czarina," " Pretty Michal, " etc. 3rd Edition.
3. Judy a Jilt.
By MRS. CONNEY, Author of " A Lady House
breaker," " Gold for Dross, " etc. 2nd Edition.
4. Lady Jean's Son .

By SARAH TYTLER , Author of " Lady Jean's
Vagaries," etc. 2nd Edition.
5. Colour Sergeant No. 1 Company.

By MRS . LEITH ADAMS , Author of " Bonnie
Kate," " Louis Draycott," etc. 2nd Edition.
6. The Inn by the Shore.

By FLORENCE WARDEN, Author of " A House on
the Marsh," etc. 4th Edition.
7. The Green Book, or Freedom Under the Snow.

By MAURUS JÓKAI , Author of " Black Diamonds,"
etc. 3rd Edition.
8. My Bonnie Lady.
By LESLIE KEITH, Author of ""Lisbeth," etc. [ Shortly
9. The Winds of March .
By GEORGE KNIGHT, Author of " Dust in the
Balance," " Sapphira of the Stage," " The Circle
of the Earth," etc. [ Shortly
The Captive of Pekin, or the Swallow's Wing.

By CHARLES HANNAN. Graphically Illustrated by
A. J. B. SALMON. New Edition. [ Shortly
LONDON : 10 & 11 WARWICK LANE, E.C.

Messrs . Jarrold and Sons '
66 GREENB SERIES OF POPULAR

' ACK "
NOVELS
BY AUTHORS OF THE DAY.
In crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
The Western Mercury says :-" Success evidently attends the departure recently taken
by that well-known firm of London publishers, Messrs. Jarrold and Sons, who deserve the
thanks ofthe literary world for their efforts to reproduce in cheap, yet acceptable, editions,
the works offavourite authors. Prominent among the books so treated are the novels of
Miss Helen Mathers, which are being issued in the ' Greenback ' series."
By HELEN MATHERS. By MRS. LEITH ADAMS.

Cherry Ripe ! Bonnie Kate
Story of Sin Louis Draycott
Eyre's Acquittal Geoffrey Stirling
My Lady Green Sleeves The Peyton Romance
Jock O'Hazelgreen Madelon Lemoine
Found Out ! A Garrison Romance
Murder or Man
slaughter ? By IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
The Lovely Malincourt A New Othello !
By CURTIS YORKE,
By SCOTT GRAHAM.
That Little Girl
The Golden Milestone
Dudley
Hush ! A Bolt from the Blue
Once !
By T. W. SPEIGHT.
A Romance of Modern
London [teau The Heart of a Mystery
The Brown Portman In the Dead of Night
His Heart to Win
Darrell Chevasney By MRS. H. MARTIN.
Between the Silences ! Lindsay's Girl
A Record of Discords
The Medlicotts By E. M. DAVY.
The Wild Ruthvens A Prince of Como
LONDON : 10 AND II , WARWICK LANE, E.C.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JARROLD & SONS.
"GREENBACK " SERIES OF POPULAR NOVELS

-CONTINUED.
In crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
By ESMÉ STUArt. By MARGARET MOULE.

Harum Scarum The Thirteenth Brydain
By AGNES MARCHBANK. By MRS. E. NEWMAN.

Ruth Farmer The Last of the Haddons
By J. S. FLETCHER. By EASTWOOD KIDSON.

Old Lattimer's Legacy Allanson's Little Woman
By MAJOR NORRIS PAUL. By ELEANOR HOLMES.

Eveline Wellwood Through Another Man's
Eyes
SOMERVILLE GIBNEY.
By LINDA Gardiner.
The Maid of London
Mrs. Wylde
Bridge
By MRS. A. PHILLIPS. By MRS. BAGOT HARTE .
Man Proposes Wrongly Condemned
By FERGUS HUME. By E. BOYD BAYLY.

The Lone Inn [Court Jonathan Merle
The Mystery of Landy Alfreda Holme [ture
The Mystery of a Han- Zachary Brough's Ven
som Cab Forestwyk
The Expedition of By EVELYN
Captain Flick EVERETT GREEN.
By LE VOLEUR. St. Wynfrith and its

Inmates
By Order of the Brother
By MRS. HAYCRAFT.
hood !
Gildas Haven
By JOHN SAUNDERS. By HUDE MYDDLETON.
A Noble Wife Phoebe Deacon
LONDON : 10 & 11 , WARWICK LANE, E.C.

New 6s. Novel.
The Green Book. By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author of
"Black Diamonds," " Midst the Wild Carpathians,"
"Pretty Michal," etc. Translated into English by
Mrs. Waugh ( Ellis Wright), with portrait of Dr.
JÓKAI. (Authorised Edition.) Fifth Edition .
Mr. W. L. Courtney, in the Daily Telegraph says : -" No preface or

apology is needed for the new novel of Maurus Jókai, ' The Green Book.
It is a truly astonishing book, the latest novel, dealing with the early years
of the present century, and with that world of inarticulate romance, the
Empire of all the Russias.
"All the superficial culture and essential barbarism of the country are
depicted in these pages. We see how the Moujik alternately plots
and trembles, how the Tsar himself is checked in all his noblest aspirations
by the iror framework of a society to which he is really slave, and Imperial
conventions which he is powerless to break through. Jókai, in force and
fire and prodigal variety, reminds one of the elder Dumas."
The Daily Chronicle says :-" The Author has given us a group of striking
personalities, every one of whom is brilliantly drawn and vividly presented .
All Jókai's very remarkable powers of characterisation, of individualising,
are displayed here as strongly as in anything he has ever written. The
historic moment chosen is an extremely dramatic one. The scenes are
laid in Russia, at the end of the first quarter of the present century, when
Russian society and the Imperial army were seething with revolutionary
emotion, and St. Petersburg was a nest of intrigues. Jókai has a rare
faculty of seeing all round his characters, of penetrating rough exteriors, and
of probing to whatever of genuine human fibres they may have. From
every point of view, ' The Green Book ' is a book to be read. It is an
interesting and knowledgable narrative of a puzzling, political period ;
and it is a work of fine art."
The Bookseller says :-" In no other novel has the author attained the
vivacity, the wit, the dramatic contrivance exemplified in this romance.
The scene between the Imperial Censor ( of morals) and the artist employed
upon Arakhscieff's palace might have come straight out of Molière. The
conjecture of Sophie's funeral and Bethsaba's wedding are worthy of the
elder Dumas . Then, what a touch of nature is that where Sophie discovers
that her own pretended is her mother's lover. "
The Aberdeen Free Press says : -" Another work by Jókai, made acces
sible to English readers, is a literary event of more than common note.
' The Green Book ' will be found an excellent specimen of the novelist's
work, marked as it is bythe best characteristics of Jókai's soaring genius. It
is a series of brilliant, dramatic episodes, strung together by slender threads
of love and political intrigue. Nowhere will one find better examples than
in 'The Green Book ' of Jókai's deep and expansive imaginative power. '
The Eastern Daily Press says :-" A Russian historical romance, cast
in vigorous and original mould, and full of that realistic power and pic
turesque description, which give Dr. Jókai a place in the front rank of
popular writers ."

New 6s. Novel.
The Inn by the Shore. By FLORENCE Warden ,

Author of " Pretty Miss Smith," "A Prince of
Darkness," " A House on the Marsh," " A Perfect
Fool, " etc. 4th Edition.
[
The Academy says :-" Miss Florence Warden is unrivalled in a certain
department of fiction. ' The Inn by the Shore ' exhibits her at her best.
It is full of marvellous mystery ; and to the credit of the author, it must be
confessed that the ciue to the mystery is exceedingly difficult to find in
advance."
1 The Daily News says :- -" A story of mystery and crime, from the pen of
Miss Florence Warden. Who perpetrates the robberies in the solitary inn
by the shore? Whose is the soft little hand that in the dead of night
skilfully extracts from under the visitor's pillow the watch and purse he has
hidden there? On a wintry evening, at the fireside, one might do worse
than spend an hour in seeking to puzzle it out. The story provides sensa
tions that will satisfy those who care for an uncritical shudder."
R The New Age says :-" We can heartily recommend as a certain remedy
for ennui, and as a companion in moments when you may have a vacant or
a pensive mood, without anything to rejoice either the outward or inward
eye, Miss Florence Warden's new and interesting story. It is a capital
tale in every respect. From the first page to the last, the story is brightly
J and orisply written."
1
Punch says :-" A clearly- told and alluringly-exciting story."
The Literary World says :-" The Inn by the Shore ' is full of sensa
tional reading, and , can expect to find a large measure of favour with
those who favour stories of crime and its unfolding. "
8 The Dundee Advertiser says : " Readers acquainted with Florence
I Warden's ' House on the Marsh ' will not require to be pressed to take up
her new novel. It is fully as romantic and entertaining as its famous pre
decessor. The broad effect of the tale is extremely successful. "
The Belfast Evening Telegraph says :-" The title of this work at once
induces the reader to jump at conclusions, and those who take it up in the
hope of tragedy and mysteries unravelled will not be disappointed. The
unveiling of the mysteries is skilful ; the whole story is well- conceived and
successfully executed ."
T
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph says :-" How Miss Warden skilfully
st weaves her plot, and as skilfully unweaves it, until we know the truth,
makes up a tale with delightful and sustained interest, which the reader
will enjoy."

66 "9
The Greenback Series.
Crown 8vo, Cloth, 3s. 6d.
The Lovely Malincourt.

By HELEN MATHERS. 6th Thousand.
The Scotsman says :-" The novel deals with the cream or froth
of fashionable life ; it has plenty of light and bright colouring, and
yet does not lack an undertone of earnestness, and is healthy and
amusing. "
The Morning Leader says :-" The Lovely Malincourt ' is one
of those dazzling phenomena that all men are startled by, and
' The Lovely Malincourt's ' hero is one of those men that at least
two women love at the same time."
The Dundee Advertiser says : —" To novel readers Helen Mathers
is a name of happy memory, recalling as it does that fascinating story,
' Comin' Thro' the Rye.' The latest story from the same gifted
pen is entitled ' The Lovely Malincourt, ' and deals with fashionable
life in London. "
The Liberal says :-" The novels of Miss Helen Mathers are
always delightful. Few authoresses of the present day excel her
in the happy combination of a good plot, clearly drawn characters,
a bright and oftentimes brilliant style, and a wit that is as genuine
as it is untinged by vulgarity."
The Hull News says :-" The works of Miss Helen Mathers are
like good wine and need no bush ; nor is her latest story, ' The
Lovely Malincourt ' any exception to her previous novels."
The Western Daily Press says :-66 Any book by the talented
author of ' Comin' Thro' the Rye,' is sure to attract many readers.
There is always a certain freshness about her pages that makes
them delightful . There is nothing but pleasant reading in the
book, which is sure to find a host of admirers."
The Whitehall Review says : -" Everyone knows what to expect
when they take up a novel by the author of ' Comin ' Thro' the
Rye.' Such cardinal virtues as refinement, delicacy and purity of
tone, are hers particularly, and the most captious critic can find no
weak spot in her literary armour. 'The Lovely Malincourt ' is a
distinctly readable book.'
The Lady's Pictorial says :"" A new story from the bright and
sympathetic pen of Helen Mathers is as refreshing and as welcome
as rain in summer, and it was with real regret that I read the last
page and put aside the volume. "
The Realm says :-" The Lovely Malincourt ' is a charming
story, told as only Miss Helen Mathers could tell it. One cannot
read the book without falling in love with Leslie-and surely the
book is a success when one falls in love with the heroine."

The " Daffodil " Library.
Vol. I. Narrow 8vo, Paper, Is. 6d.; Cloth, 2s.
The Jaws of Death .

By GRANT ALLEN. 6th Thousand.
The Daily Chronicle says :-" The Jaws of Death ' is a pretty
piece of writing in the sensational line. We are brought so smoothly,
so gradually, to the very edge of the catastrophe, the shiver of it is
upon us almost before we are there. It is extremely creditable to
Mr. Allen's invention. "
The Daily News says :-" The whole thing is exceedingly well
done."
The Literary World says : —“ It does great.credit to Mr. Grant
Allen's vivid imagination and able descriptive powers. "
The Daily Courier says :-" There are few authors who can
write such good short stories as Mr. Grant Allen."
The Scotsman says :-" The Jaws of Death ' is an attractive
story of a strange and exciting character, suitable for perusal on
the sea-shore or the mountain side. A good-going story, with
plenty of spirit, and not a little fun. "
The Bookseller says :-" It is told in a fashion which makes
the reader forget the improbability, and only feel regret that the
end is reached all too soon. "
The St. James' Gazette says : —'" The climax is ingeniously
arrived at, and the preliminary narrative is lively and entertaining. "
The Aberdeen Free Press says :-'" There are few better story.
tellers than Mr. Grant Allen when he is in the vein, and in this
little volume we have him at his best."
The Western Mail says :--" This dainty volume forms the first of
the Daffodil Series. The Jaws of Death ' is a clever little story
from the pen of a distinguished novelist. It is intensely well told. "
The North British Daily Mail says :-" We give the initial
number of this series our most unqualified approval ; it is excellent
from every point of view. "
The Belfast News Letter says :-" No one with a taste for the
humorous will deny that the author has tickled him with his picture
of Howard Freke of Cooper's Pike ; and if he combine in his
nature a love for the sensational, the closing chapters apropos of
the doings of Li Sing cannot possibly fail to delight him equally.
The story is most enjoyable throughout, "
The Bath Herald says : -" The book is powerfully and
dramatically written, and the volume is a welcome introduction
to what is likely to become a very popular series."

44
The Impressionist ” Series .
Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt, 3s. 6d.
Under this general heading Messrs. Jarrold and Sons propose to issue, from time
to time, a volume of Short Stories. It is intended, so far as possible, to link story to
story by some thread of mental connection, and, thus, to present to the reader a
series of vivid and related pictures.
I. Dust in the Balance .
By GEORGE KNIGHT. With Title Page and Cover
Design by Laurence Housman . 2nd Edition.
2. Some Women's Ways.
By MARY ANGELA DICKENS . With Title Page and
Cover Design by Laurence Housman. 2nd Edition .
3. Blind Larry. Irish Idylls.

By LEWIS MACNAMARA. With Title Page and Cover
Design by Laurence Housman.
4. Sweet Audrey, or Comedies of Country Life
and Town Glamour. By George Morley. [Shortly
The " Daffodil " Library.

A Series of Shorter Novels by Authors of the day, in convenient shape
and attractive binding.
Narrow 8vo, paper covers, 1s. 6d. ; cloth, 25.
1. The Jaws of Death.
By GRANT ALlen. 5th Thousand.
2. Sapphira of the Stage.

By GEORGE Knight. 5th Thousand.
3. The Kaffir Circus, and other Stories.
By M. DONOVAN. 4th Thousand.
4. Because of the Child .
By CURTIS YOrke . 5th Thousand.
5. A Studio Mystery .
By FRANK AUBREY. [Shortly

Popular Holiday Books.
Poppyland .
Papers descriptive of Scenery on the East Coast.
By CLEMENT SCOTT. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant,
with 26 Illustrations by F. H. TOWNSHEND.
Superior Edition, 2s. 6d. In attractive Paper
Covers, IS.
" It is not surprising that a fourth edition of Mr. Scott's
delightful little book is called for. It deals with the
charming coast of the far south-east of our island, and the
epithet Poppyland ' given to that has a poetic ring about
it that is very attractive. The vicinities chiefly dealt with
are Overstrand and its vicinity, Cromer, Lowestoft, and
Yarmouth."-The Queen.
Summer in Broadland ; or, Gipsying in
Norfolk Waters.
Fourth Edition. Profusely Illustrated by the
Gipsies. Crown 8vo, Illustrated Paper Covers,
Is. ; or Superior Edition, cloth elegant, 2s. 6d .
The Queen says :- " A hardy manual based upon actual
experiences. It is nicely illustrated, and is sure to please
and instruct visitors to the Broads of East Anglia."
The Scotsman says :---" A delightful little volume, with
many dainty illustrations, as a result of a holiday among
the little-known Norfolk and Suffolk Broads. There are
many capital descriptions of scenery, and the book is
marked by bright and vigorous writing."
Sunrise- Land .
Rambles in Eastern England. By ANNIE BERLYN,
Author of " Vera in Poppyland," etc. Illustrated
by A. RACKHAM and M. M. Blake. 3s. 6d.
" Full ofwarm sympathy for picturesqueness and colour,
written in an agreeable fashion , and evidently compiled
from an intimate knowledge of the country and its
inhabitants. "-Pall Mall Gazette.
Two Knapsacks in the Channel Islands.

By JASPER BRANTHWAITE and FRANK MACLEAN,
B.A., Oxon. Illustrated by VICTOR PRout.
Crown 4to , Pictorial cover, Is .
JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, LONDON, E.C.

Dr. Gordon-Stables' Health Manuals,
Crown 8vo, Cloth, 2/6 each. (Postage 4 d.)
Sickness or Health ? or, The Danger of
Trifling Ailments. 2nd Edition.
" The work is practical, and written in a readable style. It
merits a place in every public and private library in the land.
The publishers are be warmly congratulated on the publica
tion of this excellent volume. "-Hull Examiner.
The Wife's Guide to Health and
Happiness . 2nd Edition.
" This book reads like a novel , and is just as interesting as a
novel, and far more instructive. The advice given is sensible,
and up to date. Dr. Stables handles difficult and delicate
subjects with great skill. A great deal of misery would be
prevented if the young wife would adhere to the advice given
in this book. "--
-The Medical Monthly.
The Mother's Book of Health and
Family Adviser. 2nd Edition.
" The Doctor, in his new book, has endeavoured to give in
practical and clear language much valuable and essential
information to mothers, and we believe that the manner in
which he has treated this subject will be widely appreciated. "-
The Sun.
The Girl's Own Book of Health and
Beauty. 2nd Edition .
" Teems with useful hints and good suggestions. Ought to
be in the hands of every young woman. "-The Leicester
Chronicle.
The Boys' Book of Health and Strength.

2nd Edition. With portraits of DR. GORDON
STABLES, C.M. , R.N., R. G. GORDON CUMMING
(the Lion Hunter) ; W. MCCOMBIE SMITH (Cham
pion Scotch Athlete) ; J. D. MACPHERSON (Cham
pion Putter) ; G. H. JOHNSTONE (Champion
Hammer Thrower of Scotland ) ; and Special Letter
to Boys by W. MCCOMBIE SMITH, the Champion
Scottish Athlete.
" Such a common sense vade mecum to health and strength,
should find a place on every boy's bookshelf. "-Star.
JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, LONDON, E.C.

电
C
This book should be returned to
the Library on or before the last date
stamped below.
A fine is incurred by retaining it
beyond the specified time.
Please return promptly.
Filb 68
JA N o H
181
585
8
3
7
ILL
9
MAY
N
2
0
A
C
MG 1123.5
A short popular history of Crete;
Widener Library 004915839
3 2044 088 793 757

History of Crete

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Crete

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Crete

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

Harvard College Library .

J. HUNTINGTON WOLCOTT FUND .

Established by ROGER WOLCOTT (H. U. 1870), in memory

JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.

MG. 1123.5 HARVARD COLLEGE

THE compiler of this little book desires to acknow

FOR many weeks I have been receiving from all parts

times. It lies, as it were, on the border line between

for he must say, with the Moor

"And little of this great world can I speak,

Ten times within the present century the Cretans have

the detailed despatches of Consul Biliotti. During that

with the blood of thousands of Christians in Armenia,

the 24th of March that attempts at murder and murders

should be restored. The Porte, however, as Mr. Block

might carry away the King of Greece and his Govern

importation of arms or volunteers from Greece. Lord

That I saw no prospect of Her Majesty's Government being able

The German Ambassador thereupon reminded Lord

I replied that the distinction between the two appeared to me to

which usually prevailed in the seas between Crete and Greece in

This admirable despatch settled the whole question. |

guarantees were taken for the future good government

he had to administer was one of autonomy. There was

I Commission on the Tribunals was at work. A whisper

had pushed the Governor aside, supplied their co

Events in Crete have brought that unfortunate island to a state

Colonel Vassos, aide-de-camp to the King, was de

This heroic step was resented by the Powers. They

which were from British guns. Three Cretans were

island, and her fleet from its waters, and added ,

force of British, French, Italians , and Russians, marched

Governments kept in the Concert with the three despotic

G ulf KekinoP PlayONIT

THE ISLAND OF CRETE : GEOGRAPHICAL AND

CRETE, the ancient Crētē, called by the Turks Gireed,

island in the early part of the ninth century, or may

Acrotiri, Retimo, Zuano, and Sidero. On the south

reaches 88° in summer. Snow falls on the mountains

half were Mohammedans. At the close of the Revolution

Russian confrère, is scarcely, if at all, superior to the

is under the government of a pasha, and is divided into

ANCIENT CRETE, TO THE TIME OF ITS CONQUEST BY

IT is in Homer that we first find mention of the ancient

Before the time of Minos, all interest was centred in

The sea was the natural element of the Cretans ; the

one of the principal events in the history of the Cretans.

for the purpose of avenging the death of Minos. They

led the Cretans, and those who inhabited Cnossus and

Such was the situation of Crete when the Dorians ,

was exhausted by the calls that had been made upon it

Again, they took no interest in the terrible struggle

time, discontent and jealousy, which had arisen- as was

the territory of the Lampeans, who received them with

to assist them severally in the war in which they were

* Polybius, iv. 5 (Hampton's translation) ,

any other feeling of combined interest, except defence

their attitude, and, whereas they had formerly been