The Civilization of Ancient Crete

Professor Willetts describes the development of Cretan civilization from the arrival of the Neolithic farmers and their settlements during the early Bronze Age, through the spectacular Minoan civilization of the Bronze Age, down to the Dorian aristocracy of the Iron Age which ended in the Roman Conquest of the first century BC. He then analyses and interprets the social and political institutions, the art and religion, of the Minoan and Dorian phases and the invention of writing and the establishment of law codes and legal systems. Throughout, Professor Willetts emphasises the constant features of Cretan civilization: the persistence of 'community', the unusual stability of institutions and the island's genius for absorbing and remoulding outside influences into a unique culture of its own. This individuality can be seen in the island's later absorption of Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish invaders.