| Allied to contemporary intellectual achievements in western culture, the works of Cretan Renaissance literature originate in urban life. Vicenzos Kornaros, the poet of Erotokritos, re-cast elements of Byzantine and Western mediaeval culture and modern Italian literature in a new renaissance creation. The historical inaccuracies in the work owe their presence to the attempt to conceive an ideal poetic world of Greek nature. Its linguistic form is typified by the conscious use of Cretan dialect, enriched with elements absorbed from learned language. The popularity of Erotokritos in the first centuries after its appearance was due to its poetic merit and national nature. It fell into neglect from the late 18th century onwards on account of its provenance in the nation’s mediaeval and recent past. |