| Publication in the Italian original and Greek translation of a resolution passed in the Venetian Senate of 1513, detailing the Venetian authorities on Crete to raise 2000 archers. It is advised that the co-operation of Venetian and Cretan nobles, the urban elite and other groups be obtained, so as to secure one or two archers per village, plus sufficient funds to pay them for six months. The document was found in the Venetian State Archive, and constitutes one of the few references to Cretan archers in the time of Venetian rule. That being said, the islanders’ supreme skill at archery is attested early on by Diodorus Siculus. In 1703 Dapper included a lithograph of a Cretan archer in his book Description exacte des isles de l'Archipel. |