| The Homeric epics provide a picture of Mycenaean Crete. They contain references to the island’s natural landscape; the people who populated it (Achaeans, Dorians, Eteocretans, Cydonians and Pelasgians); the number of cities on Crete; places on the shoreline and in the hinterland; relations between Crete and other Mycenaean kingdoms, and heroes from Minoan times, such as Minos, Deucalion, Ariadne and Rhadamanthys. Reference is also made to king Idomeneus, who led a sizeable naval force in the Trojan War. In some cases, information on Crete in the Homeric epics can be cross-checked with attestations from other sources. Homer’s works may possibly echo a number of archaic songs from Crete. |