Crete's Roman Past
Annette Bingham rediscovers Roman Crete
Roman Crete is almost 'modern' compared to the timescales studied by archaeologists steeped in the island's 4,000 year old Minoan prehistory. Yet current work is rekindling interest in the long era which began in the second century BC when Rome tried to impose the Pax Romana on Crete's warring city states.
Dr Colin Macdonald, leader of the British School team working at Knossos, told History Today. 'The late Hellenistic period was certainly a very colourful time on Crete. Piracy flourished and the city states were entangled in feuds and intrigues. Rome's involvement was possibly an attempt to suppress piracy and to impose peace.'
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