[kreet] 
| 1. | Formerly, Candia. a Greek island in the Mediterranean, SE of mainland Greece. 456,642; 3235 sq. mi. (8380 sq. km). Capital: Canea. |
| 2. | Sea of, a part of the S Aegean Sea lying between the Cyclades Islands and Crete. |
| Crete (krēt) An island of southeast Greece in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its Minoan civilization, centered at the city of Knossos on the northern coast, was one of the earliest in the world and reached the height of its wealth and power c. 1600 B.C. Crete subsequently fell to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, and Ottoman Turks. The islanders proclaimed their union with modern Greece in 1908. Cre'tan adj. & n. |
| Crete, Sea of A section of the southern Aegean Sea between Crete and the Cyclades Islands. |
Crete
now called Candia, one of the largest islands in the Meditterranean, about 140 miles long and 35 broad. It was at one time a very prosperous and populous island, having a "hundred cities." The character of the people is described in Paul's quotation from "one of their own poets" (Epimenides) in his epistle to Titus: "The Cretans are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies" (Titus 1:12). Jews from Crete were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11). The island was visited by Paul on his voyage to Rome (Acts 27). Here Paul subsequently left Titus (1:5) "to ordain elders." Some have supposed that it was the original home of the Caphtorim (q.v.) or Philistines.