Book excerpt: Excerpt from Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Crete and the Aegean Islands The history of these cities in their earlier days is very imperfectly known to us we know, however, that the various streams of Cretan activity never mingled with the broad sea of Hellenic life. From the glorious contest with the Persians Crete stands aloof she has neither part nor lot in the great inter-hellenic war of the fifth century The Cretans are always too much pre-occupied with their own internal struggles, and if they are found fighting beyond the limits of their island it is in the character of mercenaries, embracing any cause for pay. Three of the Cretan cities, namely Cnossus, Gortyna, and Cydonia, seem to tower above the rest, but we find them now united, now disunited, just as it suits their temporary purpose. Of these and of the other cities we obtain more frequent glimpses as time advances. A number of inscriptions belonging chiefly to the end of the third century B.o., record the treaties made between various communities of Crete - the alliance of Latus with Olus, of Hierapytna with Priansus, of Hierapytna with Lyttus, of Dreres, Cnossus and Miletus against Lyttus 1 and these inscriptions, together with the details given by Polybius, enable us to form some general notion of Cretan politics, and of the vehement strife of city with city. In 216 we find the Cretans, weary for a time of their internecine struggles, inviting Philip V. Of Macedon to assume the general protection of the island; but no pressure from without seems ever to have much affected the petty course of Cretan history, or to have forced the cities into a really permanent union. In the second and first centuries before our era, the Cretans came into contact with the power of Rome, and in 67 the island. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.