Note 16 — Chapter I · INTRODUCTION

The Cretans were rulers of the sea, and according to Thucydides King Minos of Crete was “the first person known to us in history as having established a navy. He made himself master of what is now called the Hellenic Sea, and ruled over the Cyclades, into most of which he sent his first colonists, expelling the Carians and appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to put down piracy in those waters.”