Crete is the center of Europe's first advanced civilization, the Minoan (c. 2700–1420 BCE).

This civilization wrote in the undeciphered script known as Linear A.

Early Cretan history is replete with legends such as those of King Minos, Theseus, and the Minotaur, passed on orally via poets such as Homer.

The Minoan eruption of Thera devastated the Minoan civilization.Beginning in 1420 BCE, the Minoan civilization is overrun by the Mycenean civilization from mainland Greece.

The oldest samples of writing in the Greek language, as identified by Michael Ventris, is the Linear B archive from Knossos, dated approximately to 1425–1375 BCE.