Cretan Renaissance (1590-1669)

Cretan Renaissance (1590-1669)
Common Themes and Project Templates

Georgios Stampoulidis

Lund University
Centre for Languages and Literature
Specialization in Modern Greek Literature, 15 ECTS (NYGM13)
Modern Greek Language and Linguistics
March, 2014
Supervisor: Vassilios Sabatakakis
Cretan Renaissance (1590-1669) - Common Themes and Project Templates

2

Contents
1. Abstract.............................................3

2. Introduction...3

3. The "Shepherdess".....3
4. The "Sacrifice of Abraham"...4

5. "Erophile"...............................................6

5.1 Ideas and concepts of human society of the era in which Erophile was written...........7
5.2 Concept for the divine and the metaphysical.........................7
5.3 The despotism of the king and the "heroic" element.........7
5.4 Love (Eros)........................................8
6. "Erotokritos".8
6.1 Common themes and differences with the Hellenistic novel, the Byzantine novel and chivalric
novels11
6.2 Epilogue ...12
7. Conclusion..............................12
8. Acknowledgements13
9. Bibliography...14


3

1. Abstract
The paper discusses how a remarkable literary flowering took place in Crete during the Venetian rule
from the 15
th
to the 17
th
century, especially among 1590 and 1669 (subjugation of Crete to the
Turks), as the Venetian rule was mild compared with the domination of the Turks
1
. Subsequently, an
extensive reference is entailed to the content of the projects that have been chosen for our analysis
that are exemplified of Cretan literature. Moreover, the analysis will focus on selected themes and on
previous works that constitute a model for their own project or how the chosen issues are
interconnected to any cultural or literary endogenous and exogenous origins.
2. Introduction
The Flowering of literary production was observed in the Frankish, and Venetian rule areas,
culminated in Crete and especially between the periods from 1600 to 1669. Consequently, this is
reasonable because Crete had an apparently ancient poetic tradition approximately from the 10
th

century. Furthermore, during the 10
th
century there was a unique type of frontier poetry (frontiersmen
songs), the "rizitika". The cultivated area of Crete receives this creative poetry and assimilates the
foreign influences, producing works of high aesthetic value and contributing to the formation of
national Modern Greek consciousness. Thus, the unique humanitarian ethics of Greek culture was
enriched with new elements such as idealization of women, the expression of love, the chivalrous
spirit and the duty of man for himself. The poetry of that period acquires a unique character with
more humanistic elements. The literary genre that makes special the Cretan Literature is the Cretan
Theater and the central figure of that period is the great poet of that period, named Georgios
Hortatsis. His works are "The Gyparis", the enormous task of "Erophile", and the comedy
"Koutsourmpos". Exponent of the same literary genre (Cretan Theater) is Marcos Antonios Foskolos
with his comedy "Fortunato". However, the dominant works that embellish the Cretan Literature this
period of time are the works of the major poet, Vitsentzos Kornaros. His works are "The Sacrifice of
Abraham" and "Erotokritos". The literary inceptions of Vitsentzos Kornaros are distinguished for
their superb composition, plasticity and deep psychological analysis of human characters. Vitsentzos
Kornaros through Erotokritos bequeaths us the code of values, and the set of principles and ways that
characterize each of us. The main elements that make up these codes to values are Knowledge,
Beauty, Grace, the Ideal Lover, the Perfect Friendship and Love for freedom, the Heroic Conception
of Life and the Recognition of Human Errors
2
. The "Shepherdess", the "Sacrifice of Abraham",
"Erophile" and "Erotokritos" are the most popular works of Renaissance Cretan literature and
constitute the four projects that have been selected for our analysis in this paper.

3. The "Shepherdess"
The "Shepherdess" is the first masterpiece of Renaissance-period for the Greek Literature. Although
the first testified version of this project is initiated in 1627, its writing must have been around 1600
3
.

1
Holton David (2006:22-24)
2
Politis Linos (1958)
3
Babbys Dermitzakis(1990)

4

Inspired by Italian pastoral Renaissance poetry expresses homesickness for the physical life of rural
and the romance is characterized by rare literary virtues. According to Dimaras
4
the beauty of speech,
the elegance of expression and the very slight psychological nuances give to the characters of the
heroes occasionally exquisite chiaroscuro. It is supposed to be a large generator of elements which
the poet fetched up from the literary cultural tank and uses them to exalt the characters. The synopsis
is simple: a young shepherd and a shepherdess come together and fall madly in love to each other.
They live together for some time, but the young shepherd is forced to leave, as they constantly fear of
the appearance of her father. Therefore, the shepherd arranges to return in a month. However,
meanwhile, he falls ill and so fails to his promise. The shepherdess not seeing her beloved coming
back dies from a heart ache. When he finally arrives, he finds her old father mourns his dead
daughter. The play ends up with the torn of a shepherd
5
.
The Cretan poem, as has been mentioned by the scholars several times
6
is an "absolutely artistic"
creation which belongs with the tradition of Italian Arcadian mannerisms and it is basically not
related to ethnographical descriptions of the Cretan countryside
7
. The unknown poet of
"Shepherdess", as another Vitsentzos Kornaros has studied all the works of Italian Renaissance and
as a result the "Shepherdess" is recommended as a legitimate "child" of this fruitful relationship
between an unknown poet with the developed sensor servants. Furthermore, we reasonably conclude
that the unidentified poet has studied the Italian poetry of Arcadian Renaissance, as idyllic
descriptions, which do not match with the natural landscape of Crete
7
.
Nowadays, is generally accepted from the scholars of Cretan Literature that "Shepherdess" has a
unique literary character quite inspired by the Italian Renaissance and especially by the Italian poems
of pastorella speckled by excessively supremely a stream of petrarchism dominated in West
8
. In this
work of Cretan literature sadness and death follow the joy and aliveness which was prevailing at the
beginning of the project. The Chance, Fate and the Feelings as examined here and below in other
projects that follow in our analysis are alternated in order to conclude in a sad and violent end to the
death of the heroine
9
.

3. The "Sacrifice of Abraham"
Another great work of Cretan literature of that era is the "Sacrifice of Abraham". It is about a
religious drama that is based on the well-known from the Old Testament sacrifice of Isaac by his
father Abraham. The pilot project of this was according to the experts, the poem "Lo Isach" by the
Venetian poet Luigi Groton, issued in 1586
10
exceeding the standard, which has been confirmed in
1928 when Mavrogordato pointed this out in his famous article
11
. As Alexiou Stylianos
12
mentions

4
K.Th. Dimaras(2000:31)
5
Rosemary Bancroft Marcus(2006)
6
Kapsomenos E(1990)
7
P.D.Mastrodimitri(2005:119-121)
8
Holton David(2006:121)
9
Ibid(123)
10
Ibid(230)
11
Ibid(228)

5

the focus of this work is not on a religious emotion, but on the subtle and refined delete of the
psychology of the heroes. Abraham is not entirely the biblical Abraham or Abraham of medieval
mysteries. Passively, he rejects the divine command related to sacrificing his son Isaac but asks God
to annul. The most dramatic form, however, is the form of his wife, Sarah. As Linos Politis
13
said, at
the end of the project that stays longer to the reader is the form of Sarah, the heartrending laments
and not Abraham with his relative talkativeness. he figure of the mother is not opposed to the
husband as in the project template of the Cretan poet, as the latter approaches the mother as an
unified and indivisible face, which tries to follow on one side the imperatives of the divine nature and
on the other hand acts as a traumatized human, screaming and hurting in front of the wailing mother
who loses her child. At this point according to the scholars we might say that this lament reminds to
the audience the Lamentations of the Virgin, the mother of Christian tradition
14
.The female figure,
Sarah, of Cretan poet, we would say that is shown as a Greek mother and as a wife with an excess of
the love, respect, and trust to her husband in contrast to Sarah of Grotto where there is no
womanhood presented by human aspects and the characters are converted into a plastic face. We
could effortlessly reach to the conclusion that the Cretan poet took only advantages of the virtues of
the Italian project but thereafter proceeded by setting up his own extensions, which are undoubtedly
the ones which distinguish this project and place it on top of the Cretan literature as well as transform
it into a large number of facts and qualities found in the Cretan family heritage and so make up the
national identity.
Therefore, at this point the craftsmanship of the author is unveiled. If poetry is not reached the level
required by the subject, the pain of a mother about losing her child, the project would have failed. It
is known that "The Sacrifice of Abraham" is a dramatic poem of Cretan literature, consisting of 1,154
fifteen- rhymed verses, dating around 1635. The poet, within the prevailing view, is the creator of
"Erotokritos" Vitsentzos Kornaros (Apart from the superiority of these two works over all other
Cretan literature, their linguistic similarity makes it likely that the same author wrote both).
The synopsis is based on the same biblical tradition. An angel wakes Abraham at dawn and
announces that God asks for him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham begs God not to deprive him of
his only child and then wakes up Sarah, wh falls unconscious when she hears the terrible news.
Then, they succumb to the divine will, wake up and dress him quite puzzled and Abraham leads him
to the place of sacrifice. There, when the truth is revealed, Isaac begs his father to spare his life, but
eventually he accepts a sacrifice, since this is the will of God. But while Abraham prepares to
sacrifice his child with the knife, here the solution comes. An angel, as "deus ex machina", stops him
and a ram that is currently displayed will be the carcass of sacrifice. The poet does not insist on the
religious emotion, as the deletion of the internal psychological status of persons, but he masterfully
represents the psychology of the child, father and mother, and according to Linos Politis this is a very
deep similarity along all other works of Cretan Literature
15
.
Later on, the opinion that "Sacrifice of Abraham" is a religious drama of those which were very
popular in the Middle Ages in Europe, is not considered correct today. Vitsentzos Kornaros removed

12
Alexiou Stylianos(1969)
13
Linos Politis(1978:66)
14
15
Politis Linos (1978)

6

the project from the biblical tradition and adapted it with great success to the Cretan society. The
persons, who in the old legend are blind executive bodies of the mandate of God, here are represented
as human characters, which are not passively entitled to the divine judgment. The poet preserves a
critical position towards religious faith. The plot of the events, the adventures and of course the
lyricism of this work reminds us ancient tragedy, while the human character and the rich rhyme lyrics
established it a favorite folk reading in Crete.
In any case, it should be clear that the sources of the project of Vitsentzos Kornaros, according to D.
Holton
16
, should be found in Greece and not in Italy. If we study in depth all the features that
comprise both -Sarah and Abraham- as much as we will notice that all these are mainly Greek
characteristics and the relationship between faith and blind obedience, as well as those of free
willingness and freedom of speech are a matter of studying both the ancient Greek intellectual spirit
and the Orthodox Church throughout the centuries
17
.The common poetic place of the sacrifice with
the other projects which are analyzed in this paper depends on the fact that the persons and the
characters are portrayed in their human side and all folklore, religious, European and Greek elements
are interweaved all together, reconstructing the primordial theme of religious sacrifice here, or the
innocent and excessive love and trust in Erotokritos and Erophile.

5. "Erophile"
"Erophile" and "The Sacrifice of Abraham" are the two top masterpieces of Cretan theater. Therefore,
not only scholars have adjudicated, but also the thousands of readers, as evidenced by the successive
versions of these two projects. For "Erophile" there is an Italian model, "rbecche" of acts of
Giovanni Giraldi
18
, but the Greek poet worked very freely, mitigated the bloody scenes and gave to
his Heroes ethos and more kindness with deeper Greek character. Further there are some smaller
influences received by the writer of the "King Torrismonto". Nevertheless Vitti
19
says that "the
dependence of this project by Italian standards in no way reduces its value", while Aristos
Kampanis
20
, noticed that even if it was a simple translation, the translator would be worth as a poet
and his work as original work.
The text begins with Charos talking about "Luck". But Charos has another job to do regarding as the
outcome of the tragic myth. The myth is not known to the Cretan tragedies, contrary to what happens
in conventional, and therefore the audience should learn the end of the project. At this level, there is
no suspense (suspense about the outcome of the story), which characterizes the modern drama,
inspired by the novel. The viewer knows beforehand what is going to happen, and so-called hero, and
all the happenings on stage are assessed on the basis of the terrible prospect. The first act (the project
has a total of five acts), begins with the monologue of Panaretos with lavish erotic lyricism. Then his
friend Karpoforos arrives and confesses his love for the beautiful princess Erophile, Filogonos

16
Holton David(2006)
17
Ibid(246-248)
18
Ibid(157-160)
19
Vitti M.(1960:173-200)
20
Claude Fauriel(2000:23-24)

7

daughter, the king of Memphis, where the whole story is played. At first, he says that he tried to
drown this erotic improper feeling, but this emotion was constantly growing.
5.1 Ideas and concepts of human society of the era in which Erophile was written
The tragedy of Erophile leads to the fulfillment of the prescribed course of heroes. Already in the
preface (Verse 1-135) Charos, in his address to the audience indicates itself as supreme and Power
Leveling leading all the eminent or inglorious people to death. He states at the outset that the king
and his daughter will be brought to Hades because the former must be punished for the evil
committed. The King at this point used to believe in good luck (C, 357), until he found out that the
marriage of his daughter with Panaretos and then the misery was occurred in his life. (C, 148). In
confessing his love for Erophile, Panaretos says that he is not allowed to die in one of the wars battle
(A, 275-6). Erophile invoked the fate of as "bad and litigation, tormented fate" (C, 9), and returned to
her love for Panaretos as the will of a higher power (C, 177-80).
5.2 Concept for the divine and the metaphysical
According to Nena all people have to go through testing before going to the other world ( II , 195-6 )
, integrating the Christian elements of hell and paradise ( B, 277-8 ). The sky exists as a divine and
pagan element when Panaretos urges fruiting in order to challenge the bitterness and he expects the
sky to put a good end (A, 497-8) for the forbidden love that he feels for the Princess. The spirit of
dead Filogonos brother is a predominant element of Christian population and drives out demons
back to the underworld (C, 373). Nena in the dirge says the Erophile impoverishes the land and
enriches Hades (R, 573-4). Moreover, the death of innocent Erophile could join the Christian
perception associated with the proverb: "sins parents chastise children". ( ,
)
People of that era may believe in fate, but as showed by the Dance of the girls, God can change (B,
524-6) or determine the given decision of Zeus. The ascites appeared to remind the imposed
punishment of the king, as he had killed himself and his children (III, 270-3) and not to rightfully
usurp the royal throne.
5.3 The despotism of the king and the "heroic" element
The perception of kings who have a despotic character (A, 129-30) is reflected to "Erophile".
Filogonos ordered his soldiers to bring him Panaretos (W, 607-10) to kill him and the soldiers blindly
obeyed him as "dogs" (E, 101). In the detailed account of messengers for the murder of Panaretos,
the king is presented as a misanthrope (E, 141-166) and the mismanaged power should be punished.
The king named Filogonos focuses on interest in the perpetuation of the royal house. Erophiles
marriage with an enemy, according to the wishes of her father, would serve exactly this purpose,
since he managed to keep the peace in his kingdom (B, 404). Panaretos had royal lineage (A, 141-2),
was virtuous and brought the heroic element after every war crowned winner (A, 351-2). Perhaps, the
poet unveils to the royal status of Panaretos since the marriage of the princess might not be
compatible. However, the humanistic idea advocated by Erophile apologizing to her father on the

8

choice of her partner, which overlooks the origin of her beloved and only focuses on the value of the
virtues (W, 277-88), likely to represent the new concepts that brought the world of the Renaissance.
It displays a society where people feel at the mercy of the will and the despotism of each king, and
have developed a sense of revenge in case of justice. Moreover, the notion is reflected that all people
are equal to kings against God and Fate, as it is quite clear from the words of Dance at the end of the
tragedy that indicates riches and Good Luck are simply shade less (E, 671-2).
5.4 Love (Eros)
Only Eros seems to have the ultimate power to overcome the power of death, that's why the king tried
to ignore the power of Cupid punishment. The title and theme of tragedy focus and revolve around
love. Dance recites love coming "always with all winners" (A, 585-7, 590). Love to be lawful and
moral should be stamped with marriage. So Panaretos and Erophile got married, albeit secretly.
6."Erotokritos"
Now, it is time to move on the top of the creature in Cretan Renaissance, "Erotokritos". The main
themes are love, honor, friendship and courage. "Erotokritos" sets great story including true love,
friendship, courage and patriotism, and this is the reason for its later popularity all over
Greece. "Erotokritos" is the top masterpiece not only of the Cretan Renaissance, but generally of the
Modern Greek literature. A direct template for this astonishing epic poem is in the early 15th Century
a very popular chivalrous novel "Paris et Vienne" (Pierre de la Cypede in French) and the epic poem
"Orlando Furioso" by Ariosto (1532)
21
and the verses of Quintus Smyrnaeus. However, Erotokritos is
not just a simple copy, but a creative variation with improved internal structure, and as compared to
the original French, it has a solid structure and fewer reps. Vitsentzos Kornaros knew the French
plant apparently as an Italian translation, because it seems very unlikely that he was fluent in French.
Ioulios Tipaldos
22
writes (1880) that Erotokritos holds the first place in our modern literature and how
it can be compared with the greatest poems of foreign writers, and Palamas
23
exclaims (1906):
"Shame in the nation that still did not understand, after five centuries of walking, that the poem
Erotokritos is the greatest Greek national and immortal poem". In this project the elements of Greek
folk tradition are distinguished by combining elements of ancient Greek mythology with the elements
of popular culture of the era.
The plot of the play takes place, in the words of the poet, in Athens of pre-Christian times. But this
installation is completely conventional because, when someone reads the work, does not recognize
any aspects of historical Athens. Although there is a real geographical context, the historic
designation is foggy, and the names of persons encountered in the project, with few exceptions, are
true Greek names, but unknown, created by the poet himself. It is obvious that the poet did not care
to represent a particular historical period, but to create an ideal Greek world. Consequently, all these

21
Holton David(2006)
22
Typaldos Ioulios(1880)
23
Palamas Kostis(1906:2)

9

sorts of anachronisms that take place in the project are construed, rather than representing any
historical and geographical knowledge on the side of the poet.
The synopsis is as follows: Erotokritos, the Pezostratos son, advisor of King Hercules in Athens,
falls in love with the daughter of the king, Aretusa. But seeing how absurd is this feeling, a mere
mortal to fall in love with a princess, he tries to forget her.
"Erotokritos" is basically an erotic poem. Even the epic parts, where their excesses are moving more
in the space of a fairy tale and frontier epics, have a strong sense of eroticism. The men nobles that
we see in "giostra" (joust, or giostra was originally a military equestrian sport fighting, which
included fights with flagpoles against upcoming by riders who usually bring armor), fighting for a
female heart. However, Rotokritos fights only for the heart of Aretousa. When Vlachs are coming to
hit Athens, he only thinks about her beloved, Aretousa, and not about his country or his parents.
Aretousa, in giostra, trembles her heart for Erotokritos, and in order to risk the hero, she wishes her
lover to be the loser of the draw. Every reader can easily explore that the erotic wind blowing in the
story is clearly much stronger than heroic.
Now by passing on one more innermost search in verse of "Erotokritos" says Seferis
24
that there is a
hidden sensuality, a sense of touch not localized to any specific verse. Moreover, this sensuality is
made even more intense, as counterpoint laced with a climate of erotic deprivation that dominates the
plot of the whole project. The heroes have to deal with external pressures, not to be victims of love,
and their internal inhibitions, mainly of Aretousas. The same happens in "The Sacrifice of Abraham"
where the divine command changes things overturning situations or in "Erophile" where the royal
decree shall separate both protagonists and forces them to resist their feelings but eventually the love
wins in the end. Similarly, here the heroes are motivated by external factors to do the opposite of
what they wish but eventually Fete and Luck, the two great forces of nature governing the
masterpieces which are analyzed here, bring the heroes in front of a prescribed resolution of this
unequal struggle that they realized.
But despite the sensuality, the so intense though so diffuse, love has the dominant position in this
work, which is challenged by a bunch of external restrictions and internal inhibitions. The heroes
never blame society for the contracts, but they accept all the conventions and feeling integrated in
society. Initially, they attempt to subdue the rules of suppressing their feelings but when these flare
up, instead of blaming each other, they are trying to overcome the obstacles. It's like to say - you are
right, but we love each other-.
The project also exudes a feminine sensibility. Seferis says that protagonist is Aretousa, and not
Erotokritos. All kinds of sensitivities, and more erotic sensitivities, are a privilege (or curse) of
women. That is why the poet expresses more effortlessly erotic feelings through the mouth of
Aretousa. Here there is another one similarity with "The sacrifice of Abraham", which still main
figure is a woman.

24
Seferis, G(1981)

10

Gareth Morgan
25
is talking about how they are working on the popular variants of sophisticated
projects. Conditionally, he says, that if someone wants to develop a variant of a popular artistic work,
then it has to contain popular topics, which are already in the folk repertoire. The Erophile contains
many such issues as the persecuted lovers, prophetic dream, and the suicide of the heroine. In these
matters the popular arranger adds others, such as abuse of the princess of her king father, two
children who grow up together and one day a mysterious old man tells them that are not siblings, and
as a result they fall in love with each other. With the expansion of issues disorganization of poetry
occurs, as the interest is concentrated on the plot and not in verse. So the lyrics are disconnected, and
the more complicated are eliminated or simplified, added to others. Finally, there is the integrative
approach (integration of approach), whereby is selected a center of interest, and based on this the
story is synthesized. As such the focus Erophile has the scene when the princess exposes the bushel,
which contains members of her beloved.
The central themes is the love between two people, Erotokritos (which only refers to the work as
Rotokritos or Rokritos) and Aretousa, and revolve around this and other issues such as price,
friendship, bravery and courage. Along with Erophile of George Chortatsis are the major works of
Cretan literature. Erotokritos passed into folklore and remains a popular classic literary epic poem.
On the other hand, the relationship between "Erotokritos" and Western European Literature is
fundamental. Scholars have suggested Italian works which were served as sources of Vitsentzos
Kornaros. The study of "common poetic places" in Erotokritos and the systematic exploration of his
relationship with petrarchism lead to the conclusion that Vitsentzos Kornaros had a considerable
familiarity with the petrarchism poetry. We have already analyzed that the Petrarchism influences the
first work "Shepherdess". Moreover, a further common poetic place among the projects which are
analyzed in this paper is undoubtedly the common selected stage and place according to the scholars
in mainly pastoral episodes such as the incident with Haridimos in Erotokritos in the scene of joust
which is described by Persio (1594) according to Holton
26
and the stage where "Shepherdess" is
played. Many elements contribute to the theory that the Cretan Mount Ida, a place where shepherds
mainly live and so their daily life and their sexual passion are masterfully described. This is a
significant difference with the original works of Cretan poets with the transformation from the
mythical and remote Arcadia of Italy in Cretan Mount Ida. Consequently, the detection of the Italian
general background of the project has opened new avenues for a deeper understanding of the poem.
On the other hand, the issue of recruitment of the earliest Greek literature from the Vitsentzos
Kornaros is not exhausted. An examination of the relationship with the Greek tradition has
increasingly turned to find texts that can serve as sources of development rather than to the
systematic comparison with the poetic and narrative conventions of Greek medieval poetry
27
.
The information we have on the circulation of vernacular fiction in Venetian Crete is limited. But if
missing the external information on whether Vitsentzos Kornaros was able to know works of Greek
literature of the past, then there are internal indications in the works leading to interesting questions.

25
Morgan Gareth(1957: 203-270, 379-434)
26
27
Lentari, T(2000:22-23)

11

Some examples can be summarized here
28
. The iconography of love is accompanied by a multitude
of transport describing the erotic feelings, which are common poetic places. The theme of the
omnipotence of love is a widespread motif in ancient Greek literature, too. The insidiousness of love
is also a stereotype. The transformations of the god show variety and originality. One of the
characteristic transportation describing the gradual increase of the erotic emotion is the image of the
tree root in the heart. Interestingly, the correlation name or Erotokritos Rokritos is referred to the
adjective erotoakatakritos = one who has not been, not tortured by love. Erotokritos is the unique
work of Cretan literature belonging to the kind of erotic fiction
29
.
To sum up, in "Erotokritos" a common sense or a widely accepted truth are being expressed: that
virtue, knowledge and courtesy are goods that cannot be destroyed by time, unlike the kingdoms,
power, fortune come and go. In other words it underlines the volatility of wealth and power, and
virtue, knowledge and courtesy are presented as timeless values. Further, the wheel of fortune which
sometimes brings sorrows and joys sometimes can never eliminate the value of knowledge and
virtue. In essence, we should assert that the condemnation of power is less intense here than it is in
"Erophile", though both of the works are characterized by the universal request of the Renaissance
for greater freedom to the erotic life and overcoming any gender or class differences.
6.1 Common themes and differences with the Hellenistic novel, the Byzantine novel and the
chivalric novels
The ancient Greek novel bears the morphological characteristics of prose and extensive narrative and
its content carries the characteristics of plausibility. The main feature is the love and adventure with
narrative stereotypes shape a thunderstruck love of two beautiful aristocratic youth wandering the
risks posed by it, the apparent death and "resurrection" of the protagonists, tests and reunification
with a happy ending. And the role of the narrator is identified with that of the omniscient which
interferes with the flow of the case
30
.
In this literary text, fate and luck found both as in ancient novels as in all other creations of Cretan
Renaissance Literature , including all the works that this paper tries to analyze, are presented as
Circle and Wheel. The couple is not attached to the project as it happens in the Hellenistic novels
wander before one of the two lovers, as there are elements and "resurrection" as the ancient species.
Erotokritos traveled to Egripos (Evvoia) to expel the love he felt for virtue, even when she had
expressed her love. The king banished Erotokritos to separate the two lovers, after secretly
exchanging rings with virtue, where she eventually was imprisoned by her father. The war, the
common feature of the novels, which erupted between Athens and Vlachs, gave Erotokritos the
opportunity to prove his heroism, and to save the life of the king leading the pair of lovers to have a
happy ending
31
.
Further, Vitsentzos Kornaros transforms the god Eros variously compared with the earlier Byzantine
type, i.e. Eros as a chef or a spider (I, 265-6). In Byzantine novel, however, the 12th century, as

28
John, Tr., Danezis, G., Katsaros, B., Mouseidou, C., Petta, M.(2001)
29
Athini, S., Daniil, C., Stavrakopoulou, .(2005)
30
Wim F. Bakker- Arnold F. van Gemert(1996)
31
Vitti, M.(1960:173-200)

12

Erotokritos answered already elements of erotic flame of fire and ice, which are elements of
petrarchism
32
.
Additionally, the vernacular novels bear the new element of folk narratives, the fairy tale element, as
well as municipal and love songs
33
.The folk myths include the common pattern separation of both
new and their adventures in a vague geographical context, in an idealized fairy world
34
The issues
identified in Erotokritos consistent with the instability of human affairs, and the changes of Fortune
and Time, with love, war, social discrimination and exile. Vivid storyteller elements of knightly
novels are found, while the ideological outcome of the project includes the personal qualities, which
are more important for the happiness of man from accidental
35
.
6.2 Epilogue
"Erotokritos" brings common themes and motives in the literary genre of the erotic novel from the
Hellenistic period up to the chivalric novels. The love at first sight, the adventure, wandering, tests,
and war reunion with a happy ending, fate, luck and "omniscient" poet are elements of Hellenistic
novel, while occurring on Erotokritos. There exists, however, the "resurrection", while Erotokritos
wandered once before already he was united with virtue. Erotokritos bear similarities with the
Byzantine novel of erotic flame and coupling opposites like fire and water, and differ from the
Byzantine species when originals personifies love in different ways. Finally, as in chivalric
romances, like Eros as a tree root in the heart and brings the elements of the separation of wanderlust
and adventure.
7. Conclusion
The literary production of Crete during the Venetian rich qualitative and quantitative was highly
significant for the future of Modern Greek Literature. The literary works of the Cretan Renaissance
are obviously influenced directly by the literary Art of Italian Renaissance
36
.

Nevertheless Cretan
works are for Fauriel also "monuments"
37
of Greek language, Greek character and generally Greek
national identity
38
. All these works that we tried to analyze have common themes and motives and
each literary genre of the Cretan Literature is influenced from the Hellenistic period up to the
chivalric novels. All projects bear similarities around a thematic term which relates to the particular
character of Cretan life and philosophy. The maternal love in "The Sacrifice of Abraham", the erotic
desire and longing of two beloveds, the vigor and the majesty of soul within fate and luck that weave
the appropriate environment and move on the lives of heroes without the latters stay spineless are
some of the main issues which I tied to approach and I believe that the results of this analysis will
help to promote and initiate our search for greater thought in the field of literature, which it will
always be a sector that always gives birth to something supra.

32
33
34
P.D.Mastrodimitri(2001)
35
P.D.Mastrodimitri(2005)
36
37
38
Lentari, T.(2000)

13

8. Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Vassilios Sabatakakis, for his warm welcome, the
enthusiastic encouragement, as well as for his advice and assistance in keeping my progress on
schedule.
I would also like to extend my thanks to my friends who offered me support and friendly comfort.
Finally, I wish to thank my parents for their support and encouragement throughout my studies.


14

9. Bibliography
1. Athini, S., Daniil, C., Stavrakopoulou, . 2005. 18
. . (
). : .
2. Alexiou Stylianos, (- ). , .
: , 1969.
3. Alexiou Stylianos, 2000. . , ,
, . : .
4. Claude Fauriel, . 1824,. ,
2000.
5. Babbys Dermitzakis, , Athens 1990, Dorikos.
6. Holton David, , ,
2000.
7. Holton David, , .
, , 2006.
8. John Tr., Danezis G., Katsaros B., Mouseidou C., Petta M. 2001. :
. . . . : .
9. Kapsomenos E., , , . ,
1990.
10. K.Th. Dimaras, , .
11. K.Th. Dimaras, , . , .
, 2000.
12. Lentari, T. . , ,.
, 2000.
13. Michael Herzfeld, . , ,
. , 2002.
14. Morgan Gareth: Cretan poetry: Sources and inspirations. 7-08, University of Oxford, 1957 -
Crete (Greece).
15. Palamas Kostis, , . 195 (23 1906).
16. P.D.Mastrodimitris, , ., 2005.
17. P.D.Mastrodimitris, , -, 2001.
18. Politis Linos, , 1978.
19 Politis Linos, " ", 12: 300-320, 1958.
20. Rosemary Bancroft Marcus, ,
, . David Holton, . , 2006.
21. Seferis, G. (1981), . (1936-1947), . ().
22. Solomos Alexis, , .

15

23. "Typaldos Ioulios", 10, (1880).
24. Vertoudakis, B., Iliadou, E., Lentakis, B., Manakidou, F., Tsakmakis, E., Tsitsiridis, St.,
Fyntikoglou, V., Christopoulos, . 2001. : .
. . . : .
25. Wim F. Bakker- Arnold F. van Gemert, : ,
, 1996.
26. Vitti, M. "Il poema parenetico di Sachlikis nella tradizione inedita del.cod.Napoletano",
14, 1960.

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