History of Crete Venice, overthrew official Venetian authorities and declared an independent Cretan Republic. The revolt took Venice five years to quell. During Venetian rule, the Greek population of Crete was exposed to Renaissance culture. A thriving literature in the Cretan dialect of Greek developed on the island. The best-known work from this period is the poem "Erotokritos" by Vitsentzos Kornaros (Βιτσένζος Κορνάρος). Another major Cretan literary figure was Nicholas Kalliakis (1645–1707), a Greek scholar and philosopher who flourished in Italy in the 17th Century. Georgios Hortatzis was author of the dramatic work "Erophile". The painter Domenicos Theotocopoulos, better known as El Greco,
Eucharides Painter Eucharides Painter Eucharides Painter is the common nickname of an ancient Greek artist who decorated but did not sign attic vases. Neither his real name, nor the dates of his birth and death are known. Presumably this artist was a pupil of the Nikoxenos painter. The name was introduced in 1911 by John Beazley, a classical historian at the University of Oxford who had a special interest in attic vases. Through close examination of stylistic details, Beazley and other scholars recognized pieces painted by the same artist. In this case, the nickname appreciates the anonymous painter's repeated use of kalos