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,
Jena Painter Jena Painter The Jena Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter, active in Athens around 400 BC. He mainly painted "kylikes" in the red-figure technique. His stylistic and chronological place was first determined by the British Classical archaeologist, John D. Beazley. Beazley chose the conventional name "Jena Painter" because a large proportion of the artist's surviving works were in the possession of Jena University. The majority of his 91 known vessels were discovered in the Kerameikos, the potters' quarter of ancient Athens, in 1892. Many of his vessels were exported, for example to Etruria and North Africa. The Jena Painter