Crete traits (such as its own poetry and music). It was once the centre of the Minoan civilisation (), which is the earliest known civilisation in Europe. The palace of Knossos lies in Crete. The island is first referred to as "Kaptara" in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the Bible ("Caphtor"). It was also known in ancient Egyptian as "Keftiu", strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island. The current name of Crete is thought to be first attested in Mycenaean Greek texts written in Linear
Minoan civilization the related Linear B script, which encodes the earliest known form of Greek. Several attempts to translate Linear A have been made, but consensus is lacking and Linear A is currently considered undeciphered. The language encoded by Linear A is tentatively dubbed "Minoan". When the values of the symbols in Linear B are used in Linear A, they produce unintelligible words, and would make Minoan unrelated to any other known language. There is a belief that the Minoans used their written language primarily as an accounting tool and that even if deciphered, may offer little insight other than detailed descriptions